Hypersomniac moving soon to nights! Have I messed up?

Nurses General Nursing

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I currently work days (7A-7P) and I will be moving to nights, and on a different unit, in a couple of weeks. I have always wanted to try working nights since I have always been a night owl, but I am getting more nervous about this new committment with each passing day! While it is true that getting to work at 7A is a terrible thing, the thought of getting home around 8:00-8:30A is kinda tripping me out.

Here's my biggest problem, kinda embarrassing, but here goes: I have been a sleepy person for seriously like the last 25 years. I have often wondered if I have CFS. And no, it's not just laziness. I remember this problem most poignantly when I was in the 7th grade. Looking back, I know I was quite depressed too, but I honestly never have seemed to recover. I fell asleep in just about all of my classes, despite constantly rocking my legs, deep breathing, etc., really making a concerted effort to stay awake. This went on all through college. Anytime I have come back home from anywhere (high school, college, or even later from work), I would immediately have to lay down and nap. Often times for hours. Back to the 7th grade issue...I remember very clearly being barely able to lift one foot in front of the other to walk from the school bus to my home. It felt as if my body weighed 500+ lbs (but I weighed about 100). It was hard to breathe even sometimes - took too much effort. Fast forward to my first degree, age 20 or so, living on a lively college campus...."NurseCherlove, there's a great party tonight. You're gonna come tonight, right?". "Yeah, but I'll probably be late. (I had to have a lengthy nap). This has been a humiliating disability for most of my life!!!!! I have no other health problems! I am of average weight. My depression is medicated/managed well.

Fast forward to now....I have been taking Provigil for the last few months to help me basically be able to make it through my work days. However, it really does not help that much. Adderall worked much better and offered me the best quality of life thus far. However, I have even managed to take an Adderall while laying down for a nap in the hopes that I would wake up shortly, bursting with energy, and still managed to sleep for a few hours!

So all of the above verbosity was simply to demonstrate that I do indeed have a problem being some kind of hypersomniac. My life mostly centers around work and sleep. And I work dayshift!!! So have I made a huge mistake by accepting a nightshift position??? I'm afraid that I will now have to sleep even more, and will then have even less time for doing other things, like, oh, having a life!!

Last thing, and I'll shut up...Ironically, I have started waking up a little earlier on my days off now (recent change in med regime) and not sleeping 20+ hours at a time. And now I'll be moving to nights.

If you have read all of this, God bless you. Sorry for the long post. I just want to have more of a life and this has been a disabling factor for most of my life (I'm 35). Any advice on the best way to have at least a pseudo-normal life (not that I really have that now) while working FT nights would be much appreciated!!

Thanx! ;)

Specializes in Med/Surg; Psych; Tele.
Have you had hypothyroidism ruled out? My sister who's a nurse was diagnosed and placed on synthroid, and within a few weeks was feeling much more energy, lost weight, and actually grew an inch!!

Funny you should ask...I actually was misdiagnosed back in my 20's and took synthroid for close to 10 years. I was diagnosed before going to nursing school, but later tried to find ways to justify taking it, thinking that I was some kind of atypical case or something (I am 5'5" and have weighed anywhere from 105-110 lbs all through my 20's and early 30's). I think I'm about 120 now.

When was the last time you had your H&H checked? Also, I've noticed women seem to have more difficulty sleeping during the day than men.

Specializes in Hospice, Med/Surg, ICU, ER.
If you are determined to do this, make sure you get all your ducks in a row. Purchase a white noise machine of some sort. A box fan works great. Make sure your room temp is comfortable --- not too hot. Black out the windows. Tape foil on them, anything to keep the light out. Wear sunglasses if it's bright out when you leave in the morning. Don't drink caffeine or eat anything heavy, at least in the latter half of your shift; try sleepytime tea, that is soothing. Go straight home, sit down and decompress and relax, then go to bed. Try to go to bed (and awaken) at the same time every day. And take your phone off the hook, or get 'do not disturb' put on your phone service.

Somewhere (I wish I could remember what magazine I saw this) I read that one way to better adjust to shift work is to have a 4 hour window that you are sleeping EVERY day, whether you're working or off. For example, if you're working and sleep from 8am to 4pm, then on your days off, make sure you are sleeping from 8 am to noon. But not any later than that on days off. I'm not describing it as well as they did, sorry. But it made sense, and it does seem to help.

