Xanax and insomnia

Was prescribed this for insomnia. 5mg no problem, which is why I asked for a bigger dosage. 10mg makes me "happy" and then tired and then sleep, always with dreams and almost always nightmarish (scary) which diminish into weird and once awake am left groggy. I now take Ambien with no nightmares or after effects.

I've been taking Xanax for about a year. For the first 8 months I would only take it very occasionally, but I have admittedly increased the dosage over the past few months to 0.25 every couple of days to 0.5 every day for the past two weeks. Over the past 3 months I have noticed a marked increase in anxiety and paranoia (exactly what I'm trying to fix). Lately I have been experiencing dizziness, dry mouth, insomnia, weight loss, twitching in my legs, backside and other places, cramping type sensations in my left leg and the feeling that I have a 150kg giant riding on my shoulders, to the extent that I'm 110% convinced I have a neurological disorder. The doctors assure me no neurological disorder exists (and for whatever reason I don't believe them), and my wife is on the point of walking out. Xanax certainly gives you that instant hit of calm, no questions. But I never used to be THIS anxious, I'm not sure if this stuff is helping me long term.