Hypochondriac Nurse Student Needs Diagnosis

Nurses General Nursing

Published

Please tell me I'm not the only one who became a hypochondriac after starting nursing school! Every time I read about a disease process, I'm convinced I've got it, but this time I've got some real symptoms to complain about. I thought about asking my instructor about it, but decided I'd rather embarrass myself here. ;)

Anyway, here goes. Everytime I laugh, I get this horrible stabbing pain in my head. A lot of the time I begin to feel dizzy and faint, like I might fall out of my chair. The instant I stop laughing, it goes away.

Now what on earth could be causing that?? It's driving me NUTS!

Thanks......and just send me the bill....

on our very first day of nursing school our instructor assured us that we were going to have every disease we studied.

this is something we all go thru and i think it is worth mentioning at the onset of classes. im so thankful i had such a great instructor.

Specializes in NICU.

It's especially true about psych, I actuallyn went so far as to diagnose everyone I knew with psych dx!

As for the symptoms you described... maybe the pain you feel is from incresing your ICP, and maybe the dizziness is from not taking a breath while laughing so hard. I'm just thinking from my personal experience, when I get to laughing REALLY hard, I have trouble taking a full breath between my chuckles. I end up feeling a tiny bit light headed from that. You know--goes along with the tears in the eyes and stomach hurting from the hard laughing.

I am only offering this as a possibility. Think about it--if it seems worse than just a little lightheadedness and it's not r/t not taking a breath, do see a doctor. Or ask your instructors, I'm sure they've had people ask things before.

I also had the s/s of just about everything we studied. At one point during my first med/surg rotation, I developed an irregular heartbeat that really scared me and sent me to a cardiologist. (I, like you, was uninsured and payed out of my pocket for every thing!) Needless to say, he did find the occasional PVC, but nothing out of the norm. Long story short (and pardon me if this next bit sounds psychotic!), I had a dream that I was having anger about certain situations in my life and that anger was causing the PVC's. When I started setting limits, the anger and the PVC's went away. From time to time, I get PVC's still, but instead of being afraid, I look to see if I'm stressed or angry. When I work on that, I'm fine.

HOWEVER... I did go to the doc to be sure. I would recommend you do the same. Any one who is uninsured should still have annual physicals (and for we ladies that means a pap & pelvic, too!). It does cost, but the $100 or so annually can prevent thousands of $$ in illness later!

I agree with an earlier poster who thought that you might be experiencing a vagal manuever. There is also the possibility that you are hyperventilating when you are laughing, causing the tingling in your arms and hands, and the faint feeling. Do you know any MD's that you could talk to and just run this by them?

I'd say, talk with your clinical instructor, or the instructor that you know best. Tell them your sx, and ask if they know of a medical provider that sees students for a reduced fee. Or, does your campus have Student Health? Check with the Provost's office, if you aren't sure.

Be sure that you get enough rest, eat right, and keep laughing!:D ;) :)

I agree with what everybody here has said. And when you're a nurse you'll say it a zillion times, too: Repeat after me "It's Probably Nothing, but you should have it Checked Out."

I thought I was the only one with this syndrome when I was in nursing school. UNTIL I heard a couple of girls behind me in class. When the teacher described some symptoms, one of them said "Oh my God, we've got THAT, too!"

I had pretty much figured out that it was all in my head, but I was never so glad as I was when we finished the cardiovascular system!! Whew, what a relief!

Love

Dennie

I totally agree with what everone has said here.

I am currently a nursing student also. I find myself thinking about what we talk in class and wonder if I have it. But one time I wish I had not ignored my s/s. About 9 months ago, I started be nauseated all of the time. I woke up in the am nauseated. When I ate, the feeling got worse. I never felt good. I was also exhausted and irritable. I started having RUQ pain when I sat up or leaned over. The Doctor told me that I had Costachondritis. SHe gave me Ibrophen 800mg. It never went away, but I just dealt with it. I ruled it out as just being so stressed from school and it was causing stress on my body. Well I was at work on morning in August, I had this really bad pain in my mid-epigastric area. I felt as if someone was kicking me. I felt like I was having a heart attack. One of the wonderful nurses on the floor, who I admire so much, got the surgeon that was on the floor doing rounds. They convinced me to allow him to exam me. (I was going to deal with pain and forget about it. Like I always do.) He pulled me immediately to his office in front of his other appts. and examined me. After doing an ultrasound, he told me I had gallstones and really suggested I have surgery. (He did not charge me for the office visit.) Four days later, he squeezed me in to do surgery so that I could be back in 3 days later. I had surgery that Friday morning. He told me my gallbladder was really really inflammed and had big polyps on it. When I told him that I had been nauseated for 9 months prior to the episode, he fussed at me for ignoring my body. He told me I was really close to being really really sick.

Thank Goodness for the really great Doctors that really care. I wish more would show this.

My advice to you NurseStudentFall01. Go get it checked. Never ignore your body. even if you think its all in your head. Its better to be safe than sorry.

Isn't there a name for what we're all going through? Really, I think I read this somewhere, it's a syndrome that students in the medical field get and experience symptoms like what they are reading.

Oh, and NurseStudentFall01, don't feel embarassed. I told my neurologist just yesterday that the migraines that I'm experiencing have the same symptoms as a post lumbar puncture headache - but without the lumbar puncture. She thought I was nuts. But I swear...same symptoms, same interventions help to relieve the headache....

Specializes in ER, Hospice, CCU, PCU.

Just remember the old saying............

"Just because you're paranoid, it doesn't mean somebody isn't following you"

If this is a new symptom and it truely exists, than you need to get it checked out. Too often we nurses tend to blow-off symptoms as fatigue, over-work or as in your case "hypochondria".

You have to take care of yourself before you can care for others.

;)

I'm a hypochondriac too! Never ever been worried about my body until nursing school, other than staying healthy.. I'm 29.. and now I freak out about everything... I'm always like.. wow..that view is pronounced... venous insufficency... it's awful.

i feel like such a freak. the worst part about it is that i know it all pertains to the anxiety that i already suffer from, but can't manage like i used to by exercising a lot. haaa. because, i'm studying about the diseases and the body parts that freak me out. it's just not fair. :)

i hate it. i feel retarded..however we all say we feel the same, throughly freaked out about our bodies...

yikes, does it ever go away? or at least calm down?

+ Add a Comment