How many of you are depressed?

Even though it is a stress filled environment, I still am happy to go to work.

I like being a nurse, I smile for the first few hours and after some really negative input from patients, family and admininstration I become glum.

The I have lunch and boost my blood sugar and geeze, I am back to the unit funny/smile maker.

Maybe I should have been a comedian or a comic strip writer, but my calling seems to be a darn good nurse who can boost the moral of her unit quickly.

Laughter is the best medicine.

I seek out the glum ones or those who have been dumped on by patients, co-workers and others. They get a cute drawing or something off the wall funny said to them.

I am finding that they return the favors often cuz they know I am there for them and I am not a goof, just a humor machine.

:)

I'm learning to live with other people's depression and I don't want to live with other people's depression. When you are sleep deprived, it's another story. When I'm sleep deprived I get mean and mournful. Sometimes it's easy to mistake depression for just needing several square meals and good nights sleep. :kiss

*raises hand*

While I love most aspects of being a nurse, I do dread going in to work. I'm a worrier, I run thru all the "what ifs" in my head constantly. The biggest satisfaction I get is when my shift is over and I know all my patients were well taken care of. Thats what makes it worthwhile for me:p

Originally posted by skybirdrising

I am still a student and I have to ask this question. Would you truly say you are happy when you go to work or do you dread going in? Are you a clockwatcher? Do you think if you had it to do all over again you wouldve went another route? Have any of you thought it so bad that you were really feeling REALLY low? I do know that doctors have the highest rate of suicide among all professions. Where do nurses rank?

I am chronically depressed and take meds...,.Work is my refuge-nursing is all I ever wanted to do and if I did not have a job to go to every day I would never get out of BED

Originally posted by mario_ragucci

I'm learning to live with other people's depression and I don't want to live with other people's depression.

It's no fun for the depressed,either...sorry that you are so affected....Maybe your personality brings on certainactions traits in your friends and co-workers and you are mistaking that for deprerssion on their part?

I dread going to work, and I also welcome the challenge! It sounds crazy but nursing has it's ups and downs. You have the nights where your head doesn't quit spinninig, and you have the nights where you can sit down and talk with your patients (on very rare occasion). Your body and mind can become accustomed to the whirlwinds, but the fear of "messing up" is always there. I would even make up a song before I went to work of why I am a RN. The challenge for me is being the best nurse I can be and not becoming a nurse that patients dread to see walk in the room. It feels really good to see a patient improve, or smile when things aren't going too well. You have to find what you want to achieve out of nursing, and focus on that goal everyday, and if you work on achieving your goals and believe in that... Nursing may be the best thing that ever happened to you. I have fought feelings of despair with my profession too long, it started bringing me down. Sleepless nights, crying, mean days then I started reading this site and realized I am not the only one!

I must say it helped me! This subject is definately something I did not know or even consider while in nursing school, but i can honestly say if I would have I may have seroiusly considered a different profession, one with holidays off! ha-ha!

Best Wishes

I am VERY depressed...I've been Christmas shopping all day, and now I have no more money!

:chuckle

I have also been diagnosed as chronically depressed and am on meds. It is work for me to try and be positive, cause that's not how I feel most of the time. I envy people who wake up and feel good and positive. I'm not giving up though....

Originally posted by peggysue

I am VERY depressed...I've been Christmas shopping all day, and now I have no more money!

:chuckle

I feel so much better now, knowing that I'm not alone! :):chuckle

Hi everyone,

I guess I'm kind of like some of the others.......some days up, some days down. If I have a good night...I go home saying "this will be my job for the rest of my life"...if I have a bad night, I rip out every paper I can find and start ravaging thru the help wanted ads. I guess I agree with what someone else said...I tend to be the type that is always scared about the "what if's" and I worry about going to work most days..which I think has led me into a anxiety/depression type problem. But then like someone said...if everyone is alive at the end of your shift, have had all their meds, and felt cared about,etc...then I feel I've done the best job that I can..and that's all I can do...u know? I also have debiliating pain from chronic endometriosis...which also plays into my depression...it's so hard to go to work and take care of others..when you are feeling crappy yourself. As far as wishing on another career....if I would have been smarter....would have been a Vet. or a meteorologist.....math and physics aren't my strong suit though..LOL:kiss

I have suffered from depression for about 7 years now, currently off my medication and doing pretty okay right now. Work has been one of the things that has actually kept me going. The days I haven't wanted to leave my bed, have been the days when I have thought that not to go to work would be letting my collegues and the patients down. I'm not saying it's all be good, I have had times when I haven't gone to work but on the whole I have and I think it has helped me. I am also lucky I have brilliant work collegues who understand and care, so this has really helped as well.

Oh gosh yes, depression can definetely occur. It can happen to anyone in any profession, but I think us caregiver types have a soft spot for others woes. I have all my life had depression that ranged from mild to suicidal, but I have learned that it is a physical thing. Nothing could bother me but whammo, one day I'd wake up and not even be able to eat, talk, move.... So I take a very low dose anti-deppressant every day. Take it like a diabetic takes insulin, or an asthmatic takes an inhaler. I almost never get down (years and years) now. I tried to get off them nut I can't live with the "what ifs" I have a family and job and need to be at my best.

As for nursing and depression, yes at times it can be rough, but I am balanced by the reward I recieve taking the best care of my patients. The frustration comes from not the work, but for NOT being able to give adequate or safe care due to "the B word"(BUDGET).