Official Nightshift thread!!!

Hi Guys,
Has anyone ever taken Melatonin to sleep? I looked up Night Eating Disorder ( in my case...morning) and I definatly show signs of it. I cant go to sleep without eating carbs, then I wake up, eat more carbs and go back to sleep. It's an awful, awful habit. I'm always half asleep when I do it, so I don't really use my brain. This is what I read about Melatonin:

Your body has its own internal clock that controls your natural cycle of sleeping and waking hours. In part, your body clock controls how much melatonin your body makes. Normally, melatonin levels begin to rise in the mid- to late evening, remain high for most of the night, and then drop in the early morning hours.

I'm thinking because of working this shift, my melatonin may be low. It's natural, and worth a try. What do you guys think?

Melatonin is what the docs order for our patients if they are having trouble sleeping. It gives them a gentle nudge in the right direction but doesn't knock them out. There's no "drowsy" feeling the morning after either. I've worked nights so long that I rarely have trouble sleeping (my husband says I've perfected the art of sleeping standing up:laugh: ) so I can't speak from personal experience. It really seems to help our patients nod off though.

Lee, hubby drives me crazy with that crap too! I only got good post-nights sleep today because he's out of town. At least I'm only on real overnights 1/3rd of the time. Don't know how you do it.

My husband wasn't very understanding at first either. He worked a job where he got off at 2pm and expected me to be up and ready to go for the day after only 4-5 hours of sleep. Silly me- I did it. We had only been married a couple of years so I was still trying to make him happy at my expense. Then we met some friends where the wife worked part night/part day schedule. She was militant about her sleep schedule. She would tear your head off if the neighbors talked too loud in the next house! And the boys hung out there every weekend. After he saw how she acted he realized how "nice" I was being. Now he's more protective of my sleep schedule than I am. He gets aggravated if I pick up extra shifts because it'll take too much of a toll on me. He's such a sweetie! (now )

Well its a Full moon tonight. It could turn out to be an intresting night. Hooowwwww (thats me howling at the moon) :glasses:

Lucky for me all the "weird" stuff has happened during the day. :drinker:

hi everyone...hope yall are doing good...finally got the computer and internet running again...i hate the days where i cant sleep and at the same time im not hungry.....grrr....everyone have a great morning

you know every night it gets harder and harder to want to go to work...im in the same boat....i see my boyfriend from 10:10 pm assuming he gets off on time and does not have anything to do right after work till 11:45 pm and then i crawl into bed with him around 8 am and i dont know when he leaves to go home....its sorta getting old....but with me its the money that keeps me on this shift...sometimes i would love to just work 9-5 for like 3 months then come back but i know that wont happen...this shift can put a real strain on your body and a relationship...all i know is i would love just a break from it...get my body on a normal cycle again and see what happens...but that wont happen im sorta stuck .... good luck with your job....i hope they let you change.... really i think that my wooist me syndrome is seasonal... i get like this during fall (my fav time of year), and then again during summer (all the bbq's pool parties and summer fun) .... it sucks having to decided social life or sleep ... but it is what it is....sorry for the ramble...im hyped up on coffee and sleep dep is kicking in....what a night!!!!!!

I dont even get a differential...which pisses me off the most. Not fair that no one else can work this shift. Im one of the newest people here...but still, I have been here over a yr! Sux being a contract to hire, because Im on thin ice, and I m afraid if I say something...they wont hire me ; (

I use Melatonin or Benedryl 50 mg. if I need to sleep 6 or more hrs. If I need a nap before work, I use 25 mg. of Benedryl. I don't like doing this, but I have to be awake and responsible throughout the night for my patients With that, I also use a sleep mask and ear plugs.....quite a sight.

happy holidays to who ever celebrates this week!!!

Hi all, sorry I have been absent. Had a few days off but will be back into it on Thursday with 12hr overnights. I feel bad for those of you who are always on overnights, how do you do it?

Lee, maybe you should look around for another job while trying to figure out how to word things with your current employer. Especially with no pay differential, it's totally reasonable to politely request some variation in your schedule. If not, it may be time to move on :flowerforyou:

Wow I am tired tonight. Most of the time I do ok because I stay on my schedual even on my nights off, but not this last week.
So now I am feeling it. It would help if I had more going on.

Hope everyone has a good weekend

Hello, all you fellow sleep deprived night shifters! It has been a while since I have been on here, so thought I would add my two cents. I had hit a plateau, my weight didnt move down for over three weeks, just climbed about 7 pounds even though I was eating within my allowed calories. I have started on a diet plan through a nutritionist, and I have lost over 8 pounds in the six days I have been following it. Phew, thank goodness the scales are going down again. I am sure all of this has something to do with the way I live, being on steady nights all the time, but I sure wish it was easier! Anyway, good luck everyone, and get some sleep! HaHa!

Hey all! glad to see postings on here again! I switched weekends with this lady, and i swear I'm never doing it again! last night and tonight have just been so crappy!! Not overwhelming busy per se, but just BS problems!!

welcome schpanks, and you're def not alone in the neverending struggle of night shifters vs. everyone else lol. i've been on nights for 3 years and still will have people call/text me mid-morning, when they should WELL be aware that's my sleeping time. honestly people will never really understand unless they do it themselves. i'll say to someone, man i have to work 5 nights in a row.. and they'll say, well i always work 5 days in a row... yeah exactly..5 DAYS! def a different story when you're going out the door while everyone else is in their pj's lol.
hope everyone had a great weekend!!

I have learned to turn my phone completely off, only problem is if someone has an emergency I will not know about it till I get up. I have thought about a pager for emergency only stuff. Being on nights is a fight against nature, well I never like being normal anyway :drinker:
Anyone else have to work an extra hour last night?

I had to do the extra hour :grumble:, so it was a 13hr shift. I had to run errands afterwards so I only slept for 5 hours before heading to this one. I am done in 2.5hrs, but then I actually have so much to do I may not get to sleep all day. :frown:

And when I'm sleepy all I do is snack :noway: