Night shift nurses...How many hours of sleep do you get?

[RoxanRN]

Depending on the day, I get to bed between 0900 and 1100 (if we go to the gym or not). I try to sleep til around 1645 (have to get up and get the kids from school/sitter. I take Ambien to help me sleep. Otherwise, it's forever before I go to sleep and I wake up frequently and take forever to get BACK to sleep.

When I'm off for 2+ days, I switch to a day schedule. I still take the Ambien to sleep as I continue to have the same problems (had this problem for many, many years). :sleep:

[estrogen]

Depending on the day, I get to bed between 0900 and 1100 (if we go to the gym or not). I try to sleep til around 1645 (have to get up and get the kids from school/sitter. I take Ambien to help me sleep. Otherwise, it's forever before I go to sleep and I wake up frequently and take forever to get BACK to sleep.

When I'm off for 2+ days, I switch to a day schedule. I still take the Ambien to sleep as I continue to have the same problems (had this problem for many, many years). :sleep:

I recently started to work night shift and I can't sleep at all during the day, unless I take the Ambien, that I got prescribed by my doc a long time ago, just in case. Now I got my one and only refill on that prescription the other day and there is no more after that... I have to say, the Ambien is sooooooo nice, like cozy soft blankie being gently pulled over your head and off you go to blissfull sleep... BUT I am affraid that I would get addicted to it, so I try not to take it (and consequently I simply DON'T sleep) uless I absolutely have to... before my second or third night on, when I am absolutely exhausted and I know I'll die at work, if I don't sleep. On my days off, I just switch back to my families (I have to little ones and a day shift hubby) normal day schedule and sleep fine without Ambien at night.

So, my question is, a) can I safely take it once or twice a week without developing an addiction (I heard horror stories of withdrawals and rebound insomnia) and b) is my doc going to write me a new prescribtion, when I ask him to? Is he likely to continue prescribing it to me indefinately?

.....I mean, what a situation! I am a mom of a nine month old and a five year old, I have to work in order for our family to get by financially and the only option, without spending my entire pay check on day care is night shift. I have to play mom during the day and play nurse during the night (I have a .7 FTE, so one week I work five nights, the next week only two). So as you can see, there is not much room for sleep. And if there is some, I can't sleep without drugs anyway. I would hate my choice to be either to develop an addiction to get sleep, or to not sleep and get sick from that eventually... :uhoh21:

[Candidnt]

It varies for me...I graduated from 100 mg Benadryl to Ambien....that helped some, but after two back injuries, I graduated to Valium. So that, with a little Xanax on board, helps me get some sleep, but it varies, I can get as little as 5 hours, and as many as 9...if I've had a stressful night at work, I still can't get to sleep right away, even after medication...and I do have a lot of stressful nights...if the cats wake me up, that doesn't help. I've learned to shut off the ringer on the phone. AOL call alert now picks up on all that. Somebody also told me it was age related...and that's probably true. I find I have more trouble sleeping as I get older. Fellow coworkers told me they slept like babies when they were young, but as they got older they were more up and down during their sleep hours...and I guess I see that in the older population that I care for; I've noticed it in my mom...weird thing is sometimes when i do manage to get 8 or 9 hours, i still don't feel like I've gotten enough, and I wake up thinking, "oh god, do I really have to go in?"

[RoxanRN]

so, my question is, a) can i safely take it once or twice a week without developing an addiction (i heard horror stories of withdrawals and rebound insomnia) and b) is my doc going to write me a new prescribtion, when i ask him to? is he likely to continue prescribing it to me indefinately?

yes, you can take it once or twice a week. this is how my doctor recommended i take it. i started out this way, but unfortunately have had to take it more frequently due to my sleep nature (difficult going to/staying asleep). he gave me the original rx (1 month), rewrote for a 2nd with 2 refills, and most recently, wrote an rx for mail order pharmacy (3 months' supply at one time x3 refills).

i also use trazadone if i don't have time to sleep off the effects of the ambien or am just exhausted and only need a little push over the edge. it works ok. i will generally take ambien 5mg if i have less than 5-6 hours available to sleep (i'm guaranteed 4 hours great sleep) :sleep:; i'll take 10 mg if i can sleep 6-8 hours (guaranteed 6-7 hours). :sleep:

