Anyone else experience insomnia that needed DORAs to correct?

So, knock on wood that it's really corrected because it's only been one night with Belsomra.

Pre-surgery I would definitely wake up once or twice a night on average but it was fine because I felt like I'd been hit by a truck and could just fall right back asleep. Post-surgery waking up has been like a light switch. Almost impossible to fall back asleep.

Dark cool room, no lights, don't check the time or my phone, I'd get out of bed and sit on a chair in the dark because of the DBT stuff about not lying in bed. Never once was I able to fall back asleep. My average sleep time fell to 5-6 hours. On a bad night it was 3 and a good night 7. 8 hours of sleep became a fantasy.

Last night after taking 20mg of Belsroma before bed I woke up at probably the 5 hour mark. It was agonizing and bliss. It took all of my effort to roll out of bed and reach the restroom and my legs felt like lead. This used to be my normal but it's great because I feel so dead tired I know I'll nod right back to sleep. I didn't wake up again until my alarm went off which was set for 8.5 hours from when I went to bed. It took 20 minutes of lying there before I could muster the ability to roll out of bed which was my old normal.

I haven't been able to find any conclusive studies on gastric bypass resulting in chronic insomnia though. With how Belsomra works it implicates Orexin and I have found studies that bariatric surgery is known to increase Orexin levels like this one:
https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0383/9/10/3327

And although some sources state paradoxically there can be instances of increased insomnia most of the studies you find indicate sleep is improved due to the improvements in sleep apnea.

Belsomra was the only medication that got me back to my pre-surgery ability to fall back asleep.

Other things I'd tried:

1. Exercise: Obviously we're supposed to be doing this anyway and my insomnia has made it harder to stick to a regiment but even the nights where I managed to strength train and go on walks I always woke up too early.

2. Melatonin: I was already doing this pre-surgery. Bouts of acute Insomnia with stress have always been normal for me but this was the first experience with chronic insomnia.

3. Trazodone: 100mg plugged my nose so I was restricted to 50 mg. It extended the time until my first awakening but I still could never fall back asleep.

4. Doxepin: 6mg had the same effect as Doxepin.

5. Magnesium L-Threonate: This was the best addition and I used 2000mg. I felt like it became possible, half of the time, to fall back to a very light sleep with vivid dreams that made me wonder if I was actually asleep.

I had an anemia test performed and my Ferritin, Iron, B-12 levels were all good so it doesn't look like it was a case of iron deficiency induced insomnia which was one of my suspects.

Was just wondering if anyone had a similar experience?

I was hesitant to try Belsomra because it doesn't have a generic and I hate the idea of my insurance tying me to a job but I was being pushed to the brink.

When I saw that the manufacturer is being sued to allow generic entry in 2029 it felt kind of like a sign to try it.