Anxiety is always compounded by the dark
Nightime feeds it, as effectively as multiple spoonfuls of sweetened porridge.
Old nurses have certain ploys before they resort to opening the medicine cabinet
A face and hands wash with hot soapy water and straightening of the bedsheets , will get rid of the restlessness in the muscles that get tossing and turning so exhausting before five am.
A milky drink, even if you can’t stand the skin on the cocoa, will remind you of childhood when the cool hand on a forehead and a stern yet loving voice of your mother , told you in no uncertain terms that it was time to SLEEP!
More often than not , it’s the sense of having someone else around that calms the night terrors
A half opened eye glimpsing a pottering uniform, the sound of a trolly being pushed with the accompanying clink of crockery.
Does the mobile phone help?
Sure does….but only when texts are answered and emojis sent
Tiktok diverts but it’s not real company.
The company that reminds you that there is someone watching over you
Another beautiful word picture, John, and so true. You need to get all these blog posts collated and published. I'm sure it would be a best seller! xx
ReplyDeleteThank you for saying so
DeleteAt least these days we have the internet or tv to keep us company in the middle of the night. There was nothing when I was a child (and even as a nursing mother), and I waited anxiously for the dawn chorus to calm me.
ReplyDeleteAnd the light , that made everything better
DeleteSo true....I will add a soft and familiar blanket to tuck into,a well loved cat to hold and listen to as it purrs, Mary
ReplyDeleteYes be kind
DeleteAmy Whitehouse had too many demons to be assuaged by a comforting presence, poor soul.
ReplyDeleteA sad talented soul
DeleteIt's reassuring to have someone to watch over you, but it's not always enough. Amy Winehouse knew. Beautiful words once again, John. And, oh no, I can't even bear the thought of the skin on the cocoa!
ReplyDeleteIt’s making me “ gip” at the thought
DeleteA thoughtful night shift, and a pragmatic take on night terrors. We have all suffered them, especially from being small, when the dressing gown hanging on the back of the door is quite clearly a monster.
ReplyDeleteAnd actually the skin on the cocoa is not as bad as cleaning the saucepan afterwards!
I am blessed with the fact I sleep well at night. Early morning waking is a rarity for me
DeleteIt's funny how our cares and visions of the future can become more concerning in the middle of the night. Very often, as morning breaks, they scuttle back into their cages.
ReplyDeleteLike zombies into the night
DeleteMy mum tuciking my blankets around me tightly in bed and feeling loved and safe - I do this for my dogs - my lily will bark if I dont x
ReplyDeleteI like this flis, I do the same with Dorothy , who sleeps with me. The Welsh terriers have each other to warm
DeleteJohn, a polite ask, do you suffer night terrors or anxious thoughts at night? Jan in Castle Gresley
ReplyDeleteNever jan, I am blessed with being able to sleep well. Having said that, the few nights I’ve been sleepless , and fraught , I’ve not coped well
DeleteI wondered that too jan
DeleteKeith
Xx
No Keith, I’ve got my demons , like everyone else but nighttime ones do not figure in my life , thank goodness.
DeleteThe sad sharing fact is because Dorothy is so robust , I often wake in the night feeling my husband remains at my side
Oh john, oh dear
DeleteKeith
Xx
Thank you for your response John, this post and everyone’s comment is helpful to me. Jan in Castle Gresley
DeleteI think I have been sent to Spam again... or maybe you just don't like me any more.
ReplyDeleteI like you YP x
DeleteYou were YP and I restored u
DeleteI am lucky to sleep well most of the time. Hospitals are difficult places to sleep well, the people who set policies in health care, should spend a week in that bed.
ReplyDeleteHospital sleep , is ni impossible , especially on a general medical ward, which sounds like bedlam .