One last thing... make certain that your friends and family know that your sleep time during the day is of utmost importance and never to attempt to awaken you unless it is a true emergency. If it's something that would anger them to be awakened for in the middle of their night before work, then they best not awaken you for it either.

This is exactly what I do and it works for me.

I LOVE nights and hades will freeze over before I take a day shift job.

You do have to plan your required sleep times carefully, but it can be done.

Specializes in Neuro ICU, Neuro/Trauma stepdown.

I find the people that dont do well on nights are those that dont make the time to sleep. If I'm between shifts, I sleep from 9-5 or even 0830-1730. If it's my day off, I'm less particular. Sometimes I stay up after work on my day off and am tired so I hit the hay early and get up at a decent time.

I also think that even though I sometimes feel robbed of my time off, the days I do work I dont go in till 7 and tend to get a lot accomplished by way of cooking, cleaning ect.

Specializes in Med-Surg, Trauma, Ortho, Neuro, Cardiac.
Now that was my next question....I have heard that this works for some people. But it does seem like it would be hard on your body doing that. How can you get anything done if you don't somewhat switch over on days off? Of course, with my sleepin' self, I don't get a lot done anyway.

Everyboyd's different and people find what works for them, their families and lifestyles. It was harder on my body trying to be up during the day after being up during the night other days. Many people sleep a few hours, get up and become a day person until it's time to stay up all night again.

For me sometimes it was easier to keep a pattern of sleep that was consistent. This meant doing houseworking in the middle of the night, going to the 24 hour grocery store, the 24 hour gym, and the internet etc. Fortunately I live in an area with such things. But it was hard when the car needed repair, and going to the dentist. So there were times when I was up during the day.

13 years of nightshift though took a toll and I'm on days and loving it.

Specializes in Occ health, Med/surg, ER.

I know this is off topic, please forgive me....but have you been tested for epstein barr (sp)? I had a friend who was diagnosed with CFS and was later tested for epstein barr (sp) and came out positive. Docs said it was the cause of her chronic fatigue.

Specializes in Med/Surg.
Well, here's the thing....I had a sleep study just within this past year to R/O sleep apnea and also narcolepsy. Sleep apnea was ruled out. I mostly failed the test so narcolepsy pretty much ruled out too. But thanx for the suggestion.

After reading your post, I was going to suggest you be screened for narcolepsy(as well as other sleep disorders) because your symptoms & level of tiredness sound exactly(!!!) like mine and what I've been going through since 1996. Although mine started after getting sick with mono...and took 9 years to get diagnosed!!! To the contrary of you, I had a sleep study done in 2005 and it showed I have a severe case of narcolepsy. I've also done the Provigil-thing and had no success. Then I switched to Ritalin, but after one-and-a-half years with no luck even after increasing the dose to where I was almost taking the max amount allowed per day, I asked to be switched. So the past month-and-a-half, I've been trying Adderall and, for the most part, had considerable luck with it. On the positive side, my level of alertness & ability to "feel" and stay awake have increased, even to the point of staying awake late at night. But this has also proved to be a negative, vicious cycle because many nights I am so "wired" from the med, that I can't fall asleep until well after midnight, often times forcing myself to try, and then struggling(as usual) to wake up in the morning due to being so tired...and I also work Day shift.

Anyways, I hope you have success with the night-shift switch. As I'm sure you know, only you can determine what your body can handle. But please be careful and listen to what it's telling you as far as your level of fatigue goes. Good luck!

Specializes in Med/Surg; Psych; Tele.
I know this is off topic, please forgive me....but have you been tested for epstein barr (sp)? I had a friend who was diagnosed with CFS and was later tested for epstein barr (sp) and came out positive. Docs said it was the cause of her chronic fatigue.

Not off topic at all (not for me at least - I would do about anything to feel "normal", so I'm all ears!). Actually, that is not a bad idea. All other labwork usually looks good, but I haven't tested specifically for that one. Perhaps I should instead of diagnosing myself with idiopathic hypersomnia (I'm 100% convinced that this is what I have after doing the research).

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