I worked graveyard before, and will now again.

• Is it difficult to adjust to the graveyard shift? - Texas Girl
  • graveyard shift - cpk
  • Thank you for the responses. - Texas Girl
    • I worked graveyard before, and will now again. - SamesituationMT
    • I wouldn't worry about it sm - former redeye
    • I didn't like 3rd at all - Vicki
      • I definitely understand - LinK
  • More graveyard experiences - CalmT
  • what helps me - kelli
    • You can also use - Ronni
  • Graveyard Shift - TX MT, Too
  • I work graveyard on weekends - Tired&CrankyMT
    • Yeah, working nights would be great if - former redeye
      • Working graveyard - LinK
        • My experiences while working graveyard were (sm) - Lynney

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I totally disagree with this study, for multiple reasons.  I agree with some of the posts, stating that it would depend upon if you are getting enough sleep, whether you work the graveyard shift or not.  People working regular shift often get only a couple of hours of sleep, because they are out at bars all night, drinking, etc.

However, I work the graveyard shift, usually 11 pm to 6 am.  I am working, while my husband is sleeping.  Right after work, I go to bed, and sleep anywhere between 10 to 12 hours.  Then, when my husband comes home, we have the whole evening together!

Also, do they take into consideration that many graveyard shift workers work in factory situations where they are exposed to lots of other things, like toxic chemicals, etc.?  I read about it in the paper, too, and it mentioned that the increase in the cancer effect of the graveyard shift workers began in the 1930's, with the "industrial" boom --- what about those effects on cancer, not the time of day you do it.

I also feel that I can produce more in the same time frame doing MT at nite, with less stress of all the other noises of the day, and not having the phone ringing off the hook!

It all depends on you.  I don't think there's a set rule book.  I have a major sleep "situation."  It isn't a problem because it's been this way all my life.  I never liked to sleep, and would still rather mow the lawn or just about anything besides sleep. Obviously the rest of the world thinks that's strange, but it's just how I got wired (pardon that pun!)...  Many people say they got "x" hours of sleep.  I look at it as whatever I got is what I got, if any.  But I know that's not the norm for most.

There have been times when I've fallen asleep typing, but very rarely.  There are also times when I stay up for 2 days straight, and still fight going to sleep.

Just give it some time and decide if you can do it.  It's good that we all have different time clocks embedded in our bodies!

Good luck!

I've worked graveyard before and will be starting again tonight.  I've learned a few things from past experience that can help this time. 

One is bright lights at night and blackout curtains during daytime sleeping hours.  Another is turning off the ringer on the phone before going to bed, arranging with a neighbor who is generally home during the day to take true emergency calls from certain people and ring my doorbell if necessary. 

I try to keep in mind that a lot of other people aren't readily available during the day or able to do what they like during the day because of work, either in or out of the home.  I also remember how lucky I am to be able to work from home and not have to deal with a commute, among other things.

Give myself some unwinding time after my shift and then do the best I can to adhere to regular sleep hours that least interfere with regular activities outside of work.  There will be times, of course, when I'll need to be flexible on the sleep hours to take care of things that must occasionally be done during the usual sleep hours schedule.

Accept that there will be days when the rest of the world will not be tip-toeing around because I want to sleep.  Watch out for sleep-deprivation crankiness, try my best not to take it out on other folks, and apologize promptly if I do.  It does help to explain the situation yet not use it as a recurrent or frequent excuse.

Make use of caffeinated beverages at the beginning of my shift and limit them toward the latter portion.  Remember that power naps during breaks may work for other people but that the temptation to keep hitting the snooze alarm could be overwhelming for me.  It was one thing when I was an IC, but not cool as an employee.  Better for me is to something semi-active during breaks and make myself get up and stretch on a periodic, regular basis.

Keep in mind that it will take a little while to get used to the new schedule and see what sleep hours seem to work best for me through trial and error.  I'm lucky that I have a natural tendency toward nightowlism. 

Sorry for the length of this essay and best of luck to you!  Would that there were a yawning smiley face...

