Xanax and insomnia

I have been prescribed xanax for the past 4 months for insomnia alongside an SSRI for anxiety.  When I started I was taking 1mg before sleep and 1 mg when i'd wake up 4 hours later, as prescribed. As my general anxiety has been going down I did manage to reduce quickly to 0.5 and 0.5. Now after about 1 and a half month I have reduced to about 0.45 broken in two separate doses (I'm titrating in water), I take the first before sleeping and the second when I wake up 3.5 hrs later.  Most nights I get 3.5hrs of solid sleep and the rest 4-5 hrs are light, with lots of waking up and some sleep paralysis. 

Any advice on how to proceed or general support?

Thanks

I started with Xanax too, .5mg and quickly worked my way up to 1mg and sometimes 2mg.  Xanax and all other drugs designed to help you sleep are a dead end road.  Eventually you will reach tolerance, where the drug no longer works at the current dose.  Then your only option is to up dose.  I would try to taper before that happens.  I was only on 3 months and had horrible WD and insomnia that lasted 8 months.  My sleep has gotten a lot better, but could still improve and I am just shy of 20 months off. 

Trust me when I say if you can taper off now and avoid reaching tolerance, you will most likely not have to endure severe withdrawal and insomnia.  Not sure how long you have been dealing with insomnia, but Benzo WD insomnia is a whole different type of beast that you don't want to mess with if you don't have to.

I would begin a taper now (Xanax) and plan to not take any other Benzos or Z class drugs to help you sleep with in the future.  Both drug types down regulate your Gabba receptors.  Gabba is what makes you calm and relaxed so you can sleep.  ADs (Select Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors) also have been known to have their own WD and can be difficult to get off of as well. 

Drugs are a dead end road.  I understand that some people think they "need" to be on them.  Also, almost all doctors are clueless about Benzo WD and most won't even admit it is real or it only lasts 4-7 days or something crazy like that.  Not trying to scare you, but letting you know that almost everyone on this forum is here because a doctor prescribed them Benzos, Z class drugs, ADs, etc.  And almost everyone that has successfully gotten off of drugs and recovered has been very glad they did so.

Good luck!