[estrogen]

yes, you can take it once or twice a week. this is how my doctor recommended i take it. i started out this way, but unfortunately have had to take it more frequently due to my sleep nature (difficult going to/staying asleep). he gave me the original rx (1 month), rewrote for a 2nd with 2 refills, and most recently, wrote an rx for mail order pharmacy (3 months' supply at one time x3 refills).

i also use trazadone if i don't have time to sleep off the effects of the ambien or am just exhausted and only need a little push over the edge. it works ok. i will generally take ambien 5mg if i have less than 5-6 hours available to sleep (i'm guaranteed 4 hours great sleep) :sleep:; i'll take 10 mg if i can sleep 6-8 hours (guaranteed 6-7 hours). :sleep:

thanks roxane. sounds reassuring to me... i hope 10 mg of ambien once or twice a week will keep working for me...

[earthlovers123]

Usually sleep from 9am til 2 pm..about 5 hours..but seem to wake up several times during that time...chopped up sleep sux! lol

I also work night shift

It is hard to get enough sleep during the day

I am full time nursing student and work full time ...

[earthlovers123]

I am a real princess about my sleep. I will not let the phone or life outside my bedroom interrupt whenever possible. That said, typically, it's at least 7 hours. Life is too short to screw up my health with less.

You are absolutely right ..

I should have realised this before

[earthlovers123]

i can't go to sleep when first getting home as i need to wind down. i'll watch tv, play games on the net, or read and bedtime has gradually gotten later and later. lately i have been going to bed around 2pm and getting up around 9pm have a cup of coffee then take my shower and get ready to go again. somehow going through the typical morning routine of coffee, shower, getting dressed etc. makes me feel more 'normal' on fridays i work doubles so sleep is maybe 3-4 hours max.

you are telling my story !

i also play with my toys ..computer never realise to go to bed

i wish i could manage time better

[Littlewonder]

Wow, I am glad to know that so many people are in the same boat that I am in! Sleep is hard when you have kids and work nights. I usually get about an hours nap before my first night (when I am tired enough to sleep.) Then I sleep from about 9AM to 2PM (sometimes until three if I am exhausted.) At this point I get up because I HAVE to go to the bathroom and I can never get back to sleep afterwards! Then, my boys (5 and 1) see me and I have no chance of getting back to bed. On days that I am not scheduled to go back that night, I end up getting up at noon and staying up until 10pm or so to get back to sleeping nights. All in all, I end up pretty tired by the end of a stretch on. I wish I could figure out a way to sleep more and still see my family when I work.

[estrogen]

Okay, I have a nine month old boy and a five year old girl. I work a 0.7 FTE, two night and three night stretches. Before the first night on I typically don't sleep at all. I slept the wole night before and therefore am not tired enought to fall asleep. So I at least try to rest on the couch, watching tv before I go to work. The next day I am pretty exhausted, but I still cannot fall asleep during the day (even my hunderd dollar black out curtains don't do the trick for this sleepless puppy :uhoh21: ). So I stay up all morning, sometimes driving my preschool daughter to her swimming or ballett classes. If I'm lucky, I catch an hour of snoozing on the couch, when the kids are watching cartoons. My babysitter (my husbands adult daughter from fist marriage) comes in at around two. I pop an Ambien and go to sleep. Usually I can't sleep more than five hours even on the Ambien. I wake up hearing my kids babbling next door and I want to be with them so badly, there's no way after those five hours that I would fall back asleep. My husband comes home around six pm, so the sitter is there only for about four hours.

My three day streth is over the weekend (every other weekend) and then I can usually modify when I go to sleep because hubby is at home, and so I try to get into bed around ten or eleven am and get back up by two or three pm.

Ahhhh, my life.... not easy but winging it for the time being. :Melody:

[nursescar]

So I am going to be working 2 eights and 2 tweleves-monday-thurs. (nights)

any advice for me? both my girls are 18.5 and 17 and hubby is supportive!

What kinds of phones do you guys get ? Thank have a turn off switch?

Thanks! Scarlett :rotfl:

[nursescar]

So I am going to be working 2 eights and 2 tweleves-monday-thurs. (nights)

any advice for me? both my girls are 18.5 and 17 and hubby is supportive!

What kinds of phones do you guys get ? Thank have a turn off switch?

Thanks! Scarlett :rotfl:

I realized that was kind of a silly thing to ask--what kind of phones......I am just trying to be prepared......these fancy At&t phones we have do not have turn offs on them!