Working Long Hours - how do you cope?

[Holly29]

This may be a silly question - but I need to ask! I have an office job which involves me working very long hours and having to concentrate on difficult issues and points for long periods of time. I am 8+5 and feel so exhausted and sick all the time that i find it really hard to concentrate and work and look like I'm ambitious and motivated, all of which are expected of me! I have a nightmare few weeks coming up work wise and it makes me want to run away home and get under the duvet and cry and never come back. Does anyone else have any coping techniques???

Any help grateful received...

Holly xx

Hi Holly,

I too do a very stressful job, with long hours (12 hour+ shifts) and antisocial hours, and I'm finding it very hard as well. I'm not sure I have the greatest coping mechanisms, but I have tried to find a quiet corner for a snooze when I'm really dead. I'm 8+3 so I'm in a similar situation to you. I've got a week of nights coming up (5x12 hour night shifts) and I'm dreading it.

I've found eating little and often has helped, I started out eating loads of biscuits but my gp told me off as I'm already quite overweight, so now I'll have a piece of fruit every couple of hours or something like that if I'm feeling really bad.

I also got some ginger capsules from my local health food shop which have helped with the nausea. Of course that could just be a placebo effect, but hey! Who cares?

Keep your fluid intake up to help your concentration, and keep a banana or something on your desk and have a bite every hour or so to keep your sugar levels pepped.

It's rotten really, because of course if you're like me, you're probably not sleeping brilliantly either, what with peeing all night and crazy dreams waking me up. Keep your pecker up, you're not alone. We'll just have to dream of what it'll be like in four or five weeks when this has all passed, but for now console yourself that it's a good sign of a really strong pregnancy.

I hope you feel better soon xx

Can you take some time out at Lunch and just try and rest. I know sometimes it is not possible.

Your sickness will be much worse if you are tired and it becomes a very difficult circle to break.

Do you have any holiday left. I found taking just one day a week off for a couple of weeks till I started to feel better and it helped alot. Wednesdays were good or some other day in the middle of the week.

Take each day at a time and don't expect too much from yourself at the moment. Fresh air is a god send if you can get it. Just two mins will help.

You have my sympathies I am 8 weeks, exhausted and completely understand!!!

I dont have to work very long hours (just the usual office hours plus a wee bit either end sometimes), but do find myself getting very tired and unable to concentrate by the end of the day, particularly in the first trimester (bit better now at 15 (+5) weeks.

The only thing I'd say I've done is cut back subtly on work. Some days I come in a bit early and get some dictating done then take it down during the morning instead of all at once at the start of the day. On days that I feel full of energy (which may not be for a few weeks for you) I work harder, and then it balances out roughly.

That obviously really depends on how much you are watched by employers during the day I suppose. I think I am quite lucky in being left to get on with my job and organise my own time.

But once your employers know about you being pg, they should probably make a bit of an allowance for you being tireder than before.

I'm with cupcake. Do as little as you can get away with. I remember days when it was a struggle to get through to 17h and doing any work after 16h was impossible. The only other things I could suggest would be to get lots of early nights and make sure you have lots of iron in your diet - dried apricots are a good source of iron, as well as providing a bit of a sugar hit, and you can snack on them during the day.

Sorry - meant conkertree. You can see how good my levels of concentration are at the moment!!!

can you work at home at all? i am in exactly the same position as you, have a very senior role, manage a lot of people and have a lot of expectations of me. Plus its our busiest time of year until end of march. i have just said to myself "oh well new priorities now". i beat myself up relentlessly for the first few weeks that i was letting people down, and then i realised that i wasn't and that nobody had noticed that i was taking it a bit easier. Just look after yourself and it will get better - don;t worry about what others think. Let them draw their own conclusions and just do whatever it takes to look after yourself physically and mentally. once i realised i didn't have to be superwoman it helped a lot. now several weeks down the line i feel much better and am gradually upping my workrate again.

Taking a 10 minute nap on the floor of the disabled toilet, with head on rolled up coat... No, I'm not joking.

It was only after that, I found out you can go to "sick bay" for a lie down when you're pregnant. Doh.

Oh and dispite it being "early" to tell anyone, I found telling my boss at that early stage a really good thing. He was really understanding and if you ask him/ her to keep it a secret; they have to.

Twelve year gap,

On your advice I went downstairs and told my boss and he was totally lovely about it! He said he was a dad himself with 2 DDs and he was glad I had told him. Not sure he is expecting me to work any less hard but I think he'll understand if I need to sleep in the disabled toilet sometimes...

Thanks everyone. Mumsnet is a total lifesaver! Am now going to try to find some ginger capsules and attempt to stop being superwoman... (great advice!)

Holly.. xxx

That's great news. I think it's a weight off your mind when the boss knows. At least when you're feeling sick and green, you know that the boss knows you're not hungover!

Hope it all goes well.

Holly29 -- congratulations! I used to work as a consultant, and through 3 pgs found the following helped: gave up all caffine as that made the nausa worse, ate b'fast before leaving for work (6am), ate another b-fast at work (8am), then little snacks throughout the day (bag of carrots, raisins, etc on desk, choc bars, cereal bars, etc in handbag/briefcase), sipped water & milk throughout day, took at least 30 min for lunch to unwind. They should have a sick room, maybe you can nap there instead. Nap when I got home and hubby cooked dinner.

As you announce at work and start getting bigger, people can be really nice. I did have a collegue who stopped a meeting and sent someone out for a snack as he thought I looked peaked.

Good luck

Oh also, train companies will give an upgrade to 1st class for free after a certain time (24 wks with mine) and I also used a small wheelie carryon suitcase towards the end to lug my stuff to work (between laptop and snacks it was a lot )

I'm currently 12 weeks and working really long hours at the moment (an an example, yesterday I left home at 6.45 am and arrived home at 10.15pm). It's been like that for over 4 weeks and I've also had to travel around the UK and to the US on business which didn't help I must admit.

All I can say make sure you eat when you can. i swapped my main meal of the day to lunchtime and when i get home at night I just have a bowl of soup. I also snack on plenty of fruit during the afternoon. Make sure you have a proper break at the weekends - treat yourself to long lie in's and get your partner to help with the housework so you are physically prepared again for the coming week. I've been lucky and really haven't had any MS, but have been pretty exhausted for the most part. My scan is tomorrow so I can hopefully tell work in a few days time. Too late for me though as my deadline we've been working to is tomorrow so hopefuuly by Thursday I will be home at a more usual 7.30pm.

That's all brilliant advice, thanks guys. I am so glad to hear that they upgrade you for free on trains - how does that work, do you just go and ask them>? I love that! (Maybe it will also work in 5 star hotels)...

I got a form from the ticket office. Filled it in and they gave you a card.

Would love that! Shame there isn't a First Class on my route. Tsk.