working nights and taking meds

[clemmm78, RN]

When I was working full-time as a medical writer/editor and only once a week nights in palliative care, this wasn't an issue. But, now I'm doing minimum 3 nights (8 hrs) a week so I'm not quite sure what to do.

I take Celexa every morning*. I have to take it in the a.m. because if I take it in the evening, I have problems sleeping. So, when I'm working nights, how and when can I take my meds without having too large gaps between doses?

My schedule for this week is: Sunday, days; Monday and Tuesday, nights; off Wednesday; Thursday, nights; off for five days.

Sunday and Monday, I took the Celexa in the morning, today I took it around 10 pm, which meant a 36 hour gap between Monday and Tuesday. Tomorrow (Wed), I will have to take it early in the day so I can sleep Wed. night, but if I take it around 10 a.m, that's only 12 hours since today's dose.

Any suggestions? I have a *very* difficult time to remember to take the pills so if I'm not following a semi-regular schedule, I risk forgetting altogether.

*(I have an older brother who tried to commit suicide many years ago - I saved him, and I had a younger brother who did commit suicide almost two years ago at the age of 35, so this is really something I don't want to mess around with)

[augigi, CNS]

You need to ask your doctor or pharmacist for medical advice regarding the dosage timing.

If you do need to do alternating times, you can get pill boxes that alarm when the dose is due.

[rn/writer, RN]

We can't give medical advice so referring to the actual med is moot.

However, we can discuss the logistics involved, and I hope we do because I struggle with the same thing. I work 8-hour noc shifts two or three nights a week. Some meds don't pose a problem. I just take them at the same time whether I'm a work or at home. But there are meds that are supposed to be "daytime" or "hs" meds. And there are others that have drowsiness as a side effect. Flip-flopping those around seems dicey at best.

I've asked my docs and they haven't had have much to suggest.

You know, as I type this, I'm thinking the one person who would probably have the best advice is the pharmacist. Guess I'm going to be making a call tomorrow. The pharmacists where I shop have my complete list of meds and they should be able (far better than even the docs) to advise me how to manage this schedule.

You might want to look into that solution as well. Let's see what we each find out.