breaks and migraines

Flynurse · Apr 10, 2003

I get migraines too....for many diff reasons. Let's just face it, I'm a walking migraine headache! and self-dx hypoglycemic.

Anyway, to avoid getting one b/c I don't eat...I eat on the way to work, I eat at breakfast break (30 min.) I eat at lunch break (45min), I grab a breakfast bar around 330pm when I finish charting, I eat a peice of fruit between giving out 5pm meds and reporting off...and maybe a little something on the way home if I don't feel like eating a whole meal when I get home.

Sounds like alot but its really not. I tend to eat my breakfast bar while charting and pop into the kitchenette to eat my fruit.

Happy Eating!

RNonsense · Apr 10, 2003

You'll get used to eating in a standing position while wearing gloves waiting for the hopper to finish

I can't speak for eveyone, but generally you get time somewhere in the day to grab a coffee and eat something. Breakfast is a MUST though! If you don't get a coffee, you may have to go 5 hours or more before you can eat! I had the bad habit too at first, but now I force myself to at least eat a banana or something.

saccharin · Apr 10, 2003

Thanks for the info FlyNurse :) My mom suffers from chronic migraines so I guess I know who I got them from. I always get them from rainy weather or really hot weather. Some of my friends think I am crazy because of that. Anyhow, thank you for sharing. I didnt realise that nurses got more than 1 break. 2 breaks sound like heaven! Is the cafeteria food any good? The closest food place we have to our hospital is a McDonalds, i can imagine that getting old fast. You're making me hungry for a breakfast bar now, the raspberry ones are the best!

Flynurse · Apr 10, 2003

You have to make yourself take that morning break....its hard to get away sometimes, but if for your health you need to, get off the floor!

passing thru · Apr 10, 2003

You got lunch, 2 breaks AND you want GOOD CAFETERIA FOOD TOO ?? hhaa ha ha

brown bag so you'll have time to eat.......nurses rarely go to the cafeteria. thats for visitors and volunteers and students.............housekeeping employees, secretaries, new employees on orientation.................

Rena RN 2003, RN · Apr 10, 2003

i work 12's in the ER and we do take lunch on dayshift. we're supposed to have 30 minutes but our dept. manager says to take longer because we probably won't have a chance for those 10 minutes breaks.

if i work an evening shift (4-midnight etc.) we consider ourselves lucky if we get to go to the bathroom. so most of us have learned to eat on the fly and the rule of no food at the nurses station just does not apply. i've seen the time it would take me 3 hours to eat a twix bar and drink a can of pepsi.

when i work night shift, we usually have a lull around 2-4 a.m. so we manage to eat a meal but it's brown bag as we have no vending machines in the ER and the cafeteria is closed.

cactus wren · Apr 10, 2003

When I worked a regular hospital job, I had enough food stashed in my locker to get me through a prolonged famine. Now I`m doing agency, I have a huge bag...it usually has a protein bar, micro popcorn, juice boxes...and some fruit. If I know that where I`m scheduled has a fridge, I usually bring a frozen meal of some type....Hosptial cafeteria food is bland, and usually yukky....especially, when it sits for 3 hours,cause after you went and got it ,things went to he$$....

Tweety, BSN, RN · Apr 10, 2003

I eat on the run, usually veggies and fruits at the station when I'm charting, or even when I'm walking by I'll grab a carrot.

Working a 12 hour shift without food is inhumane. When I'm in charge I insist and demand that "my" coworkers eat something, anything regardless of how busy and behind they are. They are useless and crazy and lunatics otherwise. If I hear at the end of the shift a cry "I didn't get to eat", I yell at the nurse "why didn't you tell me before now!!!".

There's no excuse for not eating during a 12-hour shift. IMHO. Usually that involves having food on hand, rather than taking the time to go to the cafeteria to get a meal and actually sit down and eat it.

Disablednurse · Apr 10, 2003

Where I used to work, you got a 15 minute break before and after your meal, and get a 30 minute meal break. Just enough time for a quick lunch. Shifts were only 8 hours long. On days, breaks were at 9am/2pm, evenings; 4:30pm/9pm and nights it was 1am/5am. It was always hard to get the second break, but most just quit what they were doing and took it.

cindylouwho · Apr 10, 2003

how many other jobs can you think of where the employee doesn't get regular lunch breaks?....I've been known to be stuck in a room (NICU) all day with barely a bathroom break...that's inhumane.....and I too have self-diagnosed hypoglycemia...I get real hateful when I'm hungry and goofy......funny but I don't see management working a 12 hour shift with nothing to eat or drink....it just amazes me how much like dogs we are treated and once again....DO YOU WONDER WHY THERE'S A NURSING SHORTAGE?....I don't at all.....

ladyjane · Apr 10, 2003

i suffer from migraines too. recently at work, i did 14 hard hours with no meal or rest breaks, no bathroom breaks either. it ruined my wk-end off, i had a migraine for 4 days. i absolutely had no time for myself. those days are more frequent than not. is it just me, or anyone else seeing more people that don't have social graces anymore? i can be on the phone to a physician, talking, not on hold, and the secretary, or another nurse will start telling me something. i say something like...i can't talk to 2 people here,..then you are desnignated as the witch. oh, my aching head!!