I'm just curious, how many of you nursing professionals/ nursing students have opted to go on prescription meds since entering nursing school or the nursing workforce.
Given, I have had some depression in my teen years, I am now venturing to go back on prescription drugs. My moods are sometimes out of control, I cry, my sleeping is somewhat cruddy, and I am constantly on edge (at least a bit) even in my most "relaxed" states. I'm just giving you my background, so unless you have struggled with any of this, please do not tell me " Just learn to conquer emotions, relax, be organized, etc.". I have tried those already and I just want to open a thread where people are free to discuss if they are on something due to this.
I have also been diagnosed with ADHD as a teenager, and while I have all As and a B (BARELY), I am really having a difficult time. It should not be this hard. Nursing school seems like it will slowly push me to a looney breakdown lol. Ugh, I have no idea why I am laughing, it's not funny. But I just tell myself it will be worth it :).
Anyone else who can relate? It just seems like many nursing students and nurses out there have anxiety, depression, bipolar, (etc.) issues. Could be severe stress. I'm also thinking about the beginning/opening of Nurse Jackie where she is popping pills and looking up to the Heavens in ecstasy. I know how you feel girl. Yes I do.
Specializes in trauma, ortho, burns, plastic surgery.
A lot of nurses are on drugs..this is a true that scarred and scarry me a lot! From where I come, people don't drug them self, special nurses! A nurse need to be clean, able to think, to decide good, you work with people, damn it, you took decisions, you could not let your meds to decide for you. You need to decide, if you can. How much accountability could have a person who took drugs at work? A good laweyer always could say ..."wasn't her fault at all... she is on meds". I didn't say that a nurse could not work if she is on drugs and she is stable...BUT...are positions where she really can't work. A depression, an anxiety disorder, a psych disorder, sooner or later will come out, affecting you and people around you if is not well controled. How do you like it if your life will be a mess and you mess other life also? You could not do it that in nursing life...you need to be stable, balanced!
I work with many people and a lot of nurses on psych meds, on couple of them you don't know that are on meds, because are well controled and balanced, working well, other ones are out of control, could be an addiction from many years on drugs, could be an unbalanced tretment, or just because forget to took meds, many many others even not Dx yet, lol... my final remark.... are a LOT of nurses un drugs, all type of drugs, couple are work well, couple not, and just that and is scarry!
Zuzi - you scare me! Your spelling and syntax are atrocious, and I can't imagine that your nurses' notes are any better. I have had depression issues for many years, and I function best when I am at work. On the other hand, my diabetes occassionally gets out of control, and that can happen at work. Maybe all diabetics, or all nurses with heart issues, or cancer, etc, etc, should not work.
The meds make us better, no matter what the underlying disease/illness is.
No one here was referring to inappropriate use of street drugs, or pain meds, etc.
It is with some comfort that I read posts such as these. After having been nurtured by functionally "insane" parents, I was determined not to follow their sick patterns when raising my own little family. When I was 20 yrs. old I was married and had my first girl just shy of my 21st birthday. My husband traveled for a living, sales, the entire week, Mondays thru Fridays. I had worked full time while he attended college and finished his business degree so as soon as he graduated I declared: "my turn!" (if I'd known then what I know now!)
Decided that since I'd always wanted to be a nurse ever since I could remember, I would give it my all. In hindsight, maybe waiting until the girls both entered school would have been a wiser plan!
Second year of nursing school started with levels of anxiety and unbelievable depression of which I was seen by family doc and started on meds for both.
I knew it was probably induced by nursing school in addition to being a full time mom with an absentee husband but couldn't seem to get it under control without meds.
Never attended school, clinicals, etc in an impaired state. Never took the antianxiety med while performing. But over the years, these behaviors have stayed in my life off and on and depending on what antidepressants/antianxiety meds I've taken.
Have met many nurses, cnas, etc. on same class of meds for same reasons,....it's very difficult handling your own stuff plus that of other staff members, family, visitors, patients, doctors, the list is endless of potentially unhealthy interactions while you are attempting to perform a very hazardous job!
I think in general that others should try to be more understanding of what nurses and medical staff in general have to endure every hour of every shift they work.
