Anyone else become a Night Owl?

[Meld256]

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!

[12lovehim]

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

[Patze]

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

[Meld256]

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.    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. 

[Patze]

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!


Patze

[irish]

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

[Meld256]

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!  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.    Ok, it's almost 3 a.m. I'm off to relax or sleep, whichever I can get.