Night Shift Complications

[knurse10]

I work night shift, 6p to 630a. I've been having a tough time sleeping on my days off. Yes, I am having trouble sleeping at night. I am currently taking zyrtec, melatonin, and a 1/2 dose of Nyquil on my first night off to try to get to sleep. Just wondering if anyone else struggles with this. I sleep like a baby during the day when I work nights thanks to blackout curtains. I am adding exercise in when september comes. I swim laps and the pool is overcrowded until the kiddos go back to school. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[knurse10]

I hear ya. What I'm finding is the combo doesn't help me fall asleep, it just makes me drowsy as heck the next day. Also, I didn't start out taking all three. I tried the zyrtec and that stopped working. Then added the melatonin. If I'm still awake 3 hrs later then that's when the Nyquil comes in.

I just feel like I want to stay as far away from ambien as possible. The only way to switch my schedule would be to do rotating shifts which I believe would be even harder to deal with. From what other night shifters are saying, it seems like I need to stop trying to switch my schedule to sleeping at night on days off. I will try this. Will also cut out the Nyquil. Am considering Tylenol pm instead of zyrtec. It contains benadryl if I'm not mistaken.

[Zelda, RN]

Unisom? That works really well for me. Also, Ambien isn't the only sleep med available. I took trazodone for a while and that worked well for me, without the drowsiness or burn-your-house-down risk.

[kummerspeck]

I know so many long time night shifters that have difficulty getting to sleep. When I have more than one day off in a row, I will sleep through that first night, but the nights before a night shift I sleep more like my work schedule. And when I sleep after work, I split it. Five hours right after I get home, and usually 2-3 hours before I head in to work. I hear that the longer you work nights, the harder this gets. Hopefully I won't have this shift long enough for it to cause problems for me!!

If I were you, I would definitely talk to your provider and see if you can find something that works better, without having to polypharm for sleep.

[l1234567]

I find phenergan helpful (10mls). Maybe you could try a little routine that you do before bed days on and off? Something prompts your body mentally to go: "i'm ready for bed".

[knurse10]

I honestly never considered unisom. Will give it a try.

To the other posters: a few of you recommended splitting my sleep time up. Like 4 or 5 hours and then awake and then sleep another few. Does this actually work for you? It seems like there would be no circadian rhythm at all. I feel like this would be good for transitioning from nights to days or vice versa.

I absolutely love working night shift, but I never thought sleep would be something that I actually had to plan for.

[evilolive07, BSN]

On days that I am going back to work, I usually wake up around 8am (like I would on a regular day off), and then try to lay down for a nap by 1pm until 5pm. Sometimes I'm lucky enough to stay awake the entire night before, and will go to bed by 10am and sleep until 5pm. By my 2nd shift, I'm in bed by 9:30am and sleep until 5:30pm.

On days I have to flip back.... let's say I'm coming off 3 midnights - I sleep the entire day until my body tells me to get up, usually around 9pm. Then go back to bed by 2-3am. This is usually enough to get me back onto a day schedule.

Of course, sometimes it doesn't work, and I do not have a family that requires me to be awake early on days off. This pattern of mine also assumes that I'll have at least two days off. If I don't, then it's kind of a crapshoot as to what my body does.

Please avoid the Ambien on your nights off! I took it for a year or two, made a few steak and cheeses in the middle of the night, and was left with intermittent anxiety attacks and a few pounds from the grinders I made. I use benadryl 50mg to help me get drowsy if I have at least 6-7 hours to rest.

Good luck!

[Kitiger, RN]

I work night shift, 6p to 630a. I've been having a tough time sleeping on my days off. Yes, I am having trouble sleeping at night.

When I come off a string of nights, I go to bed in the morning and sleep 3 or 4 hours. I get up then, even if I'm groggy. A little exercise right off the bat does wonders in getting me awake. I go to bed that evening at my usual time, and sleep all night.

If it's rainy/achy, I'll take Tylenol or aspirin.

By the way, Tylenol does not contain diphenhydramine; that would be Tylenol PM.

[Kitiger, RN]

I absolutely love working night shift, but I never thought sleep would be something that I actually had to plan for.

In order to work nights, you do have to plan for sleep, and you do have to schedule a specific time for sleep.

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

I could but then I wouldn't see my husband very much. I've tried switching my sleep schedule around a few different ways, but I feel like sleep still eludes me.

I don't understand. Is your husband at home during the daytime and works in the evenings? If you sleep 7a-3p, you'd still see him in the evening.

[pinkiepieRN]

I have an advantage to this game: I LOVE SLEEP. I could sleep anywhere at almost anytime, unplanned. If I'm coming in to a 7p or 11p shift after a day or two off, I'm in bed by 2, up by 11 and back down for a nap around 3. After a shift, I'm usually in bed from 9-5. I'll stay up and then head to bed early, around 1. My schedule flip flops all over the place and I also work some 3-11s but it works for me.

I guess you could say that I "anchor sleep". I'm almost always in bed between 1 and 5.

I do take Trazadone, which works sometimes. If that doesn't work, I take a tiny dose of Xanax because it's usually that my mind is racing. I do breathing exercises and I also listen to a "sleep" music station on Pandora.