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Posted: 2/25/2006 9:51:46 PM EDT
When I was a resident I was on the freeway going home after being up about 48 hours straight. I went to a McDonalds and feel asleep in the drive thru line. All the cars behind me went around me and told the employees. Next thing I know they are knocking at my window asking if I needed an ambulance.
 So I am on the freeway and all of a sudden I realize that I had changed 2 lanes. I didnt remember doing it! Kind of scary. I dont drive anymore when I am sleepy. I have pulled over many times and slept in a parking lot. Nothing like zombie driving. |
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Posted: 2/25/2006 9:55:27 PM EDT
[#1]
I work 112 hours most weeks, so I know exactly what you're talking about. The clutch in my van quit a few years ago, and I haven't bothered to fix it because I'm afraid I'll hurt someone. Walking home, while more dangerous to me with the neighborhood I have to walk through, is safer for everyone else. Now I just sleep at work half of the time.z
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Posted: 2/25/2006 9:56:29 PM EDT
[#2]
As dangerous as drunk driving. I absolutely hate the feeling of getting tired when I am driving. We had accidents all the time in the army with people falling asleep while driving. Amazing more people weren't injured and killed.
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Posted: 2/25/2006 9:57:15 PM EDT
[#3]
Me too. I will find a call room somewhere and sleep until I wake up. It screws up your internal clock but its better then crashing and hurting someone. |
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Posted: 2/25/2006 9:58:05 PM EDT
[#4]
I think its even worse. At least you have the booze to blame. |
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Posted: 2/25/2006 9:59:16 PM EDT
[#5]
When I was trying to go to school early in the morning I had some problems with this. I didn't fall asleep, but I would see weird shit out of the corner of my eye. Once I saw a car melt into a van in the lane next to me, then both seemed to fade away. Also, I somehow changed lanes and passed a car without realizing it. That didn't last long.
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Posted: 2/25/2006 10:09:21 PM EDT
[#6]
I have fallen asleep 3 times behind the wheel, fortunately without a crash. I don't know what's wrong with me, but if I sit still for very long at all I start to fall asleep. I'm usually good for maybe 2 hours of driving before it hits me, sometimes it sneaks up on me after a few minutes.
I scared the shit out of mself one night going home from work and nearly hit a concrete barrier, that made my self preservation instinct kick in. Now, when I drive, I have the stereo going, the window down and a coke. |
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Posted: 2/25/2006 10:16:05 PM EDT
[#7]
read my avatar bioline
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Posted: 2/25/2006 10:24:40 PM EDT
[#9]
When I was younger I had no problem. I would drive 18 hours into Canada for my fishing trip without stopping unless for food, gas, or bladder intermissions.
Now that I am a bit older, I can't do it any more. My eyes do not work as good at night, and if I drive to long, my eyes can't focus. I always feel like I am staring and my vision gets out of focus. When I am tired, I get a room. 
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Posted: 2/25/2006 10:31:08 PM EDT
[#10]
I'm almost never 100% alert when I drive. I zone out a lot, but snap to whenever something that needs my attention happens. Its odd how it works. I've never fallen asleep, though I did once drive 5 hours with a bunch of sharp rocks under my butt to keep me awake. That was a long, long time ago. Now I don't really go anywhere and I take a nap most afternoons anyway.
Oh, I don't use my turn signals either. Ever. If I use my turn signals, people take advantage of me by cutting me off and passing me when I'm slowing down to make a left turn, etc. If I never use turn signals and weave about ever so slightly in my own lane, I retain the advantage of surprise and people avoid me because they think I'm crazy and/or drunk. It makes it safer and more comfortable for me because I usually end up with about 100 ft of cushion around my vehicle. |
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Posted: 2/25/2006 10:36:14 PM EDT
[#11]
I drove home from a weekend beach party one morning when I was 18...zonked out until I hit a grated bridge deck and realized I was about 6" off the bumper of the car ahead of me. I really needed to sleep, but my minimum wage job was calling. Stupid is as stupid does...
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Posted: 2/25/2006 10:38:57 PM EDT
[#12]
I tried that once when I was in high school.
Didn't work very well.  Haven't been able to sleep in a vehicle since; whether I'm driving or not. NMSight |
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Posted: 2/25/2006 10:50:28 PM EDT
[#13]
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Posted: 2/25/2006 10:51:13 PM EDT
[#14]
I try not to...But you know, sometimes when your tired your tired.....
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Posted: 2/25/2006 10:53:52 PM EDT
[#15]
I don't like to sleep behind the wheel, it tends to interfere with my masteurbating while I drive.
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Posted: 2/25/2006 10:54:04 PM EDT
[#16]
i drove 22 hours from nevada to canada, hunted for 5 days and drove it again all in one shot. about 18 hours in ill get one of those amp power drinks and i could go for ever. when i get tired i start seeing shit as well.
