How to alleviate severe body pain from working 2 jobs to make ends meet?

honestly, you cant overwork yourself like that, your body cant handle that. if you can possibly manage shave a few hours off your work so you can give your body a little more time to recover.

Firstly dear, I am very sorry to hear you are in such a distress. Especially since it sounds like you really understand your situation and are doing everything possible to be out of it. I really hope you work it out soon.
As for the pain, since your nervous system is not getting it’s sleep, it’s quite obvious where it comes from, especially with all this stress, and I would assume you probably don;t have the time to feed yourself properly…
What you can do: 1. give yourself some reflexology, with some cream, linger anywhere you feel you need to. Maybe hubby can give a bit of massage. It can soothe things up a bit.
On top of that, instead of advil’s, maybe you can buy vitamins: A good multivitamin, or better: fresh or dried wheatgrass juice, can help your body system deal with all of these requirements.
Off course, this is not the cure for your condition, but it can help…

good luck!

For food, contact Angel Food Ministries. They offer extremely low cost food boxes, and there is no income requirement at all. Everyone can use their service.

You can’t get by on only 3 nights’ sleep. Something has got to give. Is there any way you could work 2 consecutive jobs, like work at the bank 8:30 to 4:30 (or whatever) and then go directly to another job until say, 10PM?

EDIT: OR, is there any reason your husband couldn’t work the overnight shift at the fast food place?

I’ve gotten a lot of mileage out of hot showers. But what you’re describing are the effects of prolonged sleep deprivation. Not all the hot water in the world is going to fix that, just rest.
You might take up cat-napping.

I suggest that you rely some on support networks, if you have them. Have you friends? Family? Church?

You can sometimes find nonslip overshoes (that slip over shoes! Imagine that) at Wal-Mart or similar stores; see if your boss will let you use those over your regular ones.

Besides looking for creative ways to cut your expenditures, so you can afford to cut back your hours, proper nutrition and sleep are the two most important things to keep your body working under such a schedule. You sound motivated and committed to doing everything for your family, so recognize that you need to take care of yourself if you’re going to be able to be there for them into the future.

Getting the husband to bring in some income would be very helpful. Create a budget, if you don’t already have one, and stick to it. Assess your expenses, plan out meals, and you might find you can survive on less than you have been, allowing for some more flexibility in your schedule as your husband gets training. Whatever happens, you need some kind of exit strategy for this phase of your life, because a schedule like this is simply unmanageable, even for a person without kids. Your medications will help a bit, but only with the pain, and will eventually become useless if you do serious damage to yourself. So forget about what to pop next to manage pain, and start thinking about how to make yourself and your life healthier, so you can get through this tough time and move on to better things.

Do as much reading as you can in your spare time about proper nutrition. You don’t need a diet to follow to make you healthy, but eat “real food” often, and your body will thank you for it. Some people have argued that good nutrition is expensive. It is not, unless you have no idea what you’re doing. It doesn’t have to be “organic” or “filled with antioxidants” or anything. Beans, rice, fruit and vegetables, will go a long way for a person.

Sleep and rest is probably what you’re missing the most. See if you can manage your finances to take at least one extra day off of work per week. Keep yourself off your feet as much as you can. If your husband is doing the “house husband” thing, while you work, make sure he is doing everything, and that you aren’t coming home after a long night and doing the dishes or making dinner or in any other way doing his job for him. Get your dang rest! As much as you can! Sleep!

Minimum wage work is practically slavery in how grinds people down. Long hours, very low pay, etc. It is not uncommon for people to get trapped in this cycle for years. Figure out where you are and where you want to be, and make a plan that you and your husband can live with. When you know how you will get out of your situation, doing the right things to get your family there will be so much easier.

Good luck! (It’s a lot easier to type than to actually do it, but hey, you can do it)

Thinking about what I do when I don’t get enough sleep, I find eating a lot of fruit helps. (For some reason I get cravings for oranges) It’s a sort of raw fuel for me. However, I have never tried something so extreme as sleeping only three days a week. I hope you find a way of getting out of this cycle soon!

Hi @imabowie and welcome to Fluther.

I have been where you are and I have advice from the experience.

Hot baths are great- but be sure that you are not alone as you might fall asleep. Epsom salts in the bath do wonders for the aches. Advil is a short term solution that does silent damage to liver and kidneys that will catch up to you. Try to stay under recommended doses and try not to take them every day. Eat like an athlete in training- be sure you are being healthy.

That is my advice for the next 2 days.
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Now I want to gently tell you what you already know.

Again I have been there. You can only go so long on the caffeine uppers and pain meds. You are eventually going to crash unless you avert your path and allow for nightly sleep. You are already showing the symptoms of severe deprivation.

It is very likely that you will become so exhausted that you can collapse and by the time you wake you will be in the hospital. You might do this while operating a fryer or hit your head as you fall. I am assuming that you do not have health insurance.
I was lucky. I collapsed at home and nobody knew.

Or perhaps I was not lucky… read on...

Driving while sleep deprived increases your chances of having an accident tenfold. This is endangering not only yourself but your children and others. Even if you only drive local roads you are used to. I totaled my car and hit an old man. It happens fast. Even faster when you are over worked. I ended up in the hospital. The old man was horribly traumatized but survived. He was afraid to drive again even though it was my fault. (I was on auto-pilot and simply did not see the red light.)

I am not saying this to in any way try to make you feel bad- Like I said I have been there. Can you afford hospital bills right now? How about your children? They need you to be there for them mentally and physically.

I am not just all doom and gloom- I understand that your kids need food and shelter. But what I am suggesting is that you ditch one job and do the following:

Hit yard sales. Find small things (easy and cheap to ship) and barter them down. Put them for sale on Craigslist, Bonanzle or Ebay at double what you paid plus shipping. I did this and brought in a viable second income when I could no longer physically work the two jobs. You can get free priority shipping boxes from the post office (see online to order) and buy a cheap electronic postal scale. I got one for $12.00 and you can print your own postage on line. You can even call for free package pickup at your home. For payment I used Paypal but there are other options out there too.

This second income can be under the table and thus you can also increase your food stamps again.

What ever you do or take from asking this question and getting so many good answers know one thing: You are more important to your kids than anything else. You are completely irreplaceable.

I’m curious, are you sleeping in between when you get home from the bank before you go into the overnight job? I know you want to spend time with your children and husband, but at this point, it’s important for you to get sleep when you can get it. Are your days off aligned together so that you have a full 24 hour period off? If not, is there anyway you can try to get at least one full day off each week to help you get a break.

I hope things get better for you really soon. Hot showers can help relax your muscles. In addition, try doing stretches before and after work (and maybe even during if you need it). This will help keep the muscles from tightening up as much.

Ask hubby for a massage every now and then too. He’s got to help you out too.