Shift Work Sleep Disorder: Working Overnight
Posted , 3 users are following.
Hello! First post here!
I work overnight 10pm-8am four days a week with the same days off every week. I've been doing this for about 10 months now and things are getting worse. When I started this shift, I would nap before my first night 6pm-9pm, go to work and then sleep 8:30am-3:30pm, stay up all evening and then go back to work and repeat. It wasn't great but I at least got about 7 hours of sleep, minus about 30 min occasionally from two or three wakeups during my rest. I used to think this was poor sleep.
However, now things are getting worse. Lately, I can't sleep later than 1:45pm or 2:30pm most days. This results in me napping every night before work (6 or 7pm until 9pm) and I get in this continual two rest period cycle. After my final shift for the week, I sleep 8:30am until 1:00pm and then sleep relatively normal on my nights off from about 9pm until 6am, with a few wake ups from time to time.
I have awesome blackout blinds that make the room literally pitch black. I wear earplugs to block out noise and use a white noise machine to make it even better. I don't hear a thing, even with two young kids running around the house one of the days I sleep.
I need help getting back to sleeping until 3:30pm every day. Later would be even better. I would love to sleep 8 hours until 4:30pm but my body just won't let me. I've tried Melatonin and prescription Trazadone from my doctor but the Melatonin doesn't seem to really have any effect on me and Tradazone made me feel really weird and had some bad side effects so I stopped it.
Any thoughts on helping me sleep better?
0 likes, 6 replies
michelle70460 OvernightOps
Posted
Ok the first thing is, our bodied are not actually designed to be 'awake' all night & it can really mess with your circadian rythnm & that's alot of the problem for you. Don't get me wrong you need to work to earn a living but is there any way you may be able to switch to day shift & that should help improve things. Apart from that i don't really know. I know people that did night shift for many years & even now in retirement their sleep has never been the same.
vickylou michelle70460
Posted
very true. I worked 8pm to 8am 20 years ago and suffer dreadful insomnia, which is why i am awake now. however i have learned to accept it. If i have 4 hours sleep, then its a good night.
I have tried every treatment, even going to a sleep clinic and monitored 24/7. At the end of they day, noone dies from lack of sleep
OvernightOps michelle70460
Posted
Unfortunately a change is shift is not in the cards anytime soon. Hopefully some day it'll happen but until someone retires or quits, I'm stuck on overnights.
Has anyone found any success with any medication other than Trazadone? Anti-depressants scare me and make me feel really terrible. I'd like some talking points to bring to my doctor next time I see him.
michelle70460 OvernightOps
Posted
Oh ok. Maybe you could try some OTC medications but they are only a short term fix. I would suggest maybe discussing with your doctor what's going on & they will be able to give you some suggestions on how to handle it.
vickylou OvernightOps
Posted
have you ever tried an OTC medication like Nytol, Somminex or piriton for a short while to regulate your sleep patten?
OvernightOps vickylou
Posted
No not really. I'm a little worried about trying those for fear of getting hooked on them.
How safe is it to take these two or three days a week and then not the rest of the week?