Any other students have bad nerves? (Serious question)

[Terpole]

I'm a guy in my first semester of nursing school, and I make good enough grades. It's no biggie for me to spend hours of studying, up until 3am or longer like all other students. So my problem isn't I don't know the material or I'm not prepared, it's just my anxiety problems. I've never had anything like it since I started my BSN program. When I'm getting checked off, in a clinical, or doing some skill test it hits me hard. My hands start to shake wildly (I dropped an ampule during my med administration test yesterday) and I sweat profusely. I'm not intimated by my instructors, but their presence right over me just makes me nervous. And I think that if it's not addressed now in school, disaster may strike when I'm on a floor and things start to go bad, forcing me to think and act quickly. I wanna face my problem. Who else had (or has) this problem and what do some of you pros do once things hit the fan to decrease anxiety and nervousness?

[texas2007, BSN, RN]

Same exact problem here. My nervousness has caused me grief during clinicals. My clinical instructor is easy going, but I was still a nervous wreck. I never feel calm or at ease during clinicals. Its gotten so bad that I even get diarrhea (that's probably too much info for some of yall) the day before and of clinical. I'm always anxious and worried whether I'm doing something right and I always have that fear that I'll screw up and fail clinicals. I shake too when I have to draw up meds in front of my instructor. My instructor would ask me SIMPLE questions that I couldn't answer cause my mind would just freeze up.

My blood pressure has also skyrocketed. I've already gone to a doc and she prescribed a low dose diuretic but she never addressed my anxiety even though I discussed it with her. I'll probably end up going back to get treated for it.

Is anyone on anti anxiety medication? Has it helped any?

Wow you sound like me, but I tend to have really bad nightmares the night or even two nights before clinicals instead. I also blank out when my professor asks me questions and then I start dwelling on the fact that she must think I'm stupid/not prepared and then I get more anxious and the cycle repeats. I haven't been to a DR for it bc we only have clinicals once a week and I just never thought about it enough to seek medical advice. Next semester, I am taking clinicals with a lady who I've heard isn't quite as intimidating as this one (she has a reputation) so I hope things won't be quite as bad next semester.

[sasha2006]

That's good to hear, some folks, again in my opinion, are far too eager to jump on the pill bandwagon. When you have school and work that can be critical if you're inattentive, you have far too much to risk!

Do you think it's the social aspect? I've always been social and energetic but I have a crazy fear of public speaking and am generally shy to strangers. A few mock public speaking meetings with other students and I got over it rather quick.

Either way, hope things get better for ya, that sounds like an unpleasant situation, especially if you're doing so well in other aspects!

I agree that the medications used to treat anxiety can be overused. Alot of people simply go into the doctor's office after seeing a commerical on TV for a medication that treats anxiety, thinking hey that's what i need. What i would like to add to this is that this detracts credibility from those of us who do have an anxiety disorder because often the mention of anxiety or depression is now looked at cavalierly because of those people being treated for something that doesn't warrant the medication they are using. Just keep that in mind. Anxiety and depression do exist and there are various non-pharmacological and pharmacological interventions out there.

Good luck!

sasha

[LoriAlabamaRN]

Be careful about prescription antianxiety meds, they can leave you fuzzyheaded. When I was in school, I took Stresstabs, a group of vitamins that come in little daily pouches that you take. They truly seemed to help. I also took an over the counter herbal supplement called Relacore, it's actually a weight-loss product but works by reducing anxiety. Those really helped me.