Things to try:

1) If you are low in B12, then you are not making melatonin from serotonin. No melatonin = no or poor sleep
So you can get tested to see what your B12 levels are.
Or you can decide to take it anyway.
1mg (1000mcg) of methylcobalamin daily on an empty stomach may improve sleep

2) people vary in responses to amino acids taken separately.
You can try taking the tryptophan every other day, or every 3 rd day etc to mimic natural ingestion from foods.
Genetically there are amino acid disorders, but they are not common. Stimulating the synthesis of serotonin is helpful to a point, but there is always the chance of causing a surplus.

Unfortunately we do not have a window or dipstick to measure people to see exactly what each needs. When you are doing something like this and run into side effects, then you have to step back and see what changes you may need to make in what you are taking.

Is tryptophan the ONLY thing you supplement with? Do you take other drugs for other things?

Remember, the goal of using supplements wisely is to restore a balance that is skewed.
They are not like DRUGS, which create effects of their own.

I'll try some B12 as well - seems like B vitamins play an important role - I had no idea. I don't take any other drugs or supplements other than a few vitamins in teh morning - a multivitamin, fish oil, and I've started taking magnesium. I do take 2 ibuprofen tablets at night to help me drop off to sleep.

Ibuprofen may deplete melatonin levels (if used chronically)
It also depletes folic acid.

So taking a B-50 daily in the morning may help.
B12 will also help.

Tryptophan does not enter the blood brain barrier when other amino acids are plentiful. There is a competition for it at the membrane level. Most of the serotonin in your body--over 90% is not in the brain at all.

So taking it on an empty stomach may give more brain activity.

This is a link to the pathways that tryptophan can take.
http://www.genome.jp/kegg/pathway/map/map00380.html

It is rather humbling I think. Each rectangle with a number is an enzyme that performs a certain job.

Here is the wiki link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tryptophan
Notice:
Both of these are common problems.

That's interesting - I'm lactose intolerant... thank you much for the info.

i recall in a forum gaba being cited for causing excitedness instead of sedatedness, calmness, and i cant put my finger on where or what forum it was from. but for some reason, for one or two people it caused this. for me anyways, it did jack squat, it was like taking a placebo,of some sort. i took the chewable pharmagaba from dr murray.

and vit b6 has caused for me intense dreams and/or nightmares, in combination with melatonin. now im not sure if it was the b6 itself taken at night, or the melatonin, or combination of both, all i know is that my body didnt like it. i was taking a multivitamin at the same time, so i may have overshot the b6 a little bit. which exacerbated my problems.

so be careful with taking the vit b6 at night, if it causes trouble then at least take it in the late evening around 6:00pm, if u take it seperate from other things.

wow ghb, i looked it up and i got party drugs, and date rape drugs. never thought of xyrem, i do have insomnia, so i may hafta try that drug possibly.

I don't think I could handle B6 at night. I've taken B6 and B12 and inositol today, and I can see some mood improvement already.
GHB is a 'drug' drug, definitely, and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. It was the first thing that ever helped my brain, though, and it wasn't illegal when I first tried it.

well xyrem is not illegal