Anyone worried about throwing up or passing out?

[c18436572]

Hi,

I posted this question on a different thread but I probably should have put it on here. I REALLY want to be a nurse, but I have a history of almost hurling and almost passing out when it comes to certain things. I was watching a procedure being done on my sister once. She was having Norplants removed, and yep, I nearly hit the ground and didn't even know it. Had to remove myself from the room and sit with my head between my legs for about 10 minutes. Has anyone else had this problem? Wanting to be a nurse but worried you're to squimish?? Please let me know how to overcome it, or how you overcame it, if so! I'm highly stressed about it.

Thanks!

[Jaguar Boy]

It's funny, when I was a kid, I would regularly pass out whenever I was in a hospital. Now I'm ok, I must have had low blood pressure or something.

As far as odors go, I'm ok with most odors...but I think I'll keep a jar of vicks in my pocket at all times...I'm mostly not squeamish, but watching maggot therapy will probably make my skin crawl. Getting up close and personal with vomit will take some getting used to. I know for sure, suctioning will be no problem, I used to help the nurse's aide suction my former father-in-law. I don't know why my mind does this, but when I look at a full suction container, I get this mental picture of someone drinking it...THAT makes me queasy...gotta work on cognitive redirection there!

[mommy2three2]

I am slightly worried but I think I will keep some peppermint oil and vicks with me at all times.

[Brokestar]

Oh, I am so glad it is not just me. Blood and guts I am generally ok with but poop really gets me. I almost lost it my first term in clinicals and I was helping to bathe an elderly lady. Well the warm water stimulated things and there was no bucket under the shower chair so there were glops of fresh, soft, watered-down poo all over the shower floor. I was in the corner gagging with my eyes watering while the CNA I was with was scooping them up. Suppositories are another thing, when the finger comes out brown, yuck yuck yuck.

One of my instructors however is "fascinated" w/ poo (her word, not mine) so I try to look at it as strictly a diagnostic tool because you really can tell a lot about the internal fxn of someone by their excrement...but still yuck!

[rnjls]

I'm worried about vomit. When people vomit around me, or even if it's on tv, I start feeling nauseus. When my kids would vomit, I would get three trash cans out, one for each of them, and one for me! I just hope that I don't have that reflex when I start clinicals.:bugeyes:

[NurseLoveJoy88, ASN, RN]

When I was assisting a nurse with a dressing change for a pt. with burns on 75 % of his body I felt light headed, nausea, and I felt like passing out. I had to keep holding on to the bed, to keep from going down. I also experienced the same thing when assisting to put a cathether in an elderly women... all this yellow mucous came out from her genitals. Yuk ! but gotta love.

[gabriella86]

I am sitting here gagging after reading some of these descriptions. TMI.

[penelopelp]

I have the same fear because I have a hx of fainting whenever I feel pain. I'm not worried about vomit, I saw a lot of that when I was a teacher. I'm more worried about seeing something that looks painful, or doing something that is painful to a patient. I'm planning on wearing compression hose and eating a full breakfast. I plan on sitting down and putting my head between my legs if I feel faint. I can tell when it's going to happen--I get nauseous, hot, and sweaty before I go down.

[RNKel, ASN, RN]

I didn't think there was any such thing as TMI when it came to nursing practice.

[gabriella86]

This is true but not when you are eating LoL.

I didn't think there was any such thing as TMI when it came to nursing practice.

[sweetsmile]

I had a fellow student who had to help a man wipe his butt and he was about to hit the floor. I was doing my best to help him and help the patient I told him one day that will be you needing help so take a deep breath and get in there and help.

[NeoNurseTX, RN]

I got lightheaded and had to sit down quite a few times in NS (LPs are NOT my thing) but it doesn't really affect me anymore.

However, if *I* get blood drawn, I'll still have to put my head between mylegs afterwards!

[PinkPeony7]

This is lame, but oh well. I have been freaked out about ostomies since learning about them in lab. A friend of mine asked me a few weeks ago about how school has been so far and if I had any advice for him (He's starting clinicals soon). I mentioned that I had yet to encounter a patient with an ostomy and that if I graduated in December without the experience of caring for an ostomy I would be a happy camper. So, the following week I start my last round of clinicals on an oncology-palliatve care floor and in three days I have had three patients with ostomies. The first patient had ovarian cancer and the ostomy was to vent gas. The smell that came out of that thing was unreal. It was like the most rancid cabbage smell I have ever known and permeated the entire room. The next patient with a more traditional colostomy was actually easier smell-wise than the first.

Today I was helping my patient wash up. She had been caring for her ostomy independently, but it looked very full (it was not clear so I couldn't see the contents). I asked if it needed to be changed and she said she didn't think so and that it just full of gas. I figured I'd change the bag anyways. Well, she was wrong. It was chock full of poo, which started going all over her abdomen. Luckily I had a huge stack of washclothes beside me. After mopping it up I actually changed the whole appliance all by myself. The rest of the day I felt like I had conquered a fear and felt fairly confident the rest of the day.

I totally jinxed myself with my friend, but now ostomies aren't that big of a deal to me. Once you have to confront some poop, blood, or some other "fragrant" fluid, it will be a lot easier the next time.:nuke: