[DelusionsDaily]

Hey all havent been on this forum in a while. Wanted to get some opinions. sorry if this gets a bit long. If this gets confusing feel free to ask any questions.
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First in sept 2010 I took a job in home care by oct 2010 I was working full time on midnights. Over time my sleep gradually decreased to about three hours a "night" by nov 2010. All this time there has been no signs of mania or depression. I have remained on the sam med and dosage since mar 2010.
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Then went on vacation over my bday in early march this year. I slept 12 hours a night for 8 out of 9 nights. Chalked it up to exhaustion. Betwen the lack of sleep and the stuff that was going on with grandma from christmas day through mid feb. Then grandma moved in with me and my parents and 2weeks later took vacation in early mar.
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Instantly after going back to work my sleep went back to 3 hours, or a little more very broken or very light.
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In the last month or so T and I have started to deal with the loss of my sister 20+ years ago. Saw Pdoc on mar 15 and she doubled my original med(on very low dose) and gave me Ambien 5mg. Im not totally sure why she would up original med when no other signs of mania or depression. The ambien I get with the insomnia as she called it. I really dont like this as last time I saw her i want to try going off meds but she was resistant though had been symptom free for 6 months.
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So all that was background to ask do you this was a good move on her part? prevention maybe???
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she has also asked me about switching from midnights. I have told her multiple times I wouldnt get enough hours. Do you think a good compromise would be going from 5 nights to 4 nights? or should I seriously consider looking for something else?
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Thanks for bearing with me any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks again.

melissa... I can't speak to the med increase, as that is not what my psych did when I took on graveyard shifts. (She had increased it prior to then w/o knowing the upcoming shift change, so that's a different situation.)

But as to the shift work? Yes. Mood charts from that time? Not pretty. All over the place zig-zagging (down, down, down, up, up, up to neutral, occasionally spiking with a manic-y). (And still, even with it in black and white, I refused to see it for quite some time(!))Sounds like you keep a mood chart. It's amazing it hasn't affected your moods more. BUT. Where you talk about the wildly varying sleep patterns, not enough/restless sleep, split sleep etc - that was what finally got to me. Even aside from any mood things, my mind and body were a mess. Asked to get switched to days, (which was accomodated), simply saying that it was messing too much with my head and body - which often happens for people w/o BP too, so it seemed like a good generalized reason (undisclosed at work, so...). It took awhile to get back up to as many hours as I was getting on the graveyard shift, but it was worth it. Also took awhile for mind and body to adjust even after the change, but did (which was a good thing because all hell broke loose in life a short while later).

Ok, blah blah blah. Long and short, yes, IMO, it would be a very good idea to look for something else. And to switch to days even if they would not provide enough hours. Why? Because at least that would put you in a better position to look for another job with day shift (otherwise, you'd likely find youself on the go both day and night, putting your internal clock all topsy-turvy trying to accomplish the change). Especially if you find that the current sleep patterns make you spacey, as you want to be sharp while looking for a job, yes? Do you have a consistent schedule or does it change from week to week? Epecially if it is consistent, one thing to consider is looking for something else which at least helps recoup your shortage of needed hours.

Keep us posted, ok?

[wing]

I've read that the best way to adjust your body to night shift is to work 7-10 in a row, then take the next 5-7 off.