DeleteI worked on intensive care for a decade and that has a dreadfully insistent noise all of itself whatcwith the faceless fakuda monitor alarms
Another lovely post. Reading your post first thing in the morning sets the mood of my day. Today will be thoughtful, remembering me tucking my girls in at night. Thank you
ReplyDeleteThere is something rather lovely being tucked up into bed. I remember my ex husband when he had food poisoning , and me tucking him up carefully for bed
DeleteI sometimes suffer from situational anxiety but have not since my husband passed away, till last week. They were calling for high winds very low temperatures and possible power outages. The last time this happened we were without power for four days. In the end our 16 year old dog had to be put down. So hearing that weather report caused me to have a meltdown. I knew my daughter was going to Cuba for a week and my grandson who helps me occasionally has gone to Thailand, so I felt very alone until my daughter said if anything happens just get in an Uber and come to my house as I have a girl living here and she is dogsitting. I have met her and she told me to call her anytime. That was all I needed to hear and I am perfectly fine now.. Night anxiety is the worst! Gigi
ReplyDeleteGigi
DeleteYou are so right
With the anticipation much worse than anything else.
Everything and the girl , wrote a song about things like this and one line resonates
“ you are most fallorn
Just before Dawn”
I've never spent the night in a hospital (knock wood) and I always imagined it to be a peaceful time, but Dave says it's actually loud as all get-out, with people running around and cabinets slamming, etc. It IS strange how problems seem so large and insurmountable in the middle of the night, and then in the morning they're back down to normal size.
ReplyDeleteIt can be bedlam
DeleteReduced staffing
Old people confused due to “ sun downing “ *
Falls out of bed
Death time ( many people die at 4 am )
* sun downing is where sick people often come confused when darkness arrives
Nurses can be so helpful when patients have anxiety during the night. I remember a nurse sitting and holding my hand when I couldn't settle during the night. Just talking quietly and asking me about my family. So peaceful and reassuring.
ReplyDeleteI often sit next to a patient to read.
DeleteThey know I’m there
A half opened eye glimpsing a pottering unform? Where you work must be very different from the NHS hospital I stayed in. Trying to sleep at night was impossible, I was in a 4 bed bay and one patient was up and down all night, banging the toilet door and wandering about whistling as if it was daytime. Patients from other wards also wandered in and out, I felt very unsafe. The bay was next to the nurse's station where the nurses gathered to chat, arriving nurses would loudly shout Cooee or Hiyah as they opened the ward door and there would be loud chatter and shrieks of laughter. When I had increased pain one night and pressed the buzzer it was 20 minutes before a nurse arrived, very grumpy because I must have interrupted her chat. It was the only time I'd pressed the buzzer during my stay there and I hoped I wouldn't need to do it again. At 4.30 am every morning they were going round with jugs of fresh water and opening the curtains. I dread the thought of another hospital stay, it felt as if I had sleep deprivation.
ReplyDeleteI work in a hospice not a hospital
ReplyDeleteThe difference is profound
DeleteOk we have the occasional noisy banter between staff, that’s a norm,
But at night there IS a certain peace , especially given each patient has their own room , separate from each other
I am unsure if this post is about your patients' experience or your own---or maybe all. I think many of us in modern times are very alone and anxiety results.
ReplyDeleteIt’s a bit of both lizzy
DeleteJust a stream of consciousness
And no negative trolls today john
DeleteRefreshing l
Lee
In the dark of the night, on occasion, we all go to dark places. Life is no picnic in the park and the world is in a bit of a pickle. How can we not get a little dark? Hopefully, it all passes and a new day starts at sunrise.
ReplyDeleteNicely described susan
DeleteSo very true. Long after my mother had stopped talking due to Alzeimer's I was rubbing lotion on her hands one evening and she smiled at me, saying softly, "That's nice."
ReplyDeleteBlessings on all who watch over us.
Hugs!
What a lovely memory to have. Llynn
DeleteYes sweet and bittersweet.
DeleteThe storm is roaring overhead here, the electricity is flickering the lights
Stay safe my Welsh friends
DeleteKeith
Xx
We are fine xx
DeleteI remember, not too long ago, being in hospital, getting some new knees (as you do) and asking the night nurse on the drug trolley round for a sleeping pill. 'Do you take these often?) she said. ' No, never' l replied. 'then don't be so silly with daft requests' she retorted. Put me in me place proper she did. Think l just shut me eyes and pulled the covers up and went to sleep pronto. Tess
ReplyDeleteNo messing
DeleteSo true.
ReplyDeleteThank u
DeleteAnxiety at night has a flavor like no other type. Would we could sleep feeling all is OK to do so.
ReplyDelete