To shake or not to shake

[PSUNURS05]

does anyone have a problem with shaking while doing certain skills (i.e. pulling up meds in syringes)? during my clinical in july i was drawing up heparin and my instructor asked me if i had parkinson's and didn't tell her (i think she was joking....i hope she was) i wasn't that nervous i mean she was the only one there. but i still was shaking. i drink a lot of soda with caffeine so i think that is partially the problem. anyone else experience this and what do you do to overcome it. i think it is just my nerves and it will go away with practice. but it is a huge pain in the butt.

[RNIAM, BSN, RN]

I shake a little too.I don't think I shake as much as you do but I do shake. Just try and settle your wrists on the med cart if possible. Better, why not try some deep breathing before you draw up your meds it works for me. Also I really think of drawing the meds up this way, who are you going to hurt while you draw up meds? The worst thing that can happen is you do it wrong and have to do it again. I went through several sets of sterile gloves before I was able to do a dressing change.

[agent]

She asked you if you had Park's.. ouch

[PSUNURS05]

Yeah...I was hoping it was her sense of humor.....I can take a joke....I didn't dwell on it so I just took it as her sense of humor....she gave me a really good eval though...

[camkib]

Originally posted by PSUNURS05

she gave me a really good eval though...

I'm sure it was her sense of humor. I have a friend who shakes. She's not going into nursing--she's studying to become a physical therapist. She shakes really bad..and it gets worse when she's nervous, but I know she's going to be a wonderful PT. We had alot of big laughs together in microbiology. The instructor would say "don't touch the sides of the test tube"...needless to say---

[ST_NURSE_MLD]

During checkoffs for VS. I started to shake soooo bad. I didn't think I was ever going to get a pulse reading. After it was over my instructor said, "well, I don't know how you did it but you did." Although normal, the student/patient's pluse was not very easy to feel. All in all, it turned out fine. It's the test offs that get me. I seem to do better with real patients.

[Liddle Noodnik]

If it is really bad, check with a neurologist.

I have the shakes sometimes really awful, in fact went thru a whole year where people would ask about it, my head was just like one of those bobbing head dolls in the back of peoples' cars. I know I'm saying it wrong but I'm zzzzzz'y.

Anyway, I get hypoglycemic sometimes, there's one. I was on psych meds, there's two. I am a nervous wreck sometimes, there's three. I have a "familial tremor" that most members of my family have.

There are meds you can use for this problem if it's chronic. I just find that if I eat right and I'm rested and I pray a lot :) it doesn't happen so much.

Luckily I gave up drinking some time ago so it's not from hangovers!