Ever hear of someone NOT being able to work night shift for health-related reasons??

Nurses Stress 101

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I was only on nights for a month and thought I was handling it alright until I had a thyrotoxic crisis. I have reason to suspect night shift is to blame, but can't find supportive literature. Can anybody relate? Or,have you heard of being physically/ physiologically unable to work 12 hr nights? Fyi: I'm in my 30s and was sleeping ok after work.

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Specializes in geriatrics.

One of my co-workers could not work nights anymore for various health reasons. She got a Doctor's note and switched to days.

There is supportive literature that discusses night shift and ill effects. Nights messes up your circadian rhythm which affects metabolism, sleep, and various other systems.

I worked permanent nights for more than four years. I enjoyed nights but many people cannot handle them.

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Specializes in LTC, assisted living, med-surg, psych.

Nights are out for me because I have bipolar disorder and they mess with my moods. As for 12-hour shifts, well.....I'm 56 and not in the best of shape. Truth be told, I had trouble with them even when I was much younger. I just didn't have the stamina. So I worked four 8-hour evening shifts per week and did fine.

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Specializes in MICU - CCRN, IR, Vascular Surgery.

I just came off of 4.5 years of permanent nights because my body decided that no matter what I did, I was no longer going to be sleeping in the daytime. Benadryl, melatonin, painted my bedroom dark blue, black out curtains, sleep mask, fan on, thunderstorm app playing on my ipad, nothing. I'd gotten to the point where some days I would only sleep 45 minutes between shifts, no matter how hard I tried to sleep.

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Specializes in ICU, psych, corrections.

If my RA continues to flare up, I may be getting a doctor's note sooner rather than later. I am scheduled to go to dayshift in the coming months but I have noticed since changing jobs, my RA has been more of an issue. I went from Monday - Friday, 7:30-4:30 to nocs, 12 hour shifts. When I was working days, I rarely had issues with my arthritis and now, it seems to be a regular problem.

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Specializes in Pediatrics, Mother-Baby and SCN.

Yes I had a co-worker or two who had duty to accommodate for their medical issues.

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Specializes in OR/PACU/med surg/LTC.

Had a coworker with cardiac history not work nights. I'm not sure all the details. They wore a nitro patch during the day with no issues but on nights, wouldn't have the patch on and would clutch his nitro spray all night.

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Specializes in LTC and Pediatrics.

I deal with SAD in the winter time so I learned that I can't work nights because of that. Not seeing the sun for days on end really affected my mood and wold send me into a depression. I work evenings now and it is great! I have time to get things done during the day and also see the sun.

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Specializes in Hospice.

It happened to me. I worked nights for 11 years straight without a problem. I did 2 years of three 12s, then it was four 8s for another six years. All back to back over the weekend, every weekend. I thrived on it. It was when I started to work an alternating weekend schedule that my blood pressure started to climb. I was off nights within 6 months and out of that job a year later.

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Night shift gives me cardiac issues.

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Some people with seizures may have a problem. Not getting enough sleep can trigger a seizure so if you have a hard time sleeping during the day that would be a legit reason to work days.

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