Has anyone ever got confused with what do when doing shift work and having to take medication. This is something that I still try to get my head round. As a student nurse and a care assistant I find it difficult to regulate my medications when working 12 hour shifts and night shift.
Working 12 hour shifts is not too bad. Morning medications and evening medications just get done slightly earlier before I leave and slightly later when I get back in from work. Although the though of doing 3 nebulsisrs when I get in from a long days work is not top of my list but it has too be done. It is a hard chore sometimes. Of course taking tablets is not an issue as these slide down with one gulp of water.
It is night shifts that bemuses me. I never know when to take my tablets. Do I take my night time tablets before starting a night shift and then my morning tablets when I come off night shift and go to bed or take night time ones. I never know what i should do and it is something that I always forget to ask when I see my consultant. I msut remember to ask him. I am fortunate that when have been working night shift my chest has been pretty stable and my medications regime has been lower and therefore alot of my tablets are the same both morning and night but it is things like my prednisilone and singulair (a tablet designed to be taken at night) that I am unsure of. The prednisilone has a tendancy to keep me awake so I never know do i miss a dose or take and extra dose when going on and off night shifts.
It is all so confusing soemtimes. The trials of medication and working shifts!!!
ANONYMOUS-ASTHMA 
I used to work 3 nights a week, I used to be sooo kanckered when I got in from work I used to put the neb on my face with my pulmi in and fall straight to sleep, waking up hours later to turn neb off! Tablets I just used to stick to the prescribed times otherwise it would just get all mucked up!
I’ve never had to work shifts, fortunately. I always get in a tangle with meds when I travel though – part of it is simply being out of my normal routine, and then other part is that if there’s a bit time difference (like when I visit family on the west coast of Canada), I get completely messed up, especially when flying home, where you ‘lose’ 9 hours.
When I did the long distance walk in July, we had to start at 4am each day, and that got confusing too. I took all my meds along, so I could take the morning dose part way in, but the one day I only remembered to take them when i saw someone else taking her seretide along the way!
I guess I’ve been lucky – for me these are the exceptions, rather than the rule, so for a couple days here and there it probably isn’t too important.
Out of interest, do you know why it is that the singulair should be taken in the evening? I just started on it myself, and I was wondering about that. I guess the reason for the timing might help you make a decision about when you should take it.
Good luck, I look forward to reading about any answers you get from the consultant when you see him.