Horror in my head!

Nurses General Nursing

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Hi everyone!

I'm a first semester nursing student who is experiencing horrible nightmares. I've never had them before my exposure to the hospital setting. Has anyone had a similar experience?

Specializes in Utilization Management.

Nope, you're not alone. Here's a whole thread on the topic. Enjoy!

https://allnurses.com/forums/f8/sweet-dreams-baby-tell-us-about-your-strange-dreams-r-t-nursing-127246.html

Specializes in Med-Surg, ED.

You are so normal! :)

Your mind is practicing working out the anxieties while you sleep. Granted its not a pleasant experience to have nightmares but its your mind's way of adjusting to your new situation.

I just read a bit on the thread posted above, and its real fascinating to see how people dream.

Its interesting to watch the progression of nursing dreams. Students dream of going to class unprepared, or of being unprepared for clinicals. New grads have all those anxiety dreams of forgetting patients, and as we progress farther, the anxiety dreams are still there but there are also more situational dreams...feeling one is at work and trying to fuction there in some way.

So don't worry too much. The dreams will subside a bit as your anxieties subside.

I just woke up from a perplexing dream. All my teeth fell out within one hour. I was freaking out. I had one last semester that was, at the time, a nightmare, but ended up being quite humorous. We were getting some new simulator manikins and I was about to have my first encounter with them the following day, in waking life. In my dream I was attacked by the manikin and my teacher was getting mad at me for not knowing what to do in the situation. Meanwhile, the maninkin was squeezing the life out of me. It was frightening, but now it is funny. I still think of it when we have those labs. They really are kind of freaky little things.

My dreams are gory and bloody, like intestines and severed spinal cords. My husband says they are nomal, but I'm not so sure.

Specializes in Med-Surg, Trauma, Ortho, Neuro, Cardiac.

They are only dreams no need to be so upset nor think you're going off the deep end and loosing your mind. Repeat - they are only dreams. More than likely it's just the stress of nursing school. Be thankful you're sleeping. I always had insomnia in nursing school. :)

Thanks for the reassurance! You're right they are only dreams. They are just so gory and scary! It really helps to talk them out. The hospital setting is new for me, I just have to get used to it. Thanks for your advice!!!

Specializes in Med Surg, Hospice.

I always seem to have dreams about patients that have passed. One dream I had just about 3 days after a patient (fairly regular visitor to my floor because we gave him excellent care) passed in the ER. In this dream, he came to me carrying his Texas cath and said to me 'Kylee, I need you to fix this for me". Told this dream to my charge nurse and she said she always has dreams about falling asleep and when she wakes up, her first thought was who took care of my patients while I was sleeping.

Specializes in nursery, L and D.

When I did adult nursing, I would often dream of some of my special folks who had passed away. Still do come to think of it. They were rarely scary, kind of comforting.

Since I have been doing nursery, L and D, etc, the dreams are a little more disturbing. I dream regularly of a baby the is circling the drain, but is fixable, that I don't have enough knowledge/skill/time/help to save. Or a mom doing the same thing. I think that is what I am most scared of, so I try to deal with it in my sleep.

So you are quite normal. I wouldn't worry, but I wouldn't expect them to leave anytime soon. I've been a nurse for 9 years, so like 11 years I have been dreaming like this ( including school in that, where the dreams are REALLY scary, lol).

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