Here I am again, it's after midnight, and I think I'm in for an "all-nighter."
I'm just curious as to how many of us became night-owls after we became ill?
For years, I worked a 8-5 type of job. Got up about 6:30 a.m. To bed by 10:30 or 11p.m. Now...well, it's anyone's guess. I am lucky because I don't need to be up early taking care of children, going to work, etc. Just me and my husband, and he's still working (a day shift). I try to sleep at a "normal" time, but it just can't be done. My adrenaline kicks in about 11 p.m. no matter what. So odd...
It used to really annoy me. I felt it was "unnatural" somehow. Now, after fighting it, and of course that not working, I learned to {embrace} the all-nighter. It's quiet, it's dark, so no sun shining in my eyes, I can do what I want. Sometimes I read or sew for hours and just enjoy the peace and quiet. I sleep when I'm able and it all works out. Anyone else like this or is it just me? 8)
It's three in the morning and I am up. I've been up since one and I need to be at work in the am. I am stuck in the limbo of still working some and trying to manage this disease. It has become very difficult in the last year and I seem to continue to cut back on my work hours. I have not learned to embrace my situation yet, but I am working on it. :o I would like to get to the point where I just accept what is and I am ok with it. I am still trying to live up to my"Healthy" expectations and I am not able to do it anymore. >:(
My body's rhythm got way off to when all this AI started. I feel better at night too. I got cortisol levels done & they were all fine except my adrenals were producing the hormones at the wrong time.
My doctor said that it actually is not good for your body. She put me on PS at night & an adrenevive in the morning & I'm starting to turn my sleep cycle back to normal. I do have a small child & work which is hard because I used to be a morning person & now I hate mornings!!!
Good Luck if you try to turn it around or enjoy the peaceful dark that I miss! Lol
Carie
waterbby100,
First of all, if I haven't welcomed you to the forum, let me say "Welcome!" ;) We're glad you're here and hope you find loads of good information and support.
I know what your limbo is like; I struggled for over a year trying to get enough rest to be able to go to work. So fatigued, I would sleep a few hours, be up for hours, about the time I had to get up for work I felt like I could sleep all day. Then I would drag myself into work in pain.
Trying to live up to our "healthy" expectations of ourselves is very difficult. Just a thought for you if you decide to cut work hours; I first thought of it for myself as "giving in" but then I realized instead I was "taking action" by doing this. Gave me a sense of control and that I was doing what was best for me.
I hope you can find the right balance for you.
Keep posting. We look forward to hearing more from you. :)
Melinda
Hi Carie,
Interesting that your doc said it wasn't good for your body. I'm glad to hear you've been helped getting your days and nights back to some normalcy. I can imagine how hard it is to deal with a sleep problem when you have work and a small child to care for, too.
I wish you luck, and restful sleep!
Hi :)
I've been a night owl all my life but - yes - it has got worse. I often don't go to bed until after 3a.m. and that's hard when I'm working - OK during the holidays.
As sunlight isn't too kind to us being nocturnal makes a lot of sense!
Take care - Scottie :)
Just the opposite with me --- I used to be up haunting the house all night long. Now I fall into bed (actually, onto couch) at about 8 and sleep until about 6 a.m. I miss being up all night. I used to love Johnny Carson (oops, telling my age!) and Saturday Night Live.
Meld256, have I told you that meditation can provide what need when you can not sleep?
Find a comfortable position and close your eyes.
With your eyes closed look to the top of your head.
Breathe in and think "I am", Breathe out and think "calm"
The air should flow into your tummy, not your chest and it should roll in and out like waves on the ocean.
It is best to do this without other distractions like TV when you first start. I find that I can do it now when the TV is no. I try not to do it when I am driving.
Joe, you crack me up!
Joe, thanks for the reminder about meditating. I do something similar a lot of times, and it does help.
I'll second A66ey; I'm glad you don't meditate while driving. ;D
Yep, count me in too! I think my night owl tendencies started after our son was born. I had to have the mommy radar on to listen if the baby was crying or whatever since my husband is a sound sleeper. I'm a light sleeper, so I hear everything. So, even if I'm trying to sleep and hear things, I'm up and down all night.
Also, once our son was in bed, that was MY time. Me time without having to answer to everyone elses needs.
Husband can fall asleep anywhere - not me. It's got to be quiet (no tv, no radio, no noise), dark, and have my fan on (white noise). :D The boys can fall asleep with the tv on, ear buds in listening to music, etc., not me.
Many times, I'm up in the wee morning hours doing what? Playing games on the internet! ;D Love my games. It's not uncommon for me to do laundry at night too, just as long as I'm done by 2 a.m. before the water softener recharges.
