struggling with night shift
Hey all, I just started this new ER fellowship after doing one year on med surg. We started at the beginning of July and I’m on nights. I’m having a really hard time adjusting to the night shift schedule, to the point where it’s making me depressed. I barely get to see my boyfriend or friends, and after most shifts I get bad migraines. My days off are basically just me sleeping and trying to recover.
The first couple weeks starting nights was okay, if I had a migraine it was manageable. But I had a tough time this past week recovering after 3 in a row. For example, the last time I worked was 4 nights ago, and I’m still recovering. First two days off were miserable I was just so exhausted and then I had a terrible migraine that woke me up in the middle of the night yesterday and I was up vomiting until 5 in the morning. Then I slept until 4:30 PM and missed a family party. My migraines were pretty well controlled when I was on days. I see a neurologist, so I know the complete flip in my schedule is affecting them.
I don’t know if night shift just takes time to get used to. I was on day shift on med surg, so this is a huge adjustment for me. But I’m feeling pretty hopeless and honestly feel like I definitely can’t do this much longer.
So my question is, how soon is it reasonable to talk to my managers about this? I just started this job, I’m not even off orientation yet (5th week) and I know they’re short staffed on nights. Idk what to do, I really like the night shift crew and honestly when i’m there it doesn’t affect me. It’s my days off where I’m miserable. I don’t want to give up too quickly, but I also don’t know how long I’m supposed to keep trying when I feel this bad.