I am soooooooooo unable to sleep on my days off, and it's driving me bananas! I sure could use an Ambien right now. It is nooooooo fun waking up between 0230 and 0400 every frikkin morning I'm off! I toss and turn and can't stop THINKING. What is wrong with me, nurses?
Anyone else have trouble sleeping on their days off? How do you relax and get back to sleep without taking a Benadryl every night?
Not to mention that my upstairs neighbors are sooooooo noisy during the night. The creaking and squeaking of their floor sounds like they are IN MY BEDROOM!
Specializes in LTC, assisted living, med-surg, psych.
I've used fans for years now, even in the middle of the winter. They come in handy when I don't want to hear the kids squabbling in the bathroom in the mornings, and of course they serve a twofold purpose now that I'm square in the middle of my "change of life" with its attendant night sweats & other miseries. Yep, white noise and the occasional Ativan work wonders!
Specializes in CCU (Coronary Care); Clinical Research.
I too have a hard time sleeping on my "normal" nights, waking up at 2, 3, and 4 in the morning. If I really can't sleep I get up and watch a movie. The trick for me is to make 100% sure that I sleep that first night off again. If I don't I am messed up for the rest of the week. My first night sleeping nights, I sleep when I get home from work at 800am or so. I sleep until 200 or so. I wake up, do whatever I have to do, try to workout sometime, take a benadryl around 900/1000 at night and usually sleep through the night. I also take a benadryl my second night off. After that, I am usually back on schedule and don't need the benadryl (tylenol pm is what I use). I also use a fan. It took a while for me to figure this out but it seems to work for me. Good luck...
A nice cool bath an hour or so before bedtime. Dust on some lavender and chamomile (sp?) baby powder, and some lavender lotion. A couple of benadryl when I think I might need it. A good book. A fan -year round; doesn't have to blow on me, just against the wall to stir up the air a little. ... all things that help me fall asleep easily.
Heres an idea! As you are lying there, start dreaming(fantasy) that you are on a ship....a pirates ship....who just happens to be the best looking thing you have ever seen. He really has a good heart, its just he is looking for love. Then he kidnappes you, and you are attracted to him......
and then you can finish the rest of your fantasy, and before you know it....you are asleep!:chuckle
Uhhhh...debralynn......Whew!.......a dream like that would cause me to use plumrn's suggestion of a "cool bath" before I could get to sleep. :chuckle The wine, the fan, the HOT bath, no dreamy dreams about good lookin' hunks, a benadryl and tylenol, and a dark room should suffice. I also have a little machine that plays ocean sounds, cricket sounds, etc. Whatever it takes, I try. Hubby is overseas right now.........so I do my darndest NOT to dream dreamy dreams.....if ya'll know what I mean.
Any chance you can get an upstairs apartment, Renee? I lived in a downstairs once with noisy squeaky floors above me too..sounded like the cavalry was coming through whenever I tried to sleep. We got out of it as fast as we could.
Even my noisemaker could not drown the noise from above out. Agree all the above suggestions help...also maybe some of those soft pillow earplugs? I also must take Benadryl sometimes...if a warm bath doesn't relax me...'specially after a stressful night, lots of codes and frustrations, etc.
mattsmom....When my current lease is up, I'm moving anyway and if I rent another apartment, it WILL be upstairs for sure.
I moved here in the dead of Winter, so had to hurry and find something to move into before my new job started. Just so happens the only apartment available that was affordable enough for me was a downstairs one.
These are all wonderful tips nurses! Thanks a bunch! If these suggestions don't help me sleep, NOTHING will! Well........winning the Big Lottery would help me sleep because then I could afford to quit work, move into a nice oceanside home, and sleep to the REAL WAVES in my ears instead of my little ocean machine waves. :rotfl:
I have just started 11p-7a and I love it. But am off every sat/sun---and have hard time being on a normal sleep schedule----like I am up now.
Usually--I hate to say it but a little "Whoopie" with the dh helps. (But not tonight) I tried the good book, the fan, and the dog as company. None the less I am up now at 3:53 am.
Any suggestions.
P.S. I sleep great during the week in the daytime. The fan and an empty house-------God I can't wait til school starts back---works great.
I toss and turn and can't stop THINKING. What is wrong with me, nurses? 
VivaLasViejas, ASN, RN
22 Articles; 9,996 Posts
I've used fans for years now, even in the middle of the winter. They come in handy when I don't want to hear the kids squabbling in the bathroom in the mornings, and of course they serve a twofold purpose now that I'm square in the middle of my "change of life" with its attendant night sweats & other miseries. Yep, white noise and the occasional Ativan work wonders!