8 hour versus 10 hour shift

[RexandBoone]

I work 35 hours per week. My work is obsessed with 10 hour shifts and I've stuck to my 8 hours until lately. I thought having 3 consecutive days off every other week sounded grand, so I've switched shifts starting 31st Oct.I've a much earlier start now and thought my body clock would adjust.(I've changed my bedtime accordingly). I'm plagued by headaches (don't know if it's stress), fatigue and bad brain fog.

I'll be doing my usual private blood test soon to check levels.

Anyway, my question is: are others having/had any issues with a prolonged work day?

Worried I've caused a flare up 🤔

[humanbean]

Perhaps you need more food and water to cater for the longer work day?

When I am half-dead on waking I sometimes take one of these straight after I get up - it perks me up quite well :

therootcauseprotocol.com/fa...

stopthethyroidmadness.com/a...

But I must admit, a 10-hour work day sounds awful. I couldn't manage it.

[RexandBoone in reply to humanbean]

Thank you @humanbean for the links. Very interesting and I shall give it a go.I do take more food in with me and drink water throughout the day. Too much food and I'm sleepy, so at intervals.

[BlueKeith]

I have changed jobs I do less hours and low status stress free over money stress long hours. The worst symptom for me is the brain fog. I can lose it for an hour at a time. Its like having dementia. I can't take in what people say . I loose my sense of direction. People think I'm being ignorant but I'm just spaced out. Monday I'm always super switched on and Monday is a hard day then Tuesday I'm totally dopey all day then ok again Wednesday.

[RexandBoone in reply to BlueKeith]

I keep looking at alternative jobs, but can't afford to jump ship at the moment. I just can't do the mental gymnastics of remembering things the way I used to (so I tell myself!). Unhappily I can recall the occasional days that I feel sharp and frustratingly can't replicate it. It just happens.

[jrbarnes in reply to RexandBoone]

I feel the same. I cannot imagine having to learn and retain new information to start a new job.

[jrbarnes in reply to BlueKeith]

I had the same issue and it forced me off work for two years. I couldn't read a paragraph or even take in a sentence. I couldn't absorb the information my company would send over for us to read. I'd read the same sentence over and over. Then I lost my memory recall and mid sentence the words just wouldn't come to mind. When I was younger I used to read 1000 page books for hours a day!

[shaws in reply to BlueKeith]

I would request GP to test both Free T4 and Free T3. (he may not).

T4 is inactive and has to convert to T3 (active hormone and needed in the thousands of receptor cells in our bodies).

[BlueKeith]

Yeah changing jobs can be quite stressful. The people I work with know now I have my stupid days but then I try to Excell on my good days to make up. Lots of little things can improve your energy. I eat a few Brazil nuts each day as it contains high amounts of selenium which is supposed to help conversion of t4 to t3 . I eat liver or liver pate once a week for vit b . I take a VIT d in winter which is supposed to lower on people with hypothyroidism and have a magnesium tablet on a night and that does really help with sleep that one is my most noticable supplement which helped me. My brain fog isn't quite as bad as it used to be but still do have the odd terrible day. Good luck and hope you find your cure. If you do let me know , I may want to try .

[RexandBoone in reply to BlueKeith]

I eat Brazil nuts, get bored, then wonder why I keep them in! Very interesting about when you take your Magnesium. I'm going to change when I take it. At work I also take in a Snickers bar cut in half so I have a quick protein and sugar snack (some days, i dont eat it all). I also keep some protein powder in my locker for a snack but because its tucked away, I forget its there. Bit like all the supplements - if I put them in a cupboard I forget they're there and then forget why I need them! They're all out by the kettle now, cos I know I'm going to have my tea

[Aurealis]

Hi RexandBoone,

I can’t imagine ever being able to cope with a regular 10 hour day so you have my sympathy, but I just wonder if you would benefit from a change of timing to your thyroid dose? Think other suggestions about food and drink are likely to be really helpful.

[RexandBoone in reply to Aurealis]

Definitely helpful to have suggestions. The adrenal mix from humanbean was new to me. I take my levothyroxine at bedtime and Montelukast for asthma. Just this weekend I've decided to take the asthma med in the morning. I usually take my T3 in the morning too, then vits with breakfast

[humanbean in reply to RexandBoone]

You can take adrenal cocktails at whatever time of day suits you. I always take them in the morning.

According to the STTM link I gave you, you can also have more than one a day if you want but I'm a bit reluctant to do that myself, since they contain potassium and salt/sodium both of which affect the heart and/or the blood pressure if taken to excess.

[jrbarnes]

I'm back to work after a two year medical leave due to the hypo and I can barely handle a 6 hour day! When I was younger I used to work 10 hour shifts all the time because the three days off is great but now I'm on 8 hours and struggling. If my thyroid hormone wasn't so low it wouldn't be a problem. It makes it difficult to handle long hours and I get stressed easily from the fatigue..

[RexandBoone in reply to jrbarnes]

Yup, that sums it up for me. I think the stress is definitely aiding my fatigue.

[jrbarnes in reply to RexandBoone]

My job isn't stressful and I work from home but the low thyroid makes it stressful because I just want to lay down! I've been trying different T4/T3 combos and it's so difficult to make these changes while working. Luckily another employee picked up 2 hours of my shift for the next few weeks. This cold rain we're having today doesn't make it any better!

[TSH110]

I do 9.5hrs including 30 min break which I don’t always manage to take. It’s ok in the summer but I find it hard going in the winter. I used to do 6 days a week then 5 now I can just about cope with 4. I can’t imagine such long hours are good for anyone and mine aren’t even nights, but it helps keeps the wolf from the door.

[RexandBoone in reply to TSH110]

Cripes, that's a lot of hours. Makes mine look like a breeze But yeah, can't be good for you. I'm going to get mine changed back to 8 hour shifts which don't start at 6:30 am. I thought this was a good idea when work asked for preferences back in the summer!

[TSH110 in reply to RexandBoone]

It takes three hours in total to get there and get home on top, it’s a very long day. I lost out on pension so had no option but to keep going when it would have been an ideal time to hang up the towel.

You dont know if it will suit you until you try it, good you can swap back.

[jrbarnes in reply to TSH110]

I used to work those 10 hours but we had to pay back our lunch so it was 10.5 hours on top of a 3 hour round trip drive. I look back to those days and don't know how I managed it!

[TSH110 in reply to jrbarnes]

I don’t know how I do it now! But that’s even more 😱

[Lotika]

when I told my endo that I was particularly struggling with work the next day (from home) after a commute into the office the day before, he suggested that splitting my T3 dose might help. It didn’t help me, but I thought I would say in the instance that it might help you! Changing the timing of dosing has, however, worked for me in the past, when I was taking 2 x 5 mcg T3 on top of the T4.

[RexandBoone in reply to Lotika]

Interesting. When do you take your T3? I take mine first thing in the morning. Levo at bedtime