Quote:
Originally Posted by Alice S. Fuzzybutt
Hi Dr. Steve!
I’ve been working pretty crazy hours. I do a 12-hour shift, but sometimes it’s 1pm-1am, 3pm-3am, or 5pm-5am; I never really know until they tell me. Then sometimes they’ll throw me a curve ball and let me go home “early” (say, 1am) so I can come in at 8am.
Well, my sleep cycle is pretty messed up and, unfortunately, I can’t get to sleep unless I take Tylenol PM or, worst case, Ambien.
Hopefully I won’t be working these crazy hours much longer and I’ll go back to my regular 3pm-11pm shift. My question: am I causing myself some sort of harm by relying on sleeping aids for the time being?
Thanks Dr. Steve!!!
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Alice:
The proper short-term use of sleep aids has never really been shown to do any serious harm in normal cases. What they have shown is that people who take them for a LONG time tend not to sleep as well as people who practice "sleep hygiene" for the same amount of time.
Having said that, shift work is inhuman; we just weren't designed to work that way. Some people need Provigil (modafinil) to wake up when they're supposed to be awake when they switch shifts, other people need Ambien or Lunesta or Melatonin to help them sleep when they switch shifts.
My personal opinion is that if you need a sleep aid for a short time it's unlikely that you'll get dependent on it. If you have to take it longer than a few weeks, you may have to taper off of it (depending on what medication you're taking...some are more habit forming than others) to avoid withdrawal effects.
Tylenol PM has benadryl in it, last time I checked...it's non-addictive and if you can take it without getting a hangover, is relatively inexpensive and safe.
hope this helps.
your pal,
steve