I'm not looking for medical advice; I just want to know if this has happened to anyone else.
I've been working as a CNA for about a year now, and in that year I've been constantly sick. I catch everything! I've gotten a stomach bug, plus cold after cold after cold. Every cold I get seems to hit me hard and I end up with an ear infection or a bad cough that lasts for weeks and before I've gotten over it I get slammed with another one. If I worked at a hospital I would just assume that catching everything during the first year was par for the course and my immune system would improve after a while (like what they say about teachers catching everything from the kids the first year), but i work in LTC, where I'm exposed to the same people with the same chronic diseases every day. I'm sick way more often than any of the frail little old ladies!
I eat a relatively healthy diet, I don't smoke (or live with any smokers), I hardly ever drink, I get plenty of sleep, my weight is healthy, and I'm not that stressed out. I wash my hands. I don't have kids, so it's not like I'm getting anything from them either. This only started when i started working at my current job. Has anyone else experienced anything like this?
I was sick for the first year also! I worked on a large pediatric unit and it was not unusual for us to get 10-15 admissions in a single shift. Most of those were gastroenteritis and that is what I ended up with most of the time. Just remember to wash your hands all the time. You can't do that enough. It does get better!!
joanncm109
11 Posts
I was sick for the first year also! I worked on a large pediatric unit and it was not unusual for us to get 10-15 admissions in a single shift. Most of those were gastroenteritis and that is what I ended up with most of the time. Just remember to wash your hands all the time. You can't do that enough. It does get better!!