Dear God, Help me

Anne36, LPN · Oct 1, 2012

Long day eh? I havent done a 12 hour shift, but I do remember one day in clinical going through a similar experience. Do you have an earworm now? LOL

LTCNS, LPN · Oct 1, 2012

I just listened to this for 12 hours- almost literally non-stop. I just felt the urge to put it in an online forum full of nurses who may sympathize with my numb brain. God Bless Alzheimer's.

Awwww LOL! Bless his/her heart :) I completely understand what you're talking about. It's so hard to listen to repetitive yelling out all day, everyday. I just remind myself he/she can't help it. Besides, I say Dear God, Help Me over and over everyday myself

lovinlife11 · Oct 1, 2012

Funny, a lady I used to work with would repeat over and over, "thank you Jesus", made for a long 12 hour shift!!

allnurses Guide · Oct 1, 2012

At least you don't have someone yelling "Blue Cross! Blue Shield! Blue Cross! Blue Shield!" over and

over again. =)

artsmom, BSN, LPN · Oct 1, 2012

At least you don't have someone yelling "Blue Cross! Blue Shield! Blue Cross! Blue Shield!" over andover again. =)

Lol. Poor thing. At least with Alzheimer's everything is forgivable. But, oy, my brain was burnt out yesterday!!

ktwlpn, LPN · Oct 1, 2012

Isn't it weird how that environment effects us? I am starting to have trouble running errands right after my shift.I'm so over- stimulated that by the time I get to a checkout counter I have trouble following instructions for swiping my credit card. It's making me really look closely at the environment during the shift and looking for creative ways to calm things down to help the residents stay calm,too.A co-worker put on an Elvis cd one morning last week and had one of our residents practically howling by the time it was finally turned off...

al586 · Oct 1, 2012

I have two patients like that, and, coincidentally, their rooms are directly across from each other. You're never safe; you are bombarded from both sides.

CT Pixie, BSN, RN · Oct 1, 2012

When I was a CNA I had an Alzheimer's patient who would wail at the top of her lungs..."ohhhh God!, please help me!"..."ohhh God, just one word from you and I will be able to sleep peacefully..". She would go on and on for hours doing this...didn't matter where she was, and only at night when it was quiet. One night in particular, she was really off the wall..screaming that out, driving her demented room mate into a tizzy. This roommate also had a particular habit of yelling out..."yeeaahhhh, yeahhhh" said in a very thick Southern accent. So you'd hear "ohhhh Lord!".."yeaahhh! yeaaah!" Then those two would set off the whole wing...you know how that goes.

We tried toileting them, giving them a snack and juice, getting them up and putting them in a quiet area, having them sit with us..it was worse when they were OOB, so back to bed they went. The "ohhh God" and "yeah! yeah!" kept on. Finally one of our nurses had had enough and grabbed the call system and clicked on their room. He very calmly, gently, and softly said "Christine**...This is God...go to sleep". She fell silent. We were all amazed..and then we hear "Yeah!". Both of them uttered not a peep after that last "yeah" but the entire nursing station roared with laughs.

It became habit, after Christine went to bed, and would start with her "oh God", someone would pick up the call system and say "Christine, this is God, go to sleep". And she would every time and slept soundly all night. It seemed that she just needed reassurance from Him that it was ok to go to sleep.

(**name changed for privacy)

LTCNS, LPN · Oct 1, 2012

CT Pixie, that is such a cute story but I am sitting here with tears rolling down my face imagining a little old lady begging for God to tell her it was okay to go to sleep. It takes some very creative thinking to come up with ways to redirect an agitated Alzheimer's patient and it sounds like you had a good team to work with. Kudos to all of you for coming up with a plan that worked.

artsmom, BSN, LPN · Oct 1, 2012

When I was a CNA I had an Alzheimer's patient who would wail at the top of her lungs..."ohhhh God!, please help me!"..."ohhh God, just one word from you and I will be able to sleep peacefully..". She would go on and on for hours doing this...didn't matter where she was, and only at night when it was quiet. One night in particular, she was really off the wall..screaming that out, driving her demented room mate into a tizzy. This roommate also had a particular habit of yelling out..."yeeaahhhh, yeahhhh" said in a very thick Southern accent. So you'd hear "ohhhh Lord!".."yeaahhh! yeaaah!" Then those two would set off the whole wing...you know how that goes.We tried toileting them, giving them a snack and juice, getting them up and putting them in a quiet area, having them sit with us..it was worse when they were OOB, so back to bed they went. The "ohhh God" and "yeah! yeah!" kept on. Finally one of our nurses had had enough and grabbed the call system and clicked on their room. He very calmly, gently, and softly said "Christine**...This is God...go to sleep". She fell silent. We were all amazed..and then we hear "Yeah!". Both of them uttered not a peep after that last "yeah" but the entire nursing station roared with laughs.It became habit, after Christine went to bed, and would start with her "oh God", someone would pick up the call system and say "Christine, this is God, go to sleep". And she would every time and slept soundly all night. It seemed that she just needed reassurance from Him that it was ok to go to sleep.(**name changed for privacy)

Whatever it takes to keep or get your sanity back!!

dirtyhippiegirl, BSN, RN · Oct 2, 2012

I work in acute care but we get a lot of confused older patients on my unit. (Dementia + smoking = extremely flammable habit.)

I can actually tune out the mindless screaming.

But had one the other night who had to pee, literally, every twenty minutes or so. Crawling out of bed, the bed alarm bleeping. "I have to pee!" He's on tele and unsteady, so I have to unhook him and walk him to the bathroom every time. I straight cath the guy -- nothing. The UA is clean. They'd ruled out BPH earlier that day. Try to talk him into using the urinal but he won't unless he can stand up. (Better than having to walk him to the bathroom but I'm still in there every twenty minutes.) Try to reason with him -- "You just peed twenty minutes ago." Nope. Maxed him out on sedatives and pain meds -- didn't touch him. Towards dawn, he was more cognizant; "I know that I don't really need to pee but I feel like it. I think I'm just nervous."