Some people get up and read for a while - that doesn't work for me. Some times I'll look through my emails and delete stuff, sort through my papers on the dining room table (aka . . my desk), or just enjoy the peace and quiet. All is well in the kingdom . . . everyone is home, the boys are sleeping and Momma is on night duty watch. ;D
For the last nine months I've been working nights on the weekends. I come home from work and am too wound up to go to sleep. Even when I'm dead tired, I end up tossing and turning, tossing and turning with the evenings events playing through my mind. I toss for a while, then get up. Can't sleep, might as well play some games! ;)
Especially in the winter time, I like to just look out the window in the wee morning hours and look at the stars, the moon shining, or the cell tower light blinking in the distance. When it's snowing, it looks so peaceful. I've caught our outdoor cats playing in the wee morning hours too - wrestling with each other and running after each other.
~~ yawn ~~ . . . okay, now I'm tired! ;)
Bucky
Now that I've been feeling a little stronger lately, I also do laundry at 2 a.m. sometimes. Or clean something. I have the best energy in the middle of the night. It's crazy...
Or bake cookies; one night I put a pork roast in the oven for the next day. :D (Another benefit at night- the house is a bit cooler.) Bless my husband, he's gotten used to my odd hours. He tells people he never knows WHAT he might find when he gets up for work at 4 a.m. The night I cooked the roast, he came out of the shower and asked "honey, why do I smell meat?" Told him I had a roast in the oven and he just said "Of course, you do! :) ;)
If anyone asks me why I'm like this now, I just tell them I am happy for feeling like doing anything, and if the mood strikes me in the middle of the night, I'm going to go with the flow. You may just not catch me tomorrow afternoon; I'll be sleeping. :D
Joe,
Your deep breathing has helped me keep food down that is trying it's darnest to come back up. Still fight nausea but at least I'm keeping it down. It also helps when the pain in my chest is bad. I did change it a bit to breathe in and think "I AM" breathe out and think "BLESSED". This helps remind me that no matter how bad I feel, others have it worse.
Thanks again,
Jorja
Meld256,
I have no clue why my doctor said that about being up all night, unless she meant because I wasn't sleeping during the day either! I didn't ask, just had to switch it around.
I was a morning person my entire life and I loved getting up at 5am before anyone else and didn't care if I went to bed at 8! Then when I became a night owl I hated mornings (still do) and even though my rhythm is "back to normal" now I really miss my late nights.
Oh well ???
Peaceful dreams to all whenever you have them ;D Carie
I appear to be burning the candle at both ends. Often I get to rest at 11pm or midnight and I am up by 3am or 5am. With my being home all the time now I try to go back to rest until 9am. If what Jan is watching on TV is boring or I have seen it I will pass out until it is over.
I've always been a "night owl" as well, and its really gotten bad since the beginning of this mess. Used to be able to sleep a few hours and bounce up and go to the job and then partying after...aaahhhhhhh, the memories! :) Anyway, would love to be able to sleep through the night again, but it ain't happening any time soon.
Make that three that are very happy that you're not meditating while driving Joe! ;) :D
Patze
I think this is interesting. Seems that many of us have this same situation.
When I first started having health issues, and was diagnosed with Fibro I became very familiar with that symptom, "unrefreshing sleep". I could sleep for 10-12 hours at a time, and wake feeling worse than when I went to bed. It amazed me! I yearned for the days (just 3 years ago) when I could drop into bed, fall asleep, get up 7 hours later and be ready to go all day long.
That may never happen again. So this is how we adapt. ;) I feel blessed for the times I feel like doing some of what I want and enjoy, and if it happens to be at 3 a.m., so be it! I'm really glad this little SW cafe is open 24 hours. ;D
The remark about "not being good for you" by that doctor refers to the fact that people who work nights are high risk for health issues. Working nights just raises havoc with our bodies.Our circadian rhythms get shot to he double toothpicks.
My sister worked nights for many years and it darned near killed her off.She is a nurse and would come home and sleep a couple of hours and then get up and haul the kids to wherever they needed to go. Go home and sleep another hour or two and then go back and get them. She slept i spurts like that for several years as the kids were growing up. Mix that schedule with lack of sleep and regular Coke to stay awake and health ain't gonna happen. She is younger than me but got high blood pressure and diabetes long before I did and probably from the night shift.
I had a doctor years ago tell me never to work the night shift. I think he knew that I was autoimmune but at that time they didn't know that much about it. He just felt that I should never donate blood or work nights as my system was not able to take it. Of course, the next job I got was working nights on OB. lol We can't always do as we are told due to finances. Irish ;D
I am a night owl. I always felt I was a night-person working an 8-5 job and I was. I'd stay up late @midnight and get up @6am, be to work by 8am. Home by 5:30 pm and in bed until 8pm for a 2 hr nap. Then up until midnight.
