The Dark Seedy Underbelly of Shift Work

13Jul/095

The Dark Seedy Underbelly of Shift Work

It is 5:45 AM as I write this, the harsh glare of my laptop an unwelcome affront to my otherwise dark room.

I need to be at the ambulance depot in about 3 hours - tomorrow (today?) is my medic shift, where I ride along with the paramedics for 12 hours of sirens and speeding. Unfortunately, I've just finished a string of night shifts and my biological clock is set firmly to wake by night, sleep by day. I napped for an hour at midnight, but that's it.

I've touched on this in other posts. I really don't like the idea of pharmacologic sleep, but I suspect that tonight I should have popped a couple Benadryl. I just hate that I may end up doing that for the rest of my life.

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Pre Med Journey
July 13th, 2009 - 15:33

That sounds rough. I’ve tried Melatonin with some success. It doesn’t knock me out, but it does make me sleepy.

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Qex
July 17th, 2009 - 03:50

What always works for me is playing something boring, like solitaire, on my laptop, in bed with the lights out. It takes maybe 30 mins before I can’t keep my eyes open.

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Old MD Girl
August 8th, 2009 - 08:02

You’ve just hit on why Emergency Medicine is a tough field to go into. I love being on night shift now…. but I wonder if I would still love it at age 50.

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Ella
February 23rd, 2012 - 10:08

I’ve been reading through your blog & I know this is an old entry, but I’m totally engrossed & can’t stop reading the damn thing.

I’m a nurse (in Australia – paeds Emergency Dept) & I literally can’t get through changes in shifts without medication (I take seroquel; temazepam is addictive long term, phenergan doesn’t work anymore – seroquel – Quetiapine – works well although I started on a low dose & now I’m getting up to a dose that would treat psychosis which is concerning). Which freaks me out because I’m 22. But I literally don’t sleep & by the end of the shift I’m vomiting from fatigue & have such a bad headache that even moving my eyes hurts.

If you’ve figured out how to sleep with shift work, let me know!

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danika
April 15th, 2012 - 23:47

Hi I do shift work 7 days of 12 hr days shifts followed by 12hr night shifts, i’ve tired valerian extract which helps you relax but doesn’t give you the knock out effect. try taking a very hot shower then followed by sleeping in a cold dark room even mediation apps on your iphone/ipad can work, but when there’s stuff on your mind i reckon temaze is the go but it’s addictive but knocks me off my socks and sleep great, another you can try is s high strength painkillers like mersyondol or phenergan. I’m 20 and i’ve been struggling with shiftwork for the past 7 months I believe some of us are never going to be coping with it

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