Sorry to hear you having it so rough. It took me years to get adjusted. But not all days is so easy still either. I did several things. One of which was quite easy, but I see yours has a no sleep policy, as well as ours...how-ever, they would rather us have a power nap between calls then to injure someone or make critical calls on a groggy head. 15 minute power nap is alot better then none at all, but if you know your going to have a long night ( as it always happens for us,lol) do it in the day time, not rush hour etc. Go to your ambulance and lay down if you have to (we do that alot,lol..cardiac pad sucks, but better then nothing). You know you don't want to overload on caffeine either to try n stay up, you know the effects of that. I never sleep on a 24 anyways, i'm used to it,,basically im up 36 as i have a life later as well, then sleep that night( if I have the option,lol). The day before my duty, I always go to bed earlier then I normally would, simply do to the fact, when I'm not prepared, I will get slammed. So I'll get 2 additional hours of sleep before my duty (too much will make u feel as bad). I don't drink any caffeine products, until night time when I have too, and always keep my mind busy so I don;t think of sleep. Every time I go to sleep on my shift,, I always feel worse simply because we always have a call during the night,,, and I hate waking up, going on call all groggy etc... this is why I trained my body to stay up for 36 automatically. Your situation is a little difficult simply cuz it is a no sleep policy at all till 10.....try sleeping extra hours before ur shift starts just in case you end up with those awful hours again. I do 48-72 hour shifts now,,, between stations...but I make it very clear if I pulled long hours on one of the nights, I WILL need some rest before I hurt someone accidentally. We also switch who goes,, ex: a call comes in,,, and we are suppose to take that call, but I haven't had any rest, instead, the next team would take it to give me a good hour (hopefully another call doesn't come in),,, but if a call does,, then at least I had a power nap. Good rule of thumb is this.......(as dr's do as well) take a 5-15 minute power nap during the day... 5 minutes= every 4 hours you work... keeps you revitalized. Did you tell them you didn't have any sleep the next day? I hope this helps, but as you know, every bodies body responds to lack of sleep differently,, so the way I do it may not work for you, I hoe you did get some help though...bless your heart......