I stopped working about 6 years ago and have been quite sick sick since. Hubby and both I retired in this time. Well, he is used to getting up at 4 or 5 am to leave for work and still gets up at this time. Sometimes I am up and down 3 or 4 times a night and am really going to bed as he is getting up for the day. Needless to say, I sleep all day at times.
Sometimes I really don't get much real sleep and many days he puts the tv on and gets another 2 or 3hours in his recliner. We are the only ones here, so it doesn't hurt much. He is very capable of cooking and usually gets me up for breakfast by 1 or 2 pm if I am still sleeping. He will cut up fresh fruit for me and it is delicious. Or make a bowl of cereal and grapefruit half. He goes to the gym for an hour 5 days a week and is usually back by 7 am. I am sometimes still up. I think there is something in us ingrained that just can't be changed. Lucy
PS. Whether it has anything to do with our AI or not, who knows?
Irish.you must be my long lost sister! You just described my lifestyle when the kids were growing up, to a "T". Only difference is, I worked nights by choice long before the kids, and continued it long after they were independent. Oddly enough, I had to add days when I took a full time job, and that's when I really started having trouble with my health (if you don't count the 18 month sick leave starting 9 months after my baby was born, Sarcoidosis Dx time).
I didn't work any more hours full time than I did part time, averaging 60 hours a week, so that probably wasn't the reason I started having more uncontrolled symptoms, and for the first time in my life my BP became very labile..shooting from 90/60 to 190/100 in a matter of hours, then dropping just as fast (thats no fun for sure!) It was also while I was working a day/night rotation that my kidneys decided to try to fail, I had a stroke, and eventually my SjS made an appearance, since I worked that rotation until I was forced into retirement.
Now that I'm retired, I seem to act more like a "normal" person, to bed and quickly to sleep around midnight, usually for 8 hours, but sometimes (must be nostalgia) I simply stay awake all night, if I have a particularly interesting book or project. In times of need, I can still go up to 2 1/2 days with only "cat naps" and that has served me well in times of family problems, when a loved one needed someone with them in hospital for example. Of course that usually led to a week or more in bed and a bump in Prednisone, once the problem came to its conclusion, but I personally think I would have felt worse (physically and emotionally) if I hadn't been there.
Unfortunately, my hubby is as far from a night owl as is possible, bed by 9PM, up at 5AM..we've referred to our life together as shift work... he looks after the world from dawn to dusk, then I take over! Luckily we both enjoy our alone time, as well as the time we share.
I havent slept normal since all this stuff hit me,, I have what I call the black sleep,, no dreams,, just pass out and now its awake at 3am, never to go back to sleep, seems the days pain hits about then,, then the draining starts, its the same old routine,, day in day out, sucks,, my wife and kids could sleep there life away,, used to get by with just a few hours of sleep, bounce out of bed and spend teh day just lovinglife,, those days are long gone,, no joy in mudville
Irish,
You bringing up the circadian rhythms made me think of the shift work my ex-husband and many others like him worked at a steel mill.
They have finally made changes, but it was a grueling schedule: One week of day shift, 6 a.m.-2 p.m. two days off, one week of 3 p.m.-11p.m. one day off and a week of nights, 11 p.m.-6 a.m. They had from Thurs. night off (so Fri.-Sunday) and then start back on days. This was the norm, over and over. Maybe no wonder he was "grumpy." ;)
Hi Melinda and everybody else too!
This is a great thread - yet another of those things that I thought was just 'me' and then I discover it's possibly part of the SjS story. I'm often tired around 10 pm and if I can get to sleep then I may have a normal-ish night. But most of the time I'm busy reading or watching TV or on the internet, and I get a second wind. Then I can happily stay awake until 3 a.m. I get 4-5 hours sleep but if possible I doze off again mid morning, and mid afternoon! Like many others here it's usually pain that wakes me.
Melinda - my father-in-law worked similar shifts to your ex: a week of mornings, a week of afternoons and a week of nights was how he termed it. He also worked overtime in the factory if he could get it, including triple time on Christmas day. What a life!
Take care - Chickpea
I worked shift work also for years, 7 on, 2 off,, 7 on 2 off 7 on 3 days off, by the 4th midnight shift I dint know if i was coming or going,,
Yeah! You are all making me feel normal. :)
I have always been a night owl, also.
I read a news article on "quick sleepers" and decided I might be a quick sleeper.
My husband can get a long night sleep, and seem tired in the morning.
I can get 4 hours, wake and feel totally ready.
Even if I take something to help me sleep, I may get up in 5-6 hours and be wide awake and ready. With the exception in times of fatigue flares.
Because of this, when I am flared, I really fill the difference.
And recently when thyroid issues arose, it seems to cause me to be wide awake all the time.
Joe, I do the deep breathing with; breathing in "be still" and out "and know"
But I have never tried closing my eyes and looking to the top of my head :).
really? So you know that awful schedule all too well! Were you ever able to adjust to it? Like you said, not knowing if you were coming or going...I'll bet lots of people felt that way and that's kind of scary, huh? Like these guys, sometimes working with huge vats of molten steel, railroad cars, etc.
It sounds strange to say now, but back then hundreds of people had that shift, and it seemed normal. If we ran into someone, the conversation always included something like "when's your long weekend? Maybe we can get together."
Chickpea, I had no idea we'd get so many responses to this. I just started thinking one night *I can't be the ONLY one* :)
Hope you have a good Friday, all.
Yes, you're normal, kimbo. :)
I have my schedule, (which is NO schedule) totally out of whack this week. Twice I have stayed up all day and night and into the next day. Then I sleep for 10-12 hours straight, and the next day I'm up again for 24 hours straight or longer. Now THAT is not normal... think I'll try some new ideas to go to bed when I think I'm not sleepy and see what happens.
I didnt mind teh afternoon shift in the spring,, I could spend my time trout fishing in the morning,, daylight shift wasent to bad in the winter, I never went anywhere after work anyway,, and the roads were usually clear, Midnight shift ws ok during deer season,, i would get off at 7am which left me alot of time to hunt,, and I made sure I got a catnap in during work,, and since I was in maint, (electrician),, we didnt have to do a lot unless we had a breakdown somewhere,, usually a crane or the electric blast furnace,
BUT,, I NEVER got used to 7 in a row,, when I worked in teh steel mill,, it was horrible after about 5 of them, I got goofy,, didnt pay attention, and that was noplace to lose your train of thought,, lot of guys taken out of tehre either by ambulance or the morgue, you just got stupid,
Quote from: Meld256 on August 19, 2011, 10:12:49 AM
Yes, you're normal, kimbo. :)
I have my schedule, (which is NO schedule) totally out of whack this week. Twice I have stayed up all day and night and into the next day. Then I sleep for 10-12 hours straight, and the next day I'm up again for 24 hours straight or longer. Now THAT is not normal... think I'll try some new ideas to go to bed when I think I'm not sleepy and see what happens.
Some white noise,, cool room and a horrible book, you will fall asleep,,
HELPGUIDE.org. Is a sight that is very helpful for sleep issues, anxiety, stress ect. It communicates very clearly on these issues. It collaborates with Harvard medical non prophet and ADD FREE :)
Thank you, kimbo! I'll check out the website. I may be inflicting some of this on myself. :-[ Now that I feel better some days, I think I may be trying to do too much. My mind races and I think "oh, I can do that, or this, I can get that done, too." But I probably need to dial down a notch and focus on rest and sleep more.
Thanks for your suggestions, really? I see you adapted around that awful schedule pretty well, and know exactly the business I'm talking about. You're in PA, right? We lived in Middletown, Oh; the old ARMCO.
Our family was affected by one of those tragedies you mention. My ex-BIL (my ex's sister's husband) was an electrician in maintanece. He went in for his first night shift of his week, started work on a railroad car, and someone didn't go by the "lock out" procedure correctly. The car ran over him and killed him almost instantly.
Very sad...he was 44, former Marine, Vietnam vet, a wonderful guy, very smart, very funny and a great Dad.
So, I know how dangerous the job was. My ex was a crane operator for years. I have an extreme fear of heights and always thought, there is no way I would do that job 50 ft. in the air.
Anyway, my goal is to try to sleep by midnight tonight. Wish me luck!
Oh man can I relate to this.. I just finished a sleep clinic study to see why I can't sleep.. I come to realize it is a 2 fold issue for me..
1. My hubby started new swing shift about the start of my last flair.. 2pm to 2am.. ( so really what my inspiration to go to bed early) ::)
2. I tend to hurt less at night so my energy level picks up. Then about 1am my pain comes back and then I can't get to sleep.. So the melatonin Valerian and worst case... benadryl
I can't even express the amount "sleep hygiene" papers Dr's keep giving me.. and my hubby did get a lashing about not making noise coming into bed, and not being glad when I am awake when he gets home.. I do have a mild form of sleep apnea (15 times an hr I stop breathing, or breaths are labored).. So I am being fitted for a cpap next week.. Oh goody can't wait..
