Night shift adjustment disorder and sleep deprivation help

[Guitarstrings]

I'm a new nurse who started doing regular night shifts for 2 months now, 7p-7a (never worked overnights before). I usually sleep from 8 am till 2-3:30 on work days. Days off I've tried to sleep only like 3 or 4 hours to get back on track. I've covered my windows with dark blankets to block out light and have been wearing a mask to further keep light out.

The last 2 weeks though I have been having some issues.

Started out as dizziness, then today I was hit with full on sickness. Lose stools, nausea, dry heaves, fatigue, weakness, cramps, dehydration. Today I slept from 9-noon, felt HORRIBLE, took a nap from 3:45-5:30.

Currently on a diet of sprite, water and jello to erhydrate myself after my frequent lose stools. There have also been some other issues going on, as I had to up my Vanlefaxine to 75mg to help with the anxiety and general foul mood I have been experiencing lately. My anxiety has been sky high due to these adverse physical symptoms (especially the stools), though it is actually jsut a side effect of the med adjustment (I've dealt with this issue before).

Basically, I've never worked nights before and I'm not adjusting as well as I thought. Im afraid im just gonna have to adjust to overnight life on my days off as well (.8 fte) for the sake of my body and mind, as well as sleep a lot more thatn 8-10 hours a day.

Currently eating jell-o cups and lemon water, jell-o is kinda sitting okay, but anything more I might get nauseous again.

Any stories/tips/advice?

[meanmaryjean, DNP, RN]

Well, we cannot offer medical advice, but it sounds like you're just sick right now.

Please use the Search feature in the upper right of this page to find the skillion other threads about this problem as a starting point. I worked nights for 30+ years, and there is a lot of collected wisdom in already existing threads.

[Guitarstrings]

ive seen others have similar symptoms, from fatigue to dizziness and no appetite, the diarrhea seems unique to me but w/e.... My guess is that my immune system was weak enough for something to hit me hard?

I tend to get anxiety when I am ill....I get convinced that I am dying. It's horrible, especially for a psych nurse who treats pt. who feel the same >_

I don't work till friday, hopefully I'll get over it by then.

[saskrn]

What you described sounds like illness. It doesn't sound like it's related to working the night shift.

I've worked every schedule imaginable, and mostly nights. I have never heard of anyone experiencing what you described, and attributing it to working nights (or any other schedule).

[Guitarstrings]

I've got over whatever bug was ailing me but now I still have cramps, feeling of tightness in my abdomen and diahrrea. I've lost 10 lbs in the last month (after gaining 10lbs from lifting...I'm a super skinny guy) and I can't afford to lose weight much more. My appetite is almost gone, and eating is a chore at work. I might have an apple or a small sandwich and that's about all I can handle with the bloat and fullness. On days off, like today, I have horrible gas, and urge to go #2 but no results or else runny stool (TMI, but we're nurses, right? Doesn't phase us lol) I'm trying to stick to a night schedule on my days off as as much as I can hoping that my GI system will get the hint and reset its clock, but right now I'm crampy and miserable. If I were a woman I'd swear I'd be going through PMS lol.