Night Work

jannrn · Jun 20, 2006

I am curious if any night-shifters have experience with sleep aids like lunesta or ambien. I give those to pts very often, but am afraid to try them as I don't want to get dependent on them.

I am wondering if it might be useful for those times when it is essential that I sleep at a certain time, or is it not worth getting started. I worked last night and slept maybe 4 hours or less, but am not worried about sleep as I have the next 2 nights off and I would rather not sleep alot today.

indigo girl · Jun 20, 2006

Thanks, indigo girl!
I guess my greatest reservation is the lack of reliable sources of herbal supplements. So many that are sold as "nutritional supplements" fly under the radar screen of regulation, making me very leery of their contents, strengths, standardization, etc. I wish I knew of reliable sources so that I could trust the labels, or had access to a true practitioner of Chinese herbal medicine whose expertise I could trust.
If there are any good references you would be willing to list, I would be grateful. Also, did your instructor from Jefferson ever publish any articles or texts that may be available?
Again, thanks!

I have since tried to find my former instructor on the internet with no results. She had her masters when she taught our course, and perhaps has since moved on. I'm thinking you are in the Philadelphia area? If you are, you might want to check at CHI, Center for Human Integration in the far northeast section of Philly. It is run by the Sisters of the Medical Mission. They are a Catholic order of missionary nuns. At least some of them are nurses. My class was held there. If they still offer classes, ask for a catalogue. Many very interesting classes, such as Therapeutic Touch and other modalities were also offered including Massage Therapy. I studied Therapeutic Touch there. It was a very interesting place and beautiful parklike area. Some kind of youth therapy in one building. Cambodians living in the city, came out, and were allowed to farm gardens for food there. Wild turkeys, deer etc. I have wonderful memories of that place. My instructor was Stephanie Maxine Ross, I believe. I do not know if she has published anything or not.

If you want to know more about something other than conventional western medicine, you could try subscribing to a newsletter or two. Physicians who

advocate an integrative approach, are schooled in nutritional therapies, and are members of a professional organization of like minded practitioners may be helpful to you. I can suggest some of the ones I am familiar with if this interests you. They will recommend things as they become aware of them and will try to steer their clients away from therapies that may be accepted in the mainstream, but are felt by this group to be useless and/or dangerous. It makes for some interesting reading. They may suggest how you can get certain herbs or supplements and which companies they are familiar with. At least you will have some guidelines and won't be out there all alone trying to decide which way to go.

I like the idea of Oriental Medicine myself. You will have to look around for a practitioner and hopefully get recommendations from others. One way to do this is to go to one of the large health food stores in your area, and look for free newletters that allow local practitioners to advertise. If you take any kind of classes such as the ones at CHI, you will run in to people who use these practitioners. The newsletters may also advertise different classes you may want to attend such as herb walks, or studying with master herbalists, TT, etc. That community will be a good source of who is reliable or not for many different things.

Are you familiar with the book, "Womens Bodies, Womens Wisdom" by Chrisine Northrup, MD? Her clinic was in Maine, and I was fortunate enough to be a client when I was in that area. They were very supportive of complementary therapies, and wanted me to be seen by an accupunturist/Chinese Medical doctor. They thought highly of this practitioner and her daughter who practiced with her. I also worked with a

CNA, who had many family members who ended up on dialysis because they had some kind of genetic predispostion to renal failure. According to her medical doctor, she was in trouble too. She ended up going to this particular Chinese medical doctor for around ten treatments, and kidney function was fully restored. Anecdotal, yes, but I worked with her, and she was a very conventional person, not into anything unusual. I think there is so much useful information and real help out there that is ridiculed, villified, and just plain overlooked because our society is so invested in the current medical model. There is a place for both. If this speaks to you, Jolie, then I would encourage you to explore. You have much to gain. If nothing else, you will have a sense of taking back your power, that most people have given away blindly.

MissPiggy · Jun 21, 2006

I am curious if any night-shifters have experience with sleep aids like lunesta or ambien. I give those to pts very often, but am afraid to try them as I don't want to get dependent on them.
I am wondering if it might be useful for those times when it is essential that I sleep at a certain time, or is it not worth getting started. I worked last night and slept maybe 4 hours or less, but am not worried about sleep as I have the next 2 nights off and I would rather not sleep alot today.

Been a night shifter on & off for many years & have experience with both, Ambien is great if you want it to start working within 1/2 hour, but it only lasts for about 3 or 4 hours, then you are awake. Lunesta takes longer to work, usually an hour or so but if you don't get the suggested 8 hours of sleep it will leave a hangover. There is a nurse I work with who gets the "munchies" from Lunesta, although I don't usually have that problem. I have been very concerned with the addictive potential, be it physical OR psychological, but I only use them when I work. (I work part time, so the rest of the time I do NOT use them unless ABSOLUTELY necessary. There are other alternatives, too, like muscle relaxers if you have them or even a benzo , but I feel like rotating them & being very careful as to when you use tham has a lot to do with it too.

Now if I can just figure out how to be able to sleep at night when I am off...

jannrn · Jun 21, 2006

Thank you Misspiggy for your experiences with the sleep aids. I had a pt who said ambien didn't work but ambien CR the longer acting one did, and now it makes sense! At work we give either Ambien or Temazepam to our pt. (prob the only ones avail in the pharmacy as this is a small hosp.) I'm not sure when I will eventually try something since I usually eventually get sleep, just not always when I want it! I also have to remember to ask the doc for a prescription... I like the idea of being selectful (is that a word?) of when to use it and rotating the different kinds.

zaggar · Jun 21, 2006

I'm a natural night owl who can sleep through anything if I want to, so night shifts don't bother me. In fact, I like them.

However, stupid little side note:

>>I seem to wake up when I get home. I'm so happy to see my garden.

I watched a gardening show a while back where the guy had a hardhat with a head mounted lantern on it. He gardened at night. Think about it, it'll be dark and cool and easier to do all that carrying and digging without burning up in the sun.

A tip for nighshifters: Other than at work, nap whenever you feel like it. I think it's a mistake to try to stay awake until a particular time to be on a regular schedule. Whenever you are tired - sleep. Whenever you are awake and can't sleep - get out of bed and do something (post on allnurses!).