5am "fog"

dollphyn · Sep 15, 2008

Any 7p to 7a folks out there relate?? I do real well 7-11 or 12. Busy assessing, passing meds and what not. Then till about 2 for charting then lunch. 3-4 start assessing again then all of the sudden BAM!! Feels like someone just unplugs me!! LOL!! All my synapses just go to sleep! :sleep:Nothing connects!! Anyone else ever deal with this?? Any snack food/tips/etc. to get me thru these last 2 hours??

So can relate....At 5am we are usually giving report on the phone because you can report and then do an addendum later if anything changes in the two hours. We say some pretty interesting things on shift report at 5am, that we make it a point to stick around in case day shift is so confused we can let them see our kardex if we have to!!! We have a coffee maker that also makes hot chocolate, so by 5am, I am making a cup of hot chocolate and I always bring marshmallows with me. It helps me to wake up enough to make it through and to finish my charting. I am not a coffee drinker, so the hot chocolate is what I have found that works. Also we on night shift get really giddy, like telling jokes or just talking when it is almost time to go, that it helps to wake me up to be able to drive home.

Midwest4me · Sep 15, 2008

Get up and walk, do some mild exercises, drink water. Food usually makes me sleepy and others too from what I've heard over the years so I'd avoid food and coffee the last few hours.

BinkieRN, BSN, RN · Sep 15, 2008

I fall apart at 0500, if we had a code I wouldn't be able to blow my way out of a paper bag :yawn: it seems to disappear by 0600. It is one rough hour to be sure.

prmenrs, RN · Sep 15, 2008

I used to call that the "wall"!! Mine was ~ 4am. Which is when we had to do math--How many ml/kg, cal/kg intake, ml/kg/hr output. Just how comical is that? And Heaven help you if the baby was on multiple drips, all w/different glucose concentrations! (**Just learn ONE #: D1W=0.034 cal/ml, then you can figure out any exotic TPN coctail the docs can think up!)

I remember feeling like my eyeballs were doing somersaults in my head. LOL

NightshiftRN69 · Sep 15, 2008

Oh yes the wall.... there have been times when I would chart close to that wall time and then later go back to add something or even check something and read what I wrote only to have no idea what I had been talking about or even no memory of writting it. There have been some some nights when god help I would get behind and end up charting while headed for the wall or just after hitting the wall and it sometimes would scare the devil out of me. I mean what else did I do that I don't remember. It made me very cautious of sitting or standing still when I would feel it comming. Thank God I really did't have a huge problem with the wall, mostly on nights when I was off the day before or for one reason or another just didn't get any sleep before my shift. I believe it's worse if you have a rotating shift.

PageRespiratory! · Sep 15, 2008

Heh heh, the "witching hour", for me it's about 0400. When we're busy I tend not to suffer so much. Our census has been fairly low lately, last nights excitement was helping security chase a moose out of the parking lot.

rustyshackleford · Sep 15, 2008

i am there, guys! it's 0414 GMT and i'm on my last night shift before days off... currently reviewing patients notes and drinking REALLY strong coffee (i think that might be what's causing the twitching). all's quiet (touch wood) and the day shift should come sauntering in in around 3hrs time... worst bit for me is multiple hickman lines @ 6am, making up abx and getting the trollies ready.. anyone else suffer from hyperactivity and crazy fits of giggles?? finding the worst jokes ever absolutley hilarious??

jenny456 · Sep 15, 2008

Here's my tip--

Have a cup of coffee at 0300-0400! I'm not kidding you. Without that, I could not function past 0500 and probably would have driven into a tree on my my home at 0730. By the time you get to bed, most of the caffeine should be worn off. When I used to work 7p-7a, I made sure to have high protein snacks through out the night. which keeps the brain awake. I also always carried mint or cinnamon gum and would chew that when I felt sleepy--it really works! Good Luck!

Roy Fokker, BSN, RN · Sep 15, 2008

Get up and walk, do some mild exercises, drink water. Food usually makes me sleepy and others too from what I've heard over the years so I'd avoid food and coffee the last few hours.

Ditto that.

Activity! Activity! Activity!

Yes you're tired and your feet are screaming - but I'd rather be in pain and stay awake long enough to reach home than become yet another 'statistic' about road fatalities...

GooeyRN, ADN, BSN, CNA, LPN, RN · Sep 15, 2008

3-5 am was so rough for me... Taking a walk outside, drinking some water and a snack usually helped. Walking was the best thing to pull me through. I really did not feel like it but made myself. I would say I had to wake up some, others understood.

missjennmb · Sep 15, 2008

I am not a nurse yet, but I do work and go to school and have mad amts of insomnia. Yesterday I came home early from work after the 4th person asked me if I was sick, when I was just THAT exhausted. I'm generally ok until I sit down to read something. I read standing up, walk around a lot, and drink caffeine. I have some errands to run throughout the hospital and I usually hold them until I start to have trouble concentrating and it helps. Although I have to pace myself or, like yesterday, I am tapped out at 2 w/ 3 1/2 hrs more to go.