My first 2 night shifts (7pm-7am)

Nurses New Nurse

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Specializes in LDRP.

uuugggghhhhh.

i am so tired.

that sums it up pretty well. I was worried about nights. It stayed pretty busy though. First night, I got 4 admits. I was tired, but not horribly. Did ok. THen I went home and couldn't sleep. It wasn't the light, the noise, anything. It was that my body knew what time it was and didn't want to sleep. Damn Circadian rhythm. I slept from 8:30-11:30, then tossed and turned, and I think got a few more hourse of decent sleep.

WEnt back to work that night. STill busy. ONe pt was actively dying (and did die, he was a DNR). ONe was pleasantly confused, then at 2am was naked in the hallways, and getting aggressive. By 5am I was so fuzzy headed. I was looking at my med guides, freaking out b/c I forgot to give my 1800 meds. DUH, I wasn't even at work until 1900. stuff like that.

So I came home and tried to sleep. I can't make myself sleep during hte day. I finally did some, and now I feel so out of it. GRRRR.

This stinks

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Specializes in Community Health Nurse.

:balloons: First, I notice today is your 24th birthday, so congrats on that sweet occasion! :biggringi :flowersfo :hbsmiley:

Next....hugs :icon_hug: for all you had to endure your first two nightshifts. Nights is a rough shift for some to handle. Some love it, and adjust quite well. Some -- like me -- can't handle what it does to the body. I get sick, have diarrhea, have "out of body" experiences, feel numb, can't sleep, have nausea and stomach aches. I used to prefer nightshift over dayshift, but not anymore, especially since most hospitals only hire twelve hour shift staff now...that's rough enough, but nights...yes, I feel for you. :kiss Can you change shifts? Do you want to?

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Specializes in Peds - playing with the kids.

hi,

don't worry, you will get used to it :uhoh3: . really!

you will find a pattern of sleep that will work for you.

congrats on making it through 2 nights !!!

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I couldn't sleep at first either but now a log truck could drive through my house and I would sleep right through it.

Some of my collegues take tylenol pm or nyquil, but now they seem to need it to sleep. I let my body adjust on its own ( some sleepy nights ) and now I don't have any problems. In fact I can go to sleep at any time of the day or night if I have too.

melissa :)

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my first week of nights was no sleep at all. couldn't get used to it. 5p-5a. Then it all caught up with me. My first night off after my first 3 12's I came home and was asleep by 6a.m I slept until 8 pm that night. Got up and couldn't sleep at all that night since i had slept during the day and walah...the problem was solved..I think i was having a hard time sleeping because i knew i had to go in that night, and i was stressing because it was a new job. As soon as I realized i had the night off, i slept like a baby.

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Aww, i feel ya sweet pea. I just started night shift last week as a ER tech. And like you, after my first shift I slept maaaybe 3 hours before going back in. I felt ok, but around 1am it was DEAD in the ER and I had nothing to do. I felt like I could fall alsleep standing up. But after my shift was over, I went home and slept for 11 hours straight! Thats how exhausted I felt. Now since I've done a bunch more shifts its a piece of cake.

Like others have said, its not for everyone, only problem now is that when I'm off from work, I'm wide awake at night when the rest of my family is sleeping :rolleyes: .

Dont worry though! Give it a try for a while and see how it works. It'll be tough for a little bit but its amazing how you can adapt to new surroundings and even sleep cycles.

-Annie ;)

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welcome to night shift! it will get easier...

:melody:

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