Changing sleep schedule causing physical symptoms, help!

[Amber]

I have pretty much worked overnights for about 7 years now. My main job is 10pm-6 am. Recently I also got a part time job where I have to work 10am-3pm. Normally my sleep hours are from about 8am until about 4pm, give or take a half an hour or so. Now that I have this part time job working the day shift, I don't know what to do! I can't quit either job so I have to work something out, but I've only been on the new job for 2 days and I am already going crazy. I tried to go to bed early the night before and of course, couldn't, and I ended up sleeping only at the very end right before my alarm went off. So all day I was tired, of course, but then when I went to bed that night, I could not fall asleep even though I was extremely exhausted from not sleeping the night before! Not only could I not sleep, but I was having wierd problems, like heart palpitations, slight nausea, not much of an appetite, and this wierd problem where I feel like my breathing stops unless I consciously make myself breathe. Like I'll be doing something and I'll suddenly be aware that I need to take a breath and then I need to keep doing it on my own. Pretty much the entire night laying in bed was torture, I felt like my heart was going to stop because it felt like it was beating funny and harder and faster than usual, and I had to "make" myself breathe, and I felt like I could throw up (but I never did). One of the nights I was actually almost asleep and then my heart started going faster and harder, for no reason, I mean I had been laying there for about 2 hours when this happened out of the blue, and then after that I was wide awake for the next 4 or 5 hours.

So it's been 3 days now that I've gotten crappy sleep, and I am done at the day shift job for 5 days and now I'm back to the overnight one, but I don't know how I'll be able to stay awake all night now, even though I couldn't sleep much the last 2 nights but I am exhausted!

Here's some more information that might help; I'm a 37 year old female, not on any medications, healthy as far as I know except I have always had heart palpitations but my doctor said they are normal. I have anxiety issues though, I worry a lot and I think the heart palpitations are a result of that.

So last night for sleeping I tried taking melatonin  which didn't do anything. I can't take caffiene because it makes my heart palpitations worse. I can't take sleep aids, or even Tylenol PM or Nyquil for that matter, because those types of things make me wake up after only an hour or two and then I'm jittery, it's like they have the opposite effect on me. So i'm pretty much left to natural sleep aids. I've tried lavender oil, I've tried tea, I've tried meditation/calming/hypnotic mp3's to listen to as I lay there, those don't work either.

I have always needed 8 hours of sleep to not feel sick during the day, and I've always been a night owl. My hours at both jobs are in such a way that I can't keep a set schedule anymore but I don't know what schedule to do the most because either way it will make it unbearable for when I do the the other job! But I CAN'T quit either job, I need them both, and I haven't been able to get any other jobs in a year and a half so this is it. I'm so stressed out just worrying about how I'll get enough sleep and why I have these wierd symptoms when I am overtired!

Does anyone have any suggestions/advice? Thanks in advance!

[readingsprite]

Your sleep problem sounds like exactly what I was going through back in January. I broke down and went to the doctor after a few nights of this torture, and he prescribed Paxil and Xanax. It took a few days for these to kick in to help my nighttime breathing problem, and another week after that to "loosen me up" so to speak so I could regain full lung use the rest of the time (It felt like there was an iron band around the middle of my chest which prevented me from taking full, complete breaths. When this finally went away it was like a kind of instant high to be able to relax and breathe again!)

These things you are experiencing can't, and won't, last forever. Only you can decide whether or not you want to tough it out until it goes away on its own or get a prescription from your doctor. I had toughed it out in the past, but the attack only lasted four days at that time. The attack in January really ended up going on for about two weeks like that--who knows if it would have gone  away at the exact time it did, or if the meds stopped it early.

Do what works for you sister!

[Amber]

I posted this almost 2 months ago, and I'm happy to report I've gotten much better at sleeping. I still have to force myself to go to bed since I don't get tired at night, but at least I can fall asleep relatively quickly and I've been getting about 5-7 hours on nights I have to get up early, but on my days off I don't set my alarm and wake up about 7-8 hours later. I guess I just needed more time to adjust. But I still don't get tired at night though, I think I'm a night owl for life, no matter what hours I work! I have a LOT of trouble getting up at 9 am. So much trouble that I'm debating if I should quit my job or not. I feel like complete crap for the first 3 hours of the day, and it's really bad cuz I have to do physical work so I pretty much move in slow motion for the first 3 hours.

Also a strange thing has happened since I've been able to sleep somewhat normal...my heart palpitations have eased up! I used to get them at least once a day, on average, for the last 20 years or so, but they've gotten much better in the last month and a half. I think I only get like 1 or 2 a week now! I wonder if it has anything to do with my sleep schedule, I doubt it though, because I feel like I'm hurting my body by forcing myself to go to bed when i'm not tired and get up when it's so hard. I'm also under a lot of stress related to my job and that's always made my heart beat funny, so I can't explain why it's gotten better but I'm happy about that!