That said, the same goes for management of personnel trying their level best to survive the front lines of health care while delivering not only safe but excellent nursing care.
I took a break from nursing for a couple of years now to try my hand at a "fun" and "stress free" job just to prove to myself that I could still be functional in society (working, contributing, albeit with minimum wage, not nursing salary).
I was rewarded with living a couple of years relatively stress free (except for being absolutely broke all the time!), with not a lot of depressive feelings. At least not related to work issues.
After having worked as a nurse for twenty plus years before taking this break, I felt that I owed it to not only myself, but my family as well.
It is amazing what outside stressors can do. Not only mental, emotional, but physical problems as well. Was able to come off several meds for physical problems related to stress (blood pressure, pre-diabetic med).
Due to a knee injury suffered at non nursing job, am currently on partial temporary disability, hoping to re-enter the nursing arena by the first of the year after legalities are dealt with and insurance company has been mediated for final settlement.
I'm currently trying spiritual counseling on a biblical level in attempts to control these issues with hope, faith, and courage through God. In addition, am attending one on one and group therapy in the secular world. Still on antidepressant, still have antianxiety med on standby (haven't taken that one in months).
It is sad but true that it is a type of russian roulette in trying, then elminating antidepressants as we either adjust to them, they adjust our brain chemistry, or the side effects just don't agree with our bodies. Wish they had a means of measuring the good old chemicals and their synapsal pathways in our grey matter before spending all that time and money on meds that just don't work!
Sorry, long entry. Just lots to comment on when this subject does pop up!
"A depression, an anxiety disorder, a psych disorder, sooner or later will come out, affecting you and people around you if is not well controled. How do you like it if your life will be a mess and you mess other life also? You could not do it that in nursing life...you need to be stable, balanced!"
Oh my, Zuzi. You scare me. As a nurse and as a person. Anyone who cannot see the fine line between sanity and in-, mental health/illness and understand the concept of "There but for the grace of God go I," has pretty significant blinders on.
Give me a nurse/sister/daughter/friend who has faced her issues and addressed them with medicine and counselling any day.
Just as I do not judge you on your spelling and grammer deficits (which I hope you will address as I have addressed my deficits), please do not dare to say that I am not capable of being a nurse due to my prescription.
A lot of nurses are on drugs..this is a true that scarred and scarry me a lot! From where I come, people don't drug them self, special nurses! A nurse need to be clean, able to think, to decide good, you work with people, damn it, you took decisions, you could not let your meds to decide for you. You need to decide, if you can. How much accountability could have a person who took drugs at work?
Zuzi, I'm not a nurse or even in nursing school yet, but I can assure you that my meds will never make my decisions for me. My meds help me to get out of bed in the morning. They help keep me from bursting into tears for no reason (seriously, I started crying at the grocery store before I realized how bad I had gotten again). They help me eat more than 1 meal a day. They aren't magic super happy pills that make my life all better, but they do allow me to function and attack any underlying issues that may be there.
This makes me sad, because it makes me think of all of the people out there who are afraid to take meds. I doubt that you would look down on another nurse for taking insulin to better manage her medical problem; I don't see how my taking antidepressants is any different.
And to those who don't like what their meds are doing--please try a different one! I feel like I've been on every antidepressant out there, with pretty much every side effect you can imagine. Thankfully, my doctor convinced me that there was something out there for me, and it would be worth the time. I finally found something that worked for me with no side effects, and it's helped me each of the three times I've needed it.
wannabe: Please do not take Zuzi's comments as representative of the whole. There are way more of us who understand your circumstances than those who are intolerant.
Keep on keepin' on. You sound like a fighter and one who will empathize with and understand where your patients are coming from.
I'm not on meds for mental health issues but I work with people who are and we work at outpatient mental health. Would rather work with people who take their meds (for ALL health issues, including mental health) as this indicates to me that they care for THEMSELVES...I explain mental health like this to my patients: You have to think of it like you'd think of diabetes or a thyroid condition...yes, it's chronic, and often lifelong...will often get worse without management and meds...BUT...if you manage it with the help of your support team and meds, which could take some juggling to get right, you can live a full and happy life. It's an illness that's just in a different part of your body, that's all.
