AIBU to be PISSED OFFFFFF!! Headache after each and every shift -any suggestions?

[worriedsilly]

I'm a health professiona and work 12 hr shifts as that is how it is done whereI work.

Now, I only work 23 hrs a week, which is two shifts. But say this week, I have just done a night shift [slept 9 until 2.30] and then had to get up ans I am on tomorrow 8am until 8pm so I Have To Sleep Tonight.

So now I have an awful awful headache. And I will have tomorrow after the longday,a dn most of sunday.
Monday I'll be ok, but I'm back on 2 nights so back to where I started.

I think after nights I go into such a deep sleepmy neck sufers and it makes me feel sick and heady. I'm drinking like a fish to try rehydrate 9can't drink too much at work as there isn't time to wee when you need too!)

ANy shift worked have any ideas?

Am so fed up of my days off being spoiled. This shouldn't be in AIBU but I am fed up and want a moan.

Doesnt there have to be 18 hours between shifts? or more than that more like 48? Have you checked the working time directive?

I mean going from nights to days?

In my trust it's got to be 24 hours between days to nights. And 12 hours between each shift.

Do you drink much caffeine normally? If yes, you will get withdrawal symptoms including headaches when you're working nights and don't drink it at the usual time. Try to cut down on all caffeine even when working normal days. You also need regular snacks & fluid on nights - dehydration and a lowish blood sugar will make headaches worse.

You have my sympathy - I hate doing nights.

I've just done exactly the same worried - did a 12 hour night last night, then back tomorrow and Sunday for 8am-8pm shifts. I've not got any advice as it's all pretty new to me as I've only just started the job, but it's really wiping me out and I was hoping I'd get used to it!

chew gum. no coffee, drink water, take some painkillers before you sleep regardless of headache or not (obviously only on the days you do along shift or night) have a warm bath and a horlicks before you sleep.

I never slept on the day that crossed over between days and nights, I would just stay up and go to bed very early like 7.30pm or 8pm, always felt more refreshed that way. HTH.

ment to say the gum always seemed to help keep the neck and jaw tension pain at bay.

Fabby Chic: it is an 11 hour break between shifts and 24 'clear' hours a week that you are entitled to by law.

www.direct.gov.uk/en/Employment/Employees/WorkingHoursAndTimeOff/DG_10029451

Agree with festi - don't sleep in the day after your last night shift.

Aw thanks for the replies! I didn't think I'd get any, it helps to moan even.

If I finish this morning at 8.15 and start tomorrow at 8 am, I reckon they can do it, don't you? We have 11 and 3/4 hrs between shifts, I wonder if that is legal then?

I have about 4 cups of tea in the 12hrs, with tonnes of sugar I feel to shite without it tbh. Regular food and fluid isn'ty feasable is it? Not really. Even if we could drink - we couldn't wee!!!

Fecking headaches!! Have diclofenac and paracetamol. Better work!

Long day then day off then 1 night then 2 off then long day, exhausted thinking about it.

Feel I am heading for a burn out. Haven't the time or wealth for such a thing soi I'll have to cope. Not6 actually fair on all the others seeking a positive birthing ecxperience though is it!!

Ah, 11 hours between shifts. We easily get that then.

I have no idea how anyone can stay up after a night, if I have done just one I'd be up for 36 hours by bedtime!! I'd fall over!

diclofenic always gives me bad headaches, just a though. I take it for back pain sometimes. I would replace that with something less harsh, not good for your stomach either as a regular pain killer.

Step away from the tea, Woman . It'll send your blood glucose shooting up which makes you produce a lot of insulin and your glucose then crashes down, so you get a high then a low then a headache. You need to eat something low GI before you start work, to get a slow energy release.

I know it's hard to drink/pee at work but surely you can manage the odd cup of water? I've worked in some pretty busy environments e.g. inner city A&Es but even I managed to fit in the odd pee!

Yes I do drink water - I aim to try for about 300-500 mls or even more. And hold in the wee, someone is always pushing a baby out when I need a wee!!!

Right. Bananas it is then. I think in reality I am just plain tired and my way of being tired is a headache. Arse.

My whole head feels wooly, achey, heavy and sicky right now. But this is my evening off and I'm determined to try make something of it. By, er, sitting on mn all night

Yy to bananas, and lots and lots of water. A litre or more if poss

Asprin. Right - asprin and a bannana.

Good advice and good to be reminded of the basics. I do need to drink more but hell it's hard! You aren't allowed a drink in a delivery room and you do spend a lot of time in there when ladies have continuous monitoring and epidural and need support. I guess it's last on a long list of priorities!

God I hate bannanas. Tut. I'm grumpy.

Will send dh for asprin.

This is part of the reason why I only managed 2 of the 3 yrs of MW training, worried, before I realised I just couldn't hack it as a career. Especially since it's rare to get a loo or tea break, let alone a proper meal break. Doesn't help that in so many units, there's a culture of not even expecting to have breaks on labour/bc wards. I certainly wouldn't want a health professional in charge of my welfare who was exhausted, ravenously hungry and dying for a pee.

I too used to mainline tea the whole shift, but it doesn't help with sleeping afterwards. Can you take in a low gi snack like nuts, fruit etc to munch every so often? The sleeping thing is so hard when you're on mixed long days and nights - I've got friends who are working MWs now who are finding this really hard and debilitating, especially when they can't sleep after night shifts but have to be on for another night the next evening.

I don't find that diclofenac suits me, personally - doesn't always work and gives me GI symptoms. Codydramol helps me sleep, but then that can be counterproductive with headaches too. No answers, really, sorry, but sending you an empathetic hug.

Thank you.

Glad to know I'm not alone - there is a culture of keeping going and simply not adressing your own needs. Which given staffign and the needs of women is probably right, we are not, at the end of the day, the people in need.

Tough though. I don't blame you for leaving, I do not have the choice as we rely on my money.

I used to always have a headache after I did an evening Pilates class and my instructor told me it was down to tension in my neck, jaw and shoulders.

She suggested putting my tongue on the roof of my mouth as it is impossible to clench your jaw then. For a couple of weeks she reminded me throughout the Pilates class and sure enough the headaches stopped.

I'm now much more conscious of when I'm clenching my jaw or tensing my shoulders and try to stop.

Having worked shifts in the same pattern as you for 10 years the best thing I ever did to change my life was get a regular 9 to 5 job, it has taken years off me and improved my health no end, sorry not much help I know.

Bottle of water at the mw station with your name on it then you can take a swig every time you step out of a delivery room? I'm really bad about drinking enough at work too, but I feel so much better when I do manage it.

Oh its awful isnt it.
But then its kinda what you sign up to when you take the job.

Is there any way you could negotiate set shifts?
Even if you are on internal rotation, for me its better to do 2 weeks nights, then 3 weeks set days rather than a mix of days & nights.

I also dont go to bed on my last night, and it is hard staying up for over 30 hours, but then i plan my day around home, so i dont drive anywhere (unsafe) and plan my day around doing stuff at home, cleaning, washing, shopping on line, anything to keep me going all day.

I drink plenty of water or juice, and i also snack regulary, fruit, cerial and toast in the morning. Just keep your BM stable, avoid the highs & lows.

I think that you do get used to it...or you leave the profession sadly we have lost some really good staff because of these issues.

So sympathies

Hello

Huge sympathy for you. i also worked shifts for years in healthcare but in the end I phsically couldn't do it anymore (and I'm 'only' in my late 30th so not heading for retirement!).

Nights were the absolute worst and i had very similar symptoms to you, feeling sick, migraines, exhausted, overeating due to (I suppose) blood sugars going haywire. Also a horrid feeling of 'unreality' the whole time i did the nights.

In the end I found a 9 to 5 job which does pay less but in terms of quality of life its been the best thing ever.

I can appreciate that this may not be an option for you but is there sany scope for it at all?

It seems to me that some people can cope realy well with nights or short breaks between shifts but others like us just can't and probably never will, it also sounds like your trust is a bit unreasonable varying the shift pattern so frequently ie days night lates all within such a short time frame.

Hoipe things get earier for you!

see my whinge about nights earier in the week. i loathe nights they make me feel truly awful. sympathy but no magic answers.