Ever Get Insomnia B-4 Work?

catlady, BSN, RN · Aug 10, 2006

I take a double dose of melatonin on the nights before I am scheduled to work. It helps me get asleep but it doesn't help me stay asleep. I was up for good at 3:30 this morning after waking up several times previously. And sometimes it doesn't work at all.

Although I think it's funny that when I worked nights, five hours' sleep was considered good, but working days, five hours' sleep is terrible. :)

tridil2000, MSN, RN · Aug 10, 2006

I know this is a common issue and I am affected by it too. For years I have fought the pre work jetters and not sleeping well, even when things go well and after a 12 hour shift I am emotionally so worked up you'd think I'd just drop off into a deep sleep.
Just wondering if I am not alone. Does it ever go away???
Now with most shifts 12 hour, starting so early, are there any clock watchers out there too? I do use OTC sleep aides and sometimes Ambien several nights a month for a special treat but I hate taking drugs. Its not like we can exercise when for example, I am up at 4, leave at 5:A.M. and home hopefully by 7:30 P.M. if no OT. Sound familiar?

yes, it does go away..... after many years though.

you get used to the same stuff, so you become emotionally immune.

however, if you have been in your job for over 5 years and you still have prework insomnia, maybe it's time for a change.

TheCommuter, BSN, RN · Aug 10, 2006

I work 16-hour double shifts on Saturday and Sunday. I always have profound insomnia on Friday night before work, so I usually am quite groggy while working my Saturday double shift.

anne74 · Aug 10, 2006

I ALWAYS get stomach aches, insomnia, nervousness, etc., before a shift. However, I've only been doing this for 6 months, so I figured that's normal for me.

That is a really interesting point about 5 hours of sleep being good if on a night shift, but not a day shift. Why is that? The only thing I can think of is on my floor, the night shifts are a little calmer - so you don't require the same energy level? But, I've had many a night that's crazy busy.

Melotonin, Benedryl, etc., don't work for me. The only thing that works for me is Ambien. And of course, my insurance company doesn't pay a dime for Ambien, and I can't afford the $100+ for the scrip. (Why do nurses get crappy health insurance? An oxymoron don't you think?) And I swing between days and nights, so it's very hard to switch my internal clock back and forth. Sometimes we even have to work days/nights within the same week. That's just mean.

Best of luck to you- if the insomnia thing has been going on for too long, maybe you should switch.

shastacicuRN · Aug 10, 2006

Yep, Melotonin and earplugs.....keeping active and exercising on my days off.. helps... but yes, after a stressful and busy day, it is hard to shut off the mind to sleep.. and when the sleep does eventualy come.... it is only a few hours, and time to get up and start all over again... rest mainly arrives on my days off.... I can sleep so well when I don't have to work the next day!

mtngrl, ASN, RN · Aug 10, 2006

I work at all sorts of different times (prn) at a group home, usually in the evening. Occasionally I will start at 7am. I don't do that often because whenever I have to be at work really early, I sleep terrible. I am so afraid of being late that I hardly sleep at all. I usually wake every hour and look at the clock! The only sleep aid I have ever taken was an OTC one, and it just made me shaky, no help at all. There is just no way I could ever work an early shift full time. I would be way too out of it due to lack of sleep.

MIA-RN1, RN · Aug 10, 2006

I solved the problem for myself by finding a 3p - 11:30p position. Now I don't stress at all about sleeping or getting up early. I did my final week of 7a - 3p last week and it was torture because I'd been switching back and forth days to eves. Now I am strictly straight eves and those are the hours that work for me. I have in the past taken benadryl and that helps but it leaves me a little groggy in the morning after. Plus after a few nights in a row it doesn't work as well.

I used to get terrible insomnia the night before clinicals in school, and every Sunday night that I had to get up on the Monday after for any reason at all. What I did was take a few deep breaths and start counting slowly back from 100. On every 10th number (90, 80, 70 etc) I would take a really deep breath. I would usually find myself losing count in the 70's but waking up again. Everytime I woke up, I made myself start from 100 again. I don't know why it worked but I never got lower than the 30's before falling asleep.

SaraO'Hara · Aug 14, 2006

I get insomnia every night before I start a new week - basically, so jittery that I wake up every half hour. This gets progressively better until my last pre-work night, when I sleep normally. I use my 2 days off to catch up on sleep :idea:

I'm considering buying some OTC sleeping pills - "Mondays" (I work rotating shifts, so Monday may actually fall on a Thursday!) are bad enough without being groggy.

RaElrA · Aug 14, 2006

I have been wondering about that, and everyone looks at me like I'm crazy when I tell them I can get by on less sleep if I sleep days. I'm a student, and "tested" it this summer while taking internet classes, to see how nights will work for me--fabulous--I will probably never want anything but night shift. Perhaps it's just us "cat ladys," lol. I have two beautiful torties--sisters, one with a halo and one with horns.

Lachrymologist · Aug 14, 2006

I was wondering. What is it specifically about your jobs that gets you all so jittery?

dragonflyRN · Aug 14, 2006

I need less sleep overall...but tend to have a catch up day of sleep.