[jessi1106]

So I have been an RN for 10 months now.

Shortly after I started orientation I got eczema on both legs.I thought about work all the time and when I left, I was a disaster - afraid that I had forgotten to chart or do some task. I also dreamed of work.

Thankfully that phase has passed. ~ well I still dream of work occasionally, but don't stress nearly as much. Still, starting my career had a huge psychological impact on me, as I thought about it 24/7 - not to mention the eczema.

We have had some turnover on my unit and there are a few new nurses ~ just off orientation. One of these nurses (who is GREAT) has stated that she feels that she has to vomit each day before coming to work. She says she questions her abilities to manage her time etc...(what new nurse didn't/doesnt?)

This same nurse has not been there for 4 days now. She has been sick, at her PCP who sent her to the ER. She has abd pain. They have ruled out several things....but this nurse is so stressed I am wondering if her actual new job is playing a role in this??

Incidentally, we have another new nurse - off orientation a week, who now has a DVT.

Anyone here literally become sick during your first few weeks/months?

[Angie O'Plasty, RN]

Yes. It's my theory that I can keep pushing through a stressful period of time, but when it goes on for years at a stretch (as it did throughout nursing school), I'll break down after the stressor is off and I can relax.

In Suzanne Gordon's book, Nursing Against the Odds, she discusses the effect of a high-stress job and high cortisol levels on the overall health of the nurse.

It's so important to work out different coping strategies to keep yourself healthy.

[racing-mom4]

We were just talking about this same topic the other day at work. Some new nurses do get physically sick when they start, could be their immune system is down due to stress, then factor in they are around all these new germs each day----yet in our little bubble of a hospital we also realized that new nurses who were also mothers did not have as many call ins for being sick. Our logic is mothers have already been exposed to a wide variety of germs from kids being at school/daycare and our stress threshold is most likely higher than non mothers.

[SoundofMusic]

I have had several weird symptoms since starting -- terrible headaches, vague abdominal aches, sadness, anxiety, etc. I've had to get meds to help me sleep definitely at times.

I've just joined a gym to work off the really toxic stress, because I think I was under it during the first half of orientation. Lately it's not so bad, but it can get bad quickly. The gym and working out more has helped a lot, as does yoga and a small glass of wine after my shift.

I also have some tranquilizer type meds to take when it's seriously bad, at night after I get home. It sounds bad, but they calm me down fast and I can actually get a good rest and feel rested the next day.

[NurseLyla]

When I was a brand new nurse I felt that I stayed sick both physically and mentally. Normally I would get a cold once a year but as a new nurse I had sneezing and sore throats every couple of months. I started out working nights and my sleep became so messed up and I was so tired all the time my eating and exercise habits that I had kept up so well before I was a nurse went down the toilet and I gained 30 pounds in a year! I had to relearn when to eat and how to squeeze in activity and I have after 3 years of it finally begun losing the weight I gained. I have lost 10 pounds of it so far. I remember dreaming about work a lot then too. I once dreamed that I had gone to work and by the end of my 12 hours I still hadn't so much as assessed a single patient or done a bit of my paperwork. I became a grouch with friends and family and I became a pessimist about life. I went through a depression because I hated the stress of my career. I felt that I had made a huge mistake by becoming a nurse. It was such a letdown from what I had hoped it would be while I was in nursing school. I completely changed as a person and didn't recognize myself. Being a brand new nurse was one of the hardest things I have ever gone through but it has gotten somewhat better with time. I have no doubt that it can make you sick.

[ranaazha]

Originally Posted by SoundofMusic

I have had several weird symptoms since starting -- terrible headaches, vague abdominal aches, sadness, anxiety, etc. I've had to get meds to help me sleep definitely at times.

I've just joined a gym to work off the really toxic stress, because I think I was under it during the first half of orientation. Lately it's not so bad, but it can get bad quickly. The gym and working out more has helped a lot, as does yoga and a small glass of wine after my shift.

I also have some tranquilizer type meds to take when it's seriously bad, at night after I get home. It sounds bad, but they calm me down fast and I can actually get a good rest and feel rested the next day.

I'm in the same boat. I was already suffering from GAD. The pressures of nursing made it worse. If it weren't for my meds, I'm convinced I would not be able to work as a nurse -- period.

[ekanderson80]

I have had alot of changes in my life since graduating in December. I moved from the large city that I lived in my entire life, to a much smaller community two hours away to be with my fiancee. Past boards, started a new job and career, built a house, and got a new puppy. With all that being said, I can say that I have had more than my fair share of abdominal pain and gi upset "episodes" (you fill in the blank).

[SoundofMusic]

Stress will do weird things to your body -- like the exzema, or rashes, or hives, or depression -- you name it.

I have both had this job and have had three babies. I will go out on a limb and liken starting into this career like having a baby -- it's a HUGE stressor and something that you have to adjust your life to. It's a major life change. I feel almost as altered by it as I did when I gave birth and was adjusting to a newborn -- seriously!

I am also now squeezing in exercise, REALLY trying to enjoy my days off now -- and I DO so enjoy them and all the little things I used to take for granted. I'm surviving ok six months into it, but some nights I still come home feeling like I have scrambled eggs for brains and just an incredible heightened stress level that takes HOURS to come down. It's bad.

[*ac*]

Yes. Me, too to most of the above.

[jim1_12]

I wouldn't say literally sick, but yeah, i can remember those first few weeks of starting out my new position as an RN and feeling a funny feeling in my stomach each time i drove to work, but the feeling has passed now that i've been a nurse for 8 months.