Melatonin?

[samarooni]

Hi all, I just survived my first weekend of night shift, phew! I like the pace better for SURE and that fact that just the nurses are around on the floor, much quieter/less hectic. However, staying up and getting sleep when I got home was another challenge! Has anyone here ever tried melatonin/heard if it is effective? When I get home I'm able to sleep about 4-5 hours, then I'm up for a bit, then I go back to sleep before work. I'd rather just sleep all at one time.....tips? S

[LilDKessler]

I take melantonin every night to help me fall asleep. I am one of those that lays in bed thinking instead of drifting off. I take 1 tab 3 mg 1/2 before bed & it helps soothe me into sleep. Hope this helps! Sweet dreams

[kiszi, RN]

I take it most days, 1/2 of a 3mg tab as well. More does not make it more effective. I used to take the whole 3mg. Now I find I fall asleep quicker with 1.5, and some of the side effects (weird dreams, difficulty waking) have lessened quite a bit. I did some research before trying it, and it seems pretty safe to me. And quite natural feeling, unlike a sleeping pill. Good luck!

btw, I easily sleep 7-8 hours in a row. (night shift too.) Sometimes I'll just take a quick 15-20 min. snooze right before work.

[txspadequeenRN, BSN, RN]

i could take the whole bottle and nothing!!!!

[NJNursing, ASN, RN]

It never really worked for me. I take 25mg of Diphenhydramine (Benadryl basically) and that helps me off to sleep and keeps my allergies away, lol

[Country PICU]

I have tried melantonin several times. I found the difficulty of waking up a major problem. I would waist my days off feeling just too tired to do anything. I find valerian root to work much better. I drift off into a deep restful sleep. It does not matter if I only sleep 3, 4, and 5 or 6 hours once I wake up, I am good for the day. It's not about the number of hours of sleep but rather the quality of sleep. Valerian root allows me to sleep deeply. On really bad weeks when I am rolling from night work to day work to night work again some time I will take both a valerian root and a melantonin.

You may also want to try a sleeping mask. I found that the sunlight would interfere with my sleep pattern. Once I gave in and tried the sleeping mask I was able to sleep without using valerian root or melantonin. I now only take valerian root about once every two weeks or so. Another trick is to have a fan running in the room. The noise from the fan will mask noise from other family members that may be waking you up.

Good Luck

[elkpark]

I have tried melatonin in the past, when I was working nocs, and it did nothing for me -- however, my boyfriend at the time, who also worked nocs, found it very effective. If you check the literature, you'll see that the recommended dosage for sleep is much lower than the usual dosage you see sold in stores. I found only one source in my area that sold the lower dosage tabs.

Good luck! It takes a while to get into a good routine with nocs.