Some prescribing physicians do; when I told the above story to a sleep specialist later (original prescribing doc was primary care, not a specialist), he said "

Some prescribing physicians do; when I told the above story to a sleep specialist later (original prescribing doc was primary care, not a specialist), he said "what, he didn't tell you to immediately go right to bed when taking it?!" Dude was totally shocked. But yeah, you make a very good point here. I'd go so far as to say that anyone with sleep issues should skip the family practitioner/primary care doc and go straight to a sleep specialist right off the bat (assuming you don't need a referral for insurance; a potential non-issue outside the US). A lot of serious sleep disorders are misdiagnosed as general insomnia when they aren't insomnia whatsoever, but something more complicated (again, speaking from personal experience).