Chronic insomnia

No, but I am tempted to find a doctor (a shrink?) to treat mine.
Not too hopeful about those so-called "sleep clinics'...

For a while I had bad insomnia. I never drank caffeine in the evening, only early in the day. But then I read that caffeine san stay in the body for something like twenty hours and affect sleep this long. I curbed caffeine intake, even in the early morning, and I found that this had a huge impact on my ability to sleep. If you haven't already eliminated caffeine completely, I would recommend you try that.

i've had this problem too for awhile, but if you've been consistently getting up in the morning it's probably not bad sleep habit. a pill or two of melatonin (dosage here), a hot water bottle for your feet (can't quote the article, but I remember a pubmed publication that showed warm feet helped to sleep and that insomniacs had colder feet than normal people), exercise during the day, no bright lights or tv at night, cool and clean bedroom. I've had less trouble that past two weeks.

there's actually a lot of possible causes. you should also probably see your doctor.

if you have chronic insomnia no medication will help you. you have to change your habits and learn how to relax. step one is to learn to relax your muscles in your face while you probably think about your day. step two is to create a rite and not to think about your day. step 3 is to fall asleep wiithout even thinking ..

I tried valerian and melatonin years ago, and found I developed tolerances to them very quickly. As in: they were only half as effective the second night I took them, and a quarter as effective the third, etc.

Like rayuela said, cut back on caffiene. Certainly, no caffiene after noon.

As for perscription drugs, I've had pretty good experiences with Trazadone. I've been taking it for maybe three years and it's still every effective. Whatever you do, avoid Zyprexa/Seroquel like the plague. Oh, and propofol as well.

This seemed to work for Jackson, albeit too well, so to speak.

The IV drip might be a bit of a hassle, no? Seriously though some of the new prescription sleep meds like Ambien are supposed to be pretty good, not as many side effects as the old stuff.

The melatonin+valerian root cocktail helps one to fall asleep, but doesn't prevent waking up several times during the night

Go to some support groups. Melanoma, blood parasites, tuberculosis. But not testicular cancer- that's mine.

Drink chamomile tea

I had this same problem until a couple of weeks ago... Tried a sublingual version of Melatonin + some other Chinese herbs called Sleep Once Again. Got a free 30-day trial at www.Best-SleepAid.com Great thing about it is that it works right away instead of having to wait 30-45 min to digest.

Heh. His name is Robert Paulsen....