In the midst of moving last weekend, I discovered my long forgotten kitchen appliance graveyard.  All the cool gadgets that I thought I HAD to have at the time that have long since moved into that cabinet.  I had three juicers dating back to the 80's, an ice cream maker, a sandwich maker, a George Foreman grill, a food dehydrator, and a the most recent one I got for Christmas, a smoothie maker.  Oh the humanity!  I have decided to resurrect some of them for fun and because I feel so guilty.  How about you all ?  Anyone suffer from this gadget collecting problem? 

  What is the best way to prepar for this. 

You have to be disciplined to make yourself work when baby is napping instead of maybe watching TV or doing housework, etc.   

I might also go the route of having a teen come into your home, or either trying a mother's morning out program at a local church/daycare.   I've been home since my youngest was born and he has never been in all-day daycare, but I did have him in a mother's morning out program 15 hours a week at a local church.   It didn't help a lot with my work schedule because I had an older son in school and was a room mom and tutored other kids, but that might be an option.  The only problem with the mother's morning out program is they are around other kids and tend to pick up every germ.  I finally took my DS out of the program because he stayed sick.  You were supposed to keep them off if they had green nasal discharge and I did, but no one else did.  Every time I got him well after 2 to 3 days back he would be sick again.  Other than that it was very good for him because he would not have had a chance to be around kids his age otherwise. 

who always wanted perfect documents.  Even worse was when I found out there were other MTs making a bunch of mistakes and leaving a lot of blanks on the same account!  So I was to do perfect documents while the others were turning in crap?  No less than 8 mistakes or blanks on one page?

I finally wisened up and quit.  They're always behind and looking for people, I wonder why, duh.

When I worked 3rd shift, at first I tried going to bed around 10 in the morning and getting up around 5 p.m. when my husband got off work.  However, it got to the point that I felt like I didn't have a life at all.  I didn't have time to run any errands or even do simple things like clean my house because all I wanted to do was sleep.  What worked best was when I started staying up until around 2 p.m and then sleeping from then until around 7:30 p.m.  That gave me time to do everything I needed to do during the day and feel like I was able to function, and getting out in daylight instead of only being awake when it's dark definitely improved my mood, too. 

It took me a good 2 months before I got adjusted to 3rd shift, but I actually ended up enjoying it more.  If you do decide to go to 3rd, put up dark curtains, blinds, whatever you need to do to make your room feel like nighttime when you're trying to sleep.  Also make sure you turn off the ringers on your phones because there are always people who don't understand what it's like to work nights and will call you when you're trying to sleep. 

As far as staying awake during your shift, make sure you get up and move around every so often, keep the room very bright and a little cool, and keep the Mountain Dew or the coffee handy.  Go luck! 

I had trouble getting paid as an IC until I did the following:  I started billing on the 1st and 15th of each month.  I put a 10-day balance due date on the bill.  There is a note at the bottom of the bill that says if any balance is carried more than five days past the due date, the old balance PLUS the new balance is due before transcription services are resumed.  Its a bit aggressive, but I was tired of making less because of paying late fees on my bills.  Since I started this policy, I'm paid ON TIME by all of my docs. 

Just look at the symbol:    < >

The widest part of the symbol is next to the larger number:  7 < 9
9 is larger than 7
The smaller part of the symbol is next to the smaller number:   10 > 8
8 is smaller than 10

I did turn on the lawn sprinkler and it worked like a charm.   The neighbors on both sides also ended up turning theirs own as well to keep the kids away. 

I think I started something!  

So glad I quit!   

I wish you the VERY best of luck and medical care.   I'm a survivor and if you ever need to vent, talk, whatever (even though you don't know me and I don't know you), feel free to email.  Sometimes its easier to sound-off at someone you don't know, ya know?  Actually what worked best for me was humor, I'd laugh at the silliest (and DUMBEST) stuff!

Incidentally ...... did you find a crockpot or toaster oven in that throwing out stuff?? hehe

and maybe a nap here or there..but that was good enough for me. I am generally a night person, but the shift got old fast with me.  I felt like a zombie walking around all day sometimes. I just couldn't get the right sleep schedule down. I was tired no matter what I tried. 

I am back to working my evenings to around 1-2 a.m. and that is working waaaay better for me.

Good Luck!  It would be nice if you could try the schedule out just to see how you feel.