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Discussion

Is it just me or............?

I've been noticing something lately, noticing it going on a lot recently. Maybe its just the pool of pt's coming to my specific hospital or something, IDK.

We all know pt's over react to certain (usually the wrong) things. "OMG, my mashed potatoes are cold" meanwhile their saturating is like 72% and they don't want to hear about putting their oxygen back on until you've heated up those potatoes.

On my unit, the "thing" to over react to seems to be sleep. Now, I understand having an upset sleeping schedule is disturbing