Hi all
I am a new nurse (off orientation for 2 months) and I have been working permanent nights since September, and although I work well at night and can sleep fine during the day, I have found that when I am off of work I try to sleep and have a panic attack as soon as my head hits the pillow. I guess it could be the stress of the new job, but a typical night off is like this: I stay up as much as possible all day, or I sleep late due to being on a night schedule, then when my entire family goes to bed at say, 10-11pm, I start getting really anxious because I KNOW I am going to be up till 4am, sometimes later. And when I do lay down to sleep, I used to just nod off with no problem, now I toss and turn and my heart is pounding the whole time.
It has really taken a toll on me, and I have taken Benadryl (a very small dose of 12.5 mg) to get to sleep recently, but I am very reluctant to take any medications for fear of becoming dependent. I have already asked to go back to day shift, and will in December, but now it seems I have fallen into this anxiety habit when it comes time to sleep at night...NOT GOOD!!
Anyone else suffered with this problem? Any advice would be appreciated!! I have suffered with panic attacks in the past in times of stress, but never took meds for them.
Thanks so much!!