So great thread..
blessings.. Keri
Good luck Meld! I hope that you can get much needed sleep soon!
Thats interesting 12lovehim...you hurt less at night? The level of pain for me tends to either stay the same or increase.
Patze
Hi Patze,
I DID sleep last night. Awwww... ;) At 1 a.m. I looked at the laundry and dishes that needed done and knew they would still be there today. :P But my priority was SLEEP. I slept til 1;30 today!
Keri, think there are several people here using a CPAP. A good friend of mine, who was dx'd with MS uses one. She says she feels so much better, and the device is "sooo sexy". ;)
I hurt less at night, too. Wierd, huh? That's why I get started on things, and just keep going like the energizer bunny. I know when I wake up after sleeping I won't get going for a long time. Just achey and sore all over~ I say that my arms feel like I've hung drywall all night.
We'll all get this together. I'm so glad for the forum for us to get good ideas from one another. ;)
Hi Meld, glad to hear that you've gotten some sleep! Lucky you!
Hi Keri, I too use a CPAP and its not too bad. The noise isn't anything like the earlier versions, but hey, I can deal! ;) :D
Patze
This has been an interesting thread. Meld, I know what you mean about the shift work that you mentioned. The big factory in town here has had shifts for years that are killers. They are not quite as bad now, but they have cut hours from so that the people aren't working as many in a pay period.
They didn't change every week though--changed hours every 2 weeks which was a little better on the body as you sort of had time to adjust. However, there were a lot of divorces in those peoples lives and a lot of people felt it was from the crazy schedules. Also, sometimes both spouses worked there and the stress of the shift changes just raised havoc with them.
I remember when I got out of nurses training I worked 10 days in a row and had 4 days off. I had to get up at 5AM and get to work in a town 20 miles away(that first winter was just terrible with snow) and then always ended up working overtime some and by the time I would get home it was close to 5PM.
The first day off we nurses spent a lot of time in bed either sleeping or just resting as we were so exhausted.I was newly married and soon pregnant and I was quite ill with morning sickness. I went in and asked the director of nurses to cut my hours from 10 a pay period to 9 a pay period. You would have thought I asked for the world on a platter. She wa so darn mean to me. Makes be mad right now when I think of it. Old maid but married nurse without kids who didn't have a clue or a heart!!!!
Oh man, hadn't thought of those days for a long time. The schedules for medical personnel aren't that great, but there is no way to do it any different. Need help 24/7/365 and everybody had just better adapt to the schedules. I was the weird one who enjoyed working weekends because management wasn't around so the air wasn't as heavy!!!
So, it seems that all of us were sort of "normal" until we got sick. I have always felt that the insomnia went along with this illness. I used to have so many times when I couldn't sleep and the only way to sleep was to put on the sweat suit and just lay on top of the bed like I was going to rest and listen to the radio. If I got under the covers the night was a total loss and I needed my sleep.
However, I have done the "all nighters" as Meld mentions off and on all my life. I could still manage to work all day but could only do that once. My humble opinion is that our body is ramped up into overdrive because of the overactive immune system trying to kill us off. That is bound to stress our body out and interfere with sleep. Like I told the docs, you figure out what is wrong with me and then I will sleep. Irish ;D
Hi irish,
Yes, I think the factory/steel mill shifts had something to do with havoc in peoples' lives. I divorced my first husband when, after a few years, he had a newfound affection for drugs and other women more than me and our 2 sons. Don't think his job had anything to do with all that, but who knows.
Nurses and medical personnel still have awful shifts. You really put in the hours. Yeah, and how dare you ask for a 9-day period instead of 10! ;D I understand you being mad!!
I've never been in nursing, but I did work for the local hospital for a while in communications. We called all the codes, kept up with all the docs schedules, paged them or called them at home in emergencies, connected patient calls, worked with security, etc. I worked there the summer my mother became very ill, and just got worse, She passed after 5 months of steadily declining. I took off 2 days and was supposed to be back on a night shift. I called off because I was a bit of a wreck; my dad was not doing well since he has dementia, I had to drive my sister to the airport. When I went in the next day, the supervisor terminated me! She told me I put the others there under "undue hardship" by taking off, and we all have parents or family members die but we just must keep going. I picked up my things and left, shocked. All the staff I worked with was totally shocked. I thought she was a mean old woman, too.
I think your opinion about our ramped up immune system might be right. I never had these sleep issues "before". But then, I didn't have all this other junk either. :P Ok, it's almost 3 a.m. I'm off to relax or sleep, whichever I can get.