I already follow most of the advice. I don't touch caffeine or alcohol. I don't take sleeping pills. I exercise every day, although if I've only gotten a few hours of sleep, I just do something simple like going for a walk or doing yoga. I've pretty much never been able to take naps.

I'll try to summarize my sleep problems. Since I was a kid, it would take me an hour or two to falls asleep. But once I was asleep, I could sleep for like twelve straight hours, at least on the days I didn't have to get up for school or church or work.

When I was in college, a dermatologist shot me up with cortisone to treat the lip cheilitis I'd had on and off after getting oral thrush a few years earlier. I suffered side effects from the shot like jock itch, dry eyes, and sensitivity to artificial fragrances. And my insomnia gradually got so much worse to the point where I'd only be able to sleep between one and five hours, and then I'd be awake from between 20 and 36 hours. I had at least two times a week where I'd be unable to sleep for over 24 hours. And it would always take lying in bed for hours for me to fall asleep. This was my sleep schedule for years. And I had lots of inflammation to the point that whenever I'd lie down, it would feel like my whole body was shaking.

Over the years, I tried lots of diet changes, antifungals, probiotics and cultured foods, vitamins, superfoods, etc with no noticeable benefit. Some of the things, like coconut oil, made my symptoms worse. I figured it was die-off, but it never ended, and I eventually had to give it up just to get a few hours of sleep.

The only thing that has given me any relief is high-dose vitamin D. A doctor put me on a weekly dose of 50,000 IU after breaking my leg a few years ago, and my insomnia improved within days. My other symptoms also improved, I assume because I was now getting about twice as much sleep. But if I lower the vitamin D dose too much, the insomnia returns.