Welcome to nursing, OP! With a little management on your part, you CAN do this!!
Specializes in Onco, palliative care, PCU, HH, hospice.
My issues didn't begin with nursing school, but as others have posted the stress certainly didn't help. I've been treated for Bipolar disorder for several years now and only until recently did I find a drug combo that worked.
While I was in LPN school I was put on SSRI's and Lithium. The SSRI's made me manic and I developed Lithium toxicity due to the dose of Lithium I was on. I tried multiple drugs, Lamictal, Tegretol (to which I had an allergic reaction to), Keppra, Abilify (which made me tachycardic 140-150 bpm while at rest) I had overwhelming suicidal thoughts every day and on top of everything I was working two part time jobs as a CNA while in school.
I think the real stress began when I started working as a nurse, the anxiety was just unreal and at times almost more than I could take. My moods began cycling even worse and there were couple times I had to have myself hospitalized. I finally found a combination that eased some of my symptoms and that made the suicidal thoughts less intense, changed jobs a couple times to help with the stress and it has helped. Doing all of this while plastering on a happy face for my patients, co-workers, friends, etc. was not easy. Most people thought I was one of the happiest people they knew, but boy were they wrong.
I guess my point is that I don't think people can appreciate or understand how much work and juggling it takes for a person with mental illness to function as a nurse. Yes, I could do a job that was less stressful, but I love nursing and not even my issues can prevent me from doing what I love. Though it is challenging, in my opinion it is worth the fight.
I've been depressed since I was 12, and its gotten worse the last year.
When I was in the begining of my first rotation I started having these bad feelings, they felt like bad omens, and it felt like I had just watched a really depressing movie or something (diffrent than the chronic depression feeling), and I didn't feel safe in life. It wasn't until I did the mental health semester I learned what this was, anxiety.
I have since gotten better, about 3 months ago after learning about spirituality and meditation. But I still struggle and do feel like I need medication to take that edge off that is still there. I needed to study tonight, but I just couldn't...
But I'm also 19, and without insurance, or good insurance should I say. So I have to brave it for a while.
Specializes in ICU, oncology, orthopedics, med/surge.
Though my case may not be in the right forum, I thought I would share it nonetheless. To start, I had a 4.0 average with my nursing prereqs and was accepted to an Accelerated BSN program. I was so stressed during nursing school, I had to go on Welbutrin which did nothing for me. That was when I noticed that I was always very squirmy all the time when I listened to my professor's lectures. In addition to this, I developed extreme test anxieties and all my studying/memory flew out the window. Needless to say, my undergraduate GPA dropped to a 3.2. And I swear I must have studied longer and harder than anyone else. My test grades were horrible. What saved me was my writing papers. At the time, I thought I was just dumber than my classmates (that still may be true). Anyhow, I am now in an FNP program and not doing too well with my test grades. My writing prereqs however, were again all A's. (Cutting to the chase now), I have long suspected that I had ADHD, and 2 wks ago, it was confirmed. I now realize why I could get A's in my writing classes, because I had time to put my thoughts down (this too took me forever).Now, during tests, I miss read question context,skip the choices to pick my answer, and freak at the ticking clock. Let me inform you that all my tests are online. Now the question is, do I inform the Dean of the school of my condition which is considered a disability or do I stay quiet? I don't believe I am stupid otherwise I could not be where I am today. But I think my ADHD is hiding my real capabilities. Meanwhile, I am hesitant to ask for longer test time that I'm entitled to according to the ADA act of 1973; feeling like I'm cheating.
I started on Vyvanse 2 wks ago, and not sure it is helping during my tests. It helps me with focus, but the impulsivity is still here. I have cymbalta for my anxiety but am not taking it because it makes me sleepy, of which I don't have time to do. About 1500- 2000 pages to read each week, clinical and work gives you no time to sleep.
Should I let the Dean know of my disability?
Sorry to be so long, but does anyone here have a dilemma like this?
caffeineRx
446 Posts
If only the world was perfect........................