runaround, same here. I've had trouble sleeping for as long as I can remember. Not wanting to sound like a broken record, but have you mentioned this to your doctor? There has been a lot of recent research lately in the world of sleep disorders, and one that I'd never heard of is called "Non-24 Hour". Google it when you have a chance. It occurs often in people who are blind, but it also affects sighted people as well. After reading the symptoms, I was pretty convinced I had it.
I agree with stopdrop, it doesn't sound like you have a sleeping pill addiction to otc's, but your sleeping pattern does sound like you may have a sleeping disorder of some sort. The otc sleeping med I take is Unisom, which has doxycilamin (sp?) succinate as the active ingredient. It's just an antihistamine, but somewhat different from benedryl. But only the Unisom tablets have this, their gel caps contain benedryl. But anyhow, I wouldn't worry about taking benedryl for sleep; many allergy sufferers take benedryl on a daily basis.