Im six years into regular earlies from 4am wake-up onwards and I am yet to find a way of transitioning smoothly. After a couple its not too bad because you are exhausted by 8pm and can go straight to sleep but the first one is a real killer. I regularly do a 12 hr day (4 sectors) from less than 2 hrs sleep and its absolutely dehabilitating. I am reluctant to use pills etc.. but if anyone had one that they swore by I would give it a go.
Plus my company rosters standbys in the middle so you can't get into a pattern. If they would only put them at the start or finish it would make loads more sense.