help! i got sick watching a shot!

[ams02]

Hello wonderful people. Scary news - last night my boyfriend cut his thumb open in like 4 places. We went to urgent care and they were giving him "lydacane?" to numb it before stiches. Well im holding his good hand, and watching the dr. put the needle in all 4 cuts. Carl is not happy and hes in pain. all of the sudden i am hot, sweaty, about to puke and faint. I asked the nurse to take his hand please, because i was going to be sick. i went to the bathroom and i was okay, i didnt get sick. I went back to the room and held his hand i just didnt look at his thumb again. When the dr was stiching i was okay watching that.

Im a nervous wreck becuase if i cant handle a shot in a bloody finger, how am i going to be a nurse??????? i start school in feb., is this something that i will get used to? please tell me im not alone in this. i want to be anurse more than anything, i cant believe i felt like such **** lastnight! please help!!!

[renerian, BSN, RN]

Give yourself some time. It will come. It is also different to watch you loved on in pain. It does something to you that is very different.

renerian

[jschut, BSN, RN]

haha! I used to get sick at certain things too...now I just go through with it like it's nothing! I still get gaggy at times. but I'm getting better!

You'll be fine~!

[delirium]

Originally posted by mark_LD_RN

don't worry you will get over it. things like suctioning trachs used to get me, now i can eat with one hand while suctioning a pt with the other:)

Sorry but this is creepy to me. There's no way I could eat a turkey sammich listening to thick, tenacious sputum being sucked out of a patient.

It doesn't make me sick, but I don't want to eat next to it, either.

[itsme]

Here are some words I live by. "shots, it is better to give than recieve"!! I hate needles, when they are headed for my arm! I have only had a problem giving a shot one time, that was to a 8 year old little girl with a severe head injury from an ATV accident. I was a new grad, it was my first IM since school, AND I had a child the same age. It went fine, but I felt soo bad! You get used to things after awhile. Good luck!!

[amyrae76]

I'm the same way! I hate needles or any other doctor-y things that are being done to ME. But I really think I can handle doing them to someone else! I think it will make me that much more compassionate because I will be able to truly understand how much they don't want this shot or this medical procedure done.

I know a nurse who HATES getting shots -- when we were all getting flu shots here at work, she refused because she hates shots so much! When I asked her if she has any problems giving shots, she said not at all!

I guess it's all about being the "giver" or the "receiver"! :)

[casperbjs]

You'll get over it! I was in watching a T & A of all things in my surgical rotation. Kept thinking about all the blood they kept suctioning out of the kid, and out I went! Dr. told me later, he knew I was out when my head hit the floor! That was 28 years ago.

[Wuiteroz]

lol and you're doing alright now?

[canadian]

We did a nurse shadow in 1st year nursing....we were looking at this little kid with a shunt...not even gross. and I fainted....almost quit nursing that day... When I graduated I worked peds neuro and dealt with shunts every day....nerves make people do crazy things...don't worry you will do fine.

[finallyRN]

Don't worry. I did the same thing. When I was in High School, we had a career day where we went and followed professionals for a day. I followed a nurse and almost passed out while she was giving a shot. There was no blood involved or anything. I all of a sudden just got lightheaded and nauseated. Thought that was the end of nursing for me. Once I got into nursing school and started giving shots I have never had a problem. Come near me with a needle that is another story though.

Meg

[Nadine RN]

I did a surgical rotation as a nsg student, and of all the surgeries I watched the one that came closest to doing me in was a closed reduction of a wrist fracture. They didn't even open the woman, but when they re-broke the wrist... that wet snapping sound and the doc just bending it until it snapped... I always thought there was some nice, clinical way of rebreaking bones. Nope, just an axillary block and heave away until it snaps! Yuck. My head swam, I took few deep breaths and made a joke "What do you do when the student faints?" They ALL yelled in unison "Don't do it in the sterile field!" and we all laughed and that was the end of it.

Now as an RN there is almost nothing that can sicken me. The one holdover from even before nsg school though, is teeth.

If I can avoid cleaning or having anything to do with dentures, I will. If I absolutely can't avoid it, I use the toilet or second sink for gagging while I brush over the sink. Thank heavens for PSW's!!! (When I was pregnant I even puked brushing my own teeth, and not gag reflex, but the sight of drool and toothpaste just had me heaving from my toes! And forget being in the room when somebody else is brushing!)

Whiny I know.

nadine

[consideringRN]

Ok; I'm feeling a little better now. I was looking for a post on this exact topic. I have a very hard time with puke and I almost passed out watching my husband get his eye-brow pierced. I keep telling myself, if I become a nurse, I'll get over it; it'll be so routine that it won't phase be. But what about in the beginning? Well, at least I know if I pass out or gag, I won't be the first nursing student to deal with something like this! Thanks!