Stress Center Peer Support

Hi, I need some input. I am a night shift nurse, and when this last bout of "mental illness or not" took me down again 3 months ago, I took a hiatus from work, went back to the psych, back on some meds, CBT, etc. and am getting back on track. Problem is, I can remember before I really got bad, I'd go home and go to bed and after about 3 hrs waking up with unrealistic dreams, feelings, shakiness, and almost like a hot flash type feeling which signaled a pending panic attack. IBS would kick in and for about an hour I'd be miserable. Well, last night was my first 12 hr nightshift back to work, I have done some 7pm to 1am shifts with no problems, but today when I laid down, about 10am I woke up like I had been startled. FULL BLOWN attack, and I'm still on meds. I had like a 5 minutes hot flash feeling, abd. pain, IBS symptoms, etc. WHY??? Can night shift really be messing me up this bad? I felt like I was dying, I paced, was sweating, etc. then did some breathing, walked around a bit, ate a little and calmed back down. I'm afraid of this, and that makes me aftraid that I may not be able to return to nightshift. Any input or similarities would be appreciated. It's scary.

Hi and I am sorry for what you are going through. Midnights are hard on people without these issues and really mess with our internal clock, hormone releases, sleep patterns and on and on. I used to awake like you described and it didn't seem to matter when I slept..night...day or during bouts of chronic fatigue syndrome when I was sleeping 20 hours a day I would still be woken up with the same symptoms as you have. I wish I knew the magic answer but don't. I suffered these symptoms for many years both on meds and off. I am now doing pretty good with sleep and the panic attacks waking me up but it's been a long time coming. One suggestion only because it seemed to help was having a bowl of cereal prior to going to bed. I really am praying you find a way to get past this as I know how horrible it is.
I'm sure many others will be of better help to you. Those veterans are great at many problem solving ideas.

Remember to try and calm yourself by breathing deeply and talk yourself into a calm, relaxed state. It now works for me.

Good Luck!!

Hi Want2FeelGoodAgain
It must be very difficult to work night shift. It sounds like you're having a big struggle with all the symptoms you have mentioned. And yes night shift can really affect a person...I'm not suprised you are afraid of all this.

I can suggest 2 things...

My roomate works night shift and i had made him a tincture of Rhodiola Rosea which seemed to have an immediate effect and helped calm him down when he is really stressed out...I use this as well and find it helps as well.

Another thing...I'd suggest looking into Melatonin.

I hope you get over this...if not then you might want to consider avoiding nightshift.

Mike

Thanks for the input, and I'm definitely going to try the Melatonin. It just caught me so off guard because I had been feeling so well and peaceful, and went to bed soooooooo tired. It felt like literally someone shot me up with some awful drug that instantly took over. I do struggle with the night shift idea, I've always done it (14 yrs) so I could be there for my kids, etc. but it seems lately my body may be saying differently. It definitely DUMPED some sort of chemical load all at once (adrenaline?, cortisol?) something that I suppose may build while I'm working, but it was awful. Thanks again for the support, and I'm looking up Rhodiola Rosea too! You're all wonderful! What an odd little bunch we are, but I'll take odd any day in the company of such caring people.

I, too, hope you can switch to the day shift. My mother (an RN) worked day shift most of her career. Ten years before she retired she switched to nightshift because the pay was much better. Her health deteriorated, and she never did bounce back. Can you switch to days? Best of luck to you. Keep us posted.