When do you take your medication if you work shifts?

[fallenempires]

DP is a Police Officer so works 2 earlies,2 lates & 2 nights.He has acknowledged that he has severe depression but has recently experienced the added horror of panic attacks.
He has been to see his GP who recommended counselling but we both feel that the time has now come for him to take medication,however he is concerned about the best time of the day to take his meds and whether they will affect his ability to work.
As you can imagine the job isn't tolerant to sickness and he has witnessed colleagues being unsympathetically treated.😶

Hi I work as a nurse so day/night rotation I take mine in the morning but did find for the first couple of weeks I was really tired, also would definatley recommend counselling alongside the drugs. Good luck to your DH I feel much better these days so there is hope, it's hard work and I have good and bad days but definatley less bad days, I I hope your DH finds the same too.

I think you need to request medication that isn't too sedatingat least that way he should be able to take it at the same time without worrying about it making him too sleepy to work. However, it's common that he will experience side effects at firstthere's no way of knowing for sure that they will go, but quite often these things improve after 4-6 weeks. Can he wait jntol he has some time off on annual leave to get the meds into his system for a couple of weeks?

Thank you both so much for posting,I do appreciate it.Work isn't great anyway due to cutbacks etc and senior staff are not sympathetic or helpful to those in need of the support.Annual leave is a joke tbh,he has to take it or lose it,but when he applies it is refused,this has been going on for the last few years, he is owed so many days back but will never see them.
Which AD's have you found work best?

Everyone can react differently to different ADs, but personally, I have had no sedation side effects with sertraline.

Mind have a dedicated info line - phone or text - for emergency service workers. Might be useful for you both:

www.mind.org.uk/news-campaigns/campaigns/bluelight/blue-light-infoline/

Thank you LittlePurplePig I did think that sertraline might be a good starting point for him.I did actually call the blue light info line but didn't find them particularly helpful except for me being able to pour my heart out!It's such a cruel illness depression isn't it?

I'm on sertraline and take it in the morning. I did really struggle with nights though on it but I coped. I think it will partly depend on side effects, fatigue can be a side effect of sertraline and even well over a year later is one I still get though the others have settled down.
When I went back to work after time off for the depression and was going on to nights it was discussed that not doing them would be a reasonable adjustment considering the circumstances so that might be something to keep in mind even if it just to not do nights until he has got his dosage right and side effects have settled.

Oh that's disappointing about blue light line.

The other type of medication worth discussing with the GP if he is suffering anxiety or panic symptoms is a beta blocker, which helps the physical symptoms of anxiety, they helped me hugely in the early days accepting I had problems again and before the AD really kicked in. I think that citalopram is the standard 'starting' AD now though. When I first took ADs it was paroxetine, no one seems to be on that anymore! I wouldn't recommend it either.

I second (third?) the recommendation for accepting talking therapy though, and sticking with it. How is with self-care - diet, exercise, relaxation, recognising unhelpful thought patterns etc?

IAmA work are not sympathetic to illness full stop,he has seen colleagues sidelined or even made redundant following time off for depression.I can't see his Inspector allowing that,she doesn't have one compassionate bone in her body!But yes,it would be ideal if he could drop nights for the time being.
LittlePurplePig Thank you I will mention beta blockers to him.Re:diet etc it will be good as long as he is being cooked for,but I imagine will be pretty poor now.We've both been drinking too much lately too which doesn't help and we need to address that.Sadly he moved out at the beginning of the week,the cause of the problem was my DD's behaviour not our relationship.I have been back on AD's since May as it is the only way that I can cope with her.