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Posted: 2/25/2006 10:55:37 PM EDT
[#17]
 Now that will keep you awake.
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Posted: 2/25/2006 10:56:21 PM EDT
[#18]
I get sleepy while driving when Im hungry.
If Ikeep snaking or a make a stop and grap something to eat Im ok. |
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Posted: 2/25/2006 11:09:53 PM EDT
[#19]
Slightly tired, windows down and stereo up and coffee
If I have the "oh shit, did everything just jump 100 feet or did I fall asleep?" moment I pull over and take a nap. If I'm very tired, I stop and get a hotel room. Better I spend $50 then end up dead. Also, driving long distances a lot helps. You get used to it. I've done Northeast PA to Atlanta a couple times, done Richmond to NEPA a bunch, etc. For some reason, when I drive, I don't eat. I mean, I don't get hungry. So I eat candy just for something to munch on. For the rest of the day too. I felt kinda bad when I met a friend for a home cooked meal at her house and barely ate anything because I was in "driving mode". She thought I didn't like her food.  |
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Posted: 2/25/2006 11:14:35 PM EDT
[#20]
Years ago, one of my cousins fell asleep while operating his 1340cc Harley. Luckily he wasn't killed.
--VT |
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Posted: 2/25/2006 11:56:30 PM EDT
[#21]
I almost did a couple of times when I was working full-time and going to college. Gotta hate that feeling when you know you're starting to nod off and can't keep your eyes focused anymore, but you're only 10 miles from home and pushing yourself to hurry up and get there.
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Posted: 2/26/2006 12:00:19 AM EDT
[#22]
Once.
The fear of God was put into me real quick when I woke up. 
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Posted: 2/26/2006 12:01:06 AM EDT
[#23]
Oh yes. I used to work full time an hour from home, plus play clubs on the weekends, many of which were around the state. I worked a lot of overtime during the weekend too. I used to do things like go pack up, drive to the northern part of the state, load in, sound check, get dinner, play until bar time, pack up, race to Milwaukee, work the day shift, then drive home........I just scoot my ass over to the right, and lean to the left, lay my head in my hand against the door. Suddenly, I don't remember going by a bunch of landmarks.
I swear my truck knew how to drive itself. |
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Posted: 2/26/2006 12:02:07 AM EDT
[#24]
BTDT too.....that stuff sucks. Usually, a pot hole or something will become a deer or dog, and make me panic. |
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Posted: 2/26/2006 12:43:11 AM EDT
[#25]
Yeah, coming home from Idaho after a shoot one time, I woke up to find myself halfway over the line, with an oncoming car blaring his horn at me and no room for him to dodge. I barely got out of his way. I'd pulled over repeatedly to sleep, but it just wasn't helping. I got several hours of sleep, tried again, and had to pull over at the next exit because I was *still* too sleepy to drive. The six-hour drive ended up taking sixteen. I have no idea why I just could not function that night and day.
The only other time I've had something like that happen, I was almost home on a clear expressway, realized I was losing it, and did a sudden lane change. A cop pulled me over to check whether I was drunk, and scared me enough that I was wide awake the rest of the way home. |
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Posted: 2/26/2006 12:49:52 AM EDT
[#26]
I had a very scary "sleep driving" incident 13 years or so ago. I was driving to Las Vegas (my first duty station) from Wyoming, non-stop of course. I got really tired an hour or so from Vegas so I pulled off an off ramp and parked behind a truck to take a quick nap. The next thing I remember I was driving off the left lane of the interstate into the ditch, running over sagebrush and crap and practically crapping myself. I looked behind me and didn't see the overpass so I have no idea how far I "drove" in my sleep. I've never let myself get that tired when driving since either...
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Posted: 2/26/2006 12:50:39 AM EDT
[#27]
C'mon baby, let's get out of this town.
've got a full tank of gas, and the top rolled down. There's a chill in my bones, I don't want to be left alone. So baby you can sleep while I drive. I'll pack my bag and load up my guitar, In my pocket I'll carry my harp. I've got some money I saved, Enough to get underway, And baby you can sleep while I drive We'll go through Tucson up to Santa Fe And Barbara in Nashville says we're welcome to stay. I'll buy you glasses in Texas, a hat from New Orleans. In the morning you can tell me your dreams. You know I've seen it before, This mist that covers your eyes. You've been looking for something That's not in your life. My intentions are true, Won't you take me with you, And baby you can sleep while I drive. Oh is it other arms you want to hold you? Oh, the stranger, the lover? You're free. Can't you get that with me? Come on baby let's get out of this town. I got a full tank of gas with the top rolled down. If you won't take me with you, I'll go before night is through. And baby you can sleep while I drive. |
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Posted: 2/26/2006 12:52:38 AM EDT
[#28]
My cousin pulled a double shift one time and had fallen asleep at a red light on the way home. He let his foot off the brake after dosing off and bumped into this lady stopped in front of him. He puts it in park and gets out to talk to the lady who is looking for any damage. He said he didn`t hardly get the words out "is there any damage" before she was back peddling away from him getting in her car saying "no damage".. Then he realizes he has a hard-on which was really "tenting" his pants. HAHAHA that poor lady must have thought she was being set up for an attack.
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Posted: 2/26/2006 5:48:07 AM EDT
[#29]
 Thats one of the things that happen when you are tired. You natural biophysical functions take over. Most men will get erections for a significant period of time when they are sleeping. Thats how differentiate between and organic and mental cause of impotence. If you can get it up during sleep you know its in your head and not body mechanism problem. |
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Posted: 2/26/2006 6:05:40 AM EDT
[#30]
I've done that a couple times. The funny thing about it is you wake up saying "oh my God Oh my God!" Then you're wide awake telling yourself that was sooo scary, I'll never fall asleep behind the wheel again. Then 2 minutes later you start drifting off again. Vigorous head shaking seems to help me. |
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Posted: 2/26/2006 6:10:40 AM EDT
[#31]
That's called a bad trip or a flashback 
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Posted: 2/26/2006 6:19:57 AM EDT
[#32]
Nothing like zombie driving.
I was driving home late and tired once and got lost. I had driven by a turn and just kept going straight till I looked around and didn't know where I was. Weird feeling; sleeping with your eyes open. I'm glad I only went a few miles; I would hate to wake up in another state or something. |
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Posted: 2/26/2006 6:22:29 AM EDT
[#33]
I do a lot of highway driving and every now and then I get tired. I've found for me that I do better at longer trips than I do at shorter ones. I guess its the knowledge that the short (2 to 5 hour) trips will be over "soon."
I was driving from Pittsburgh, PA to Toledo, OH (about 4 to 4 1/2 hours) and was so groggy halfway through I pulled over immediately on the side of the highway. I put my 4-ways on and passed out. I woke up to an Ohio Highway Patrol cop banging on my window asking me what my emergency was. When I explained that I was tired and pulled over rather than crashing into other people or trees the officer wasn't amused. They stated that I needed to find a rest stop (17 miles ahead of me, or behind) and pull over there. Problem was that I got tired after the rest stop and didn't want to risk making the next one. Oh well. I drove from PA to Houston one time non-stop (other than for gas and to go to the bathroom). Won't do that again. |
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Posted: 2/26/2006 6:25:57 AM EDT
[#34]
I use to pull over and sleep but now you either get mugged or put in jail for it.
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Posted: 2/26/2006 6:37:23 AM EDT
[#35]
I have fallen asleep while driving just once. I had just graduated college and was down in the Keys for a weekend for my final qualifying dive for SCUBA class. Being young, I also partied hard Friday and Saturday night. So Sunday morning I am driving home and I suddenly find myself driving through the grass on the side of US1...
THAT woke me up pretty damn quick. |
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Posted: 2/26/2006 6:18:11 PM EDT
[#36]
I hear eating something like sunflower seeds helps keep you awake.
The funniest sleep-driving story I've heard was a guy who in his younger days had cause to make cross-country dashes. He started in California and somewhere about Colorado, he woke up, heart racing, franticly trying to steer his car through the trees. Gradually he realized the car was not moving, he had pulled over to sleep. |
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Posted: 2/26/2006 6:27:26 PM EDT
[#37]
I remember when I was a little kid and we were all in the car on a long drive to visit relatives. It was the middle of the night and Dad pulled over to the side of the road and told Mom to wake him up in half an hour. After 30 minutes Mom shook Dad's shoulder and said "time to wake up." Dad glanced up, then his eyes opened in horror as he frantically grabbed the steering wheel. Of course then Mom starts laughing. Then Dad wakes up, grumbles, gets mad, and peels out onto the road with Mom still rubbing it in and him grumbling at her. It was pretty quiet in the car for the rest of that trip.............. |
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Posted: 2/26/2006 6:34:14 PM EDT
[#38]
I can drive 12 hours straight, no sweat. I do know of a co-worker though that fell stone cold asleep at a stop sign with her foot on the brake. She woke up when everyone starting honking at her.
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Posted: 2/26/2006 6:39:44 PM EDT
[#39]
During internship I fell asleep in bumper to bumper traffic. Also during internship my sweetie fell asleep at a red light and drove into the car in front of her. Dude was so confused as to how it could happen he just told her to go home and go to sleep. No report necessary.
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Posted: 2/26/2006 6:47:52 PM EDT
[#40]
+1 Very first day after call as a resident I was rear-ended at a red light... and it woke me up. Nowadays, I'll just try hard not to schedule anything early on post-call days and just crash in a call room until waking up. Tonight's been a zoo - open heart the bled and bled and bled, another guy with a 4" piece of shotgun barrel in his groin from a KB in the next lane, and the list goes on. Will hand the "bat phone" to the first anesthesiologist I see in the morning then go sleep for a while. ARDOC, glad things didn't get ugly @ the bar. You know as well as anyone that "some dude comes out of nowhere while I was just minding my own business after visiting some friends." 
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Posted: 2/26/2006 6:48:15 PM EDT
[#41]
I am not even going to read the rest of this thread..... I am ASSuming you are a reasonbly smart fella, I mean you are studying/ studied medicine. HOW CAN YOU BE SO INTELLIGENT AND SO FUCKING STUPID AT THE SAME TIME? You .......ahhhhhhhhhhhhrrrrrrrrrgggggggggggggg never-fucking-mind!!!!!!!!! |
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Posted: 2/26/2006 6:52:34 PM EDT
[#42]
One of the residents, was going home. Near Jefferson on the Eastside the road ends and you have to take a right or left. There is a median in the middle and then Lake St.Clair beyond the median and the road.
Well you can guess what happened. He was going home one night with very little traffic. He came to a stop at the light. While he was waiting he fell asleep. The car accelerated, hit the median got some air and ended up in the drink. Car was a total write off. The water wasnt that deep so he got out with a few bumps and scratches. The interesting part is the LEOs said it happened all the time. The was a reason they had built up the median. But cars were still going into the drink. |
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Posted: 2/26/2006 6:55:27 PM EDT
[#43]
Umm, yeah. Ever been a resident? Not exactly the easiest life in the world, and you spend upwards of 90% of your time in survival mode. I'm sure you've never done anything of questionable judgement before, of course. When you work up to 120 hours a week consistently, doing 36+ hours awake at a time, sleep deprivation WILL affect your thought processes. Add on to the sleep deprivation the massive knowledge base you are trying to study, as well as challenging new skills in an adversarial and confrontational environment. By the way, everyone's waiting for you to make a mistake and sue you/kick you out of the program/publicly humiliate you. That's if you're fortunate enough NOT to have had one or more people die in front of your eyes. There were times I was so tired, my wife told me I was talking in my sleep - giving medicine orders. My soapbox is bigger than yours. No offense intended of course, but I think your post was a little too critical. |
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Posted: 2/26/2006 6:57:00 PM EDT
[#44]
Cars put me to sleep very quickly. When I get tired while driving, not many things work. Jumping around doesn't work, loud music doesn't always work, but when it gets really shitty, I stop and pop some No-Doze out of the medkit in my trunk.
I'm only twenty, but it only took one trip of the textured pavement at the side of the road being the only thing keeping me awake, then I've always kept caffine in my trunk. Since 75% of my mileage is driven over long trips (over an hour each way), I often have to make it to my destination, or stop and sleep, but I'm always too stubborn to stop and sleep. |
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Posted: 2/26/2006 6:58:09 PM EDT
[#45]
Thats hilarious. My GF said the samething. She is a nurse so she found it very entertaining. So wrote down what I was ordering and was responding to me in my sleep. It sounded like I was doing a delivery and there was some bleeding. She was impressed that all the orders were correct.
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Posted: 2/26/2006 6:58:23 PM EDT
[#46]
It can also happen with induction or emergence from anesthesia. And there, folks, is the "mystery of morning wood." Parasympathetic stimulation causing erection, if I recall correctly. |
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Posted: 2/26/2006 6:59:46 PM EDT
[#47]
Not sure how many yards I've travelled with my eyes closed. Was kind of a problem at one time.
I have fallen asleep at work while leaning against a shelf. ETA What is the point of working residents (or anyone for that matter) 48 hours straight to where they are a menace to the same people they want to help? Just askin? Never could see working a doc to exhaustion but I'm sure I'll learn something about it here tonight.....two docs are bangin on the keyboard like they're on a caffeine high... |
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Posted: 2/26/2006 7:00:29 PM EDT
[#48]
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Posted: 2/26/2006 7:00:53 PM EDT
[#49]
I wouldn't be surprised if this is very common. Mrs sleepdr did the same thing. Apparently I was treating someone in the ICU with a heart attack & congestive heart failure - complete with beta blockers and diuretics down to the doses.
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Posted: 2/26/2006 7:03:41 PM EDT
[#50]
Done it more times than I care to remember , never had an accident though. Only happerns after I've worked doubles and have to drive home after an 11-7. Scary stuff , I'm to the point that if I get mandated again I'll have the wife pick me up instead of risking it.
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