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Hi guys,

The company I work for is undergoing some major reforms at the moment and in a few months' time, I'll be asked to work shifts to cover 24/7. This will include night shifts, "twilight" shifts finishing up till 2am and early morning shifts starting from 6.30am (yuck!)

I'm basically trying to find out what kind of impact working these shifts could have on my mental health. As far as the company's concerned, my options are:

• I can accept the change in hours.
• Because I have a mental health condition, I can apply for restrictions in the hours I work. This may or may not be accepted.
• If I don't accept the change in hours and I'm not approved for a restriction, I'll be laid off. (However, if I apply for the restriction and it's rejected I still have the option of accepting the changes.)

I have mixed feelings about all this. I know being exhausted can make my depression worse. I know at one point my CPN thought I had bipolar, and my pdoc decided she couldn't rule it out, but that I don't need mood stabilisers at this point - since then, I've been scrupulous about how much sleep I get, because I know lack of sleep can trigger hypomania. I know when I started my current daytime shifts (I don't work the same hours every day, or the same days every week) I found it really hard to adjust to, but I'm OK with it now.

On the other hand, I'm hoping to start a PhD in just over a year, and I need to finish paying off my debts before that's a viable option. The extra pay I would get from working unsociable hours would really help with that.

Normally I'd ask my doctor for her opinion, but she's having a baby, and won't be back until after all these changes have taken effect. I can see another doctor at the practice, who has access to my medical records but doesn't really know me. I've already tried one, and he was able to tell me how to take my meds if I work nights, but couldn't comment on how the shifts may affect me.

Does anyone here work night or similar shifts or has done in the past? I know everyone's different, but I'd really appreciate knowing how it affected people's mental health, and if you have any suggestions for coping with it.

Another option is to look for another job now, and in fact I have an interview next week, but I don't really know how desperately I want to leave my current job, and so what kinds of jobs I want to apply for and accept, if that makes sense.

I have thought about contacting my old T... I'm not in therapy now, but she might have an opinion on all this.

Any other suggestions?

Depending on the size of your company, legally they have to make reasonable adjustments under the Disability Discrimination Act. You should have a disabilities rep who you can discuss this with, and perhaps occupational health.

I work for a London council, and have a number of adjustments in place. My official medical diagnosis is recurrent depressive disorder, with attendant anxiety. I have 6 montly review meetings of my adjustments with the disabilities coordinator and one of my managers.
Mind have an advocacy service if you're really stuck. I nearly used it recently, but in the end things worked out with a compromise on the problem I had.

One other option is to accept the new hours, but ask for a review in 6 months - or sooner, if things're really bad. That would give you some grace, the additional pay, as well as a set limit point if you really are having a hard time.

Thanks for the info. I know about the DDA and reasonable adjustments, but have never tried to use it, and hadn't heard of a disabilities rep. I'll have to find out if we have one! It's a very big organisation with big unwieldy procedures that are hard to make sense of. I know I need to do more research into what exactly I would need to do. The thought of talking to people at work about my illness is a little scary (although I did state I have a disability on the application form, and declared everything to occ health at the time).

We don't have a local Mind branch in our area, unfortunately. There's another advocacy service, but my partner looked into it earlier this year, and there's a waiting list to get on the waiting list(!)

I like the idea of asking for a review after a set period of time. That would make it easier for me to ask for help if I need it.

Just give us a shout if you need anything - if there's any way I can help.

In my case, I didn't get formally diagnosed etc until my 2nd year of work, and so had to work everything out then! My then manager wasn't very clued in, and consulted HR. I had a transfer to help, and from there I think the disabilities rep. contacted me. I've also had referrals to Occ. Health. Yep, it's scary at first, and I still get shaky and anxious on review meetings, but my experience has only been good at work - I even had a staff meeting where I explained to my colleagues about my illness and how it effects me at work and what I need. It really helped them to understand, and made things much less a lonely, shaming secret for me. I also developed a Mental Health Awareness factsheet which we send to new colleagues, and which may be used council wide at some point, with amendments, for their disability awareness kit thing.

Hi Echoes!

I thought I might comment on the original question, as I know nothing of disability benefits in the UK:


I've done night work in the past-- many of my friends as well as one ex-live-in-bf have done so also. It does affect not only your mental health, but it can affect your physical health to not get enough sleep on a regular basis. Obviously, it increases fatigue, which may increase depression or moodiness in those prone. If you don't get to all 4 of the sleep cycles, it can cause your musculature to not 'reset' as it were, keeping your muscles in a constant state of hypertrophy (knotted and tight). Lack of proper sleep is a common cause of chronic pain syndromes-- muscle and bone pain widespread and shifting. Lack of proper sleep (known as sleep debt) can also cause mental dysfunction such as an inability to preform complex thinking or problem-solving; it directly effects the frontal region of your brain. Your immune system as well as your metabolic system can also be effected negatively by a sleep debt.

But.....if you can get into a routine, no matter what your hours are, and still find a way to sleep.......I don't see how it would affect you other than maybe being awake when it's dark and sleeping when it's light is kinda depressing to me. I think it's the routine that becomes important-- your body can get used to it and adapt. You go to sleep because of your circadian clock-- your internal sleep meter. It tells your body when the adenosine is up and it's time to release melatonin and seratonin, which help you to fall and stay asleep. Reset your circadian clock, to the extent you can.

In order to get your body into that routine.....you can do the same things you normally do to get ready for bed (brush your teeth, wash your face, maybe a relaxation routine or yoga-- whatever you do) progressively adjusting the time frame so that it's not a shock to your system when you start the 'new' schedule. As in, if you have to be at work from 10pm-8am starting in two weeks........slowly begin staying up later and going to bed earlier. It also helps to have black-out shades for your bedroom to block the sunlight while you are trying to sleep. In fact, I had noisy neighbors at the time, so I used earplugs too.

Just remember that sleep is paramount to healthy functioning in the human body. Do whatever you can to make that process an easy and stress-free thing for your body. Since sleep is important for those who do not have BPD......my thinking is that it may be even more vital to those of us that do have some mental disruption pre-existing.

Hope that helps and best of luck to you, Echoes!

Thanks Harmonium. What you've said about getting into a routine is a big concern for me. I don't see how I'd be able to do it, because I'd be working different hours every day. They're not going to give us a week of nights followed by a week of 2am finishes or whatever - the shifts literally will be all over the place, with the only concession that we get 11 hours minimum between shifts (which just so happens to be the legal minimum!)

It's frustrating because in many ways they're an excellent employer - my manager is really caring and supportive, we get generous annual leave (paid holiday), I even got a week's paid carer's leave when my partner was in hospital - but when it comes to the way shifts are organised, they seem to have no concern for our welfare, and the concerns staff have raised about this aren't being listened to.

Anyway, I decided to bite the bullet and put in a request for limitations on the hours I can work on mental health grounds. I'm not sure what will happen now. I expect I'll have to see occupational health for an assessment.

I had a job interview on Monday, and didn't get the job, but have been told there's a strong possibility I'll be offered a similar position in a few weeks' time. Thing is, if I can get my hours sorted out, I might prefer to stay where I am...

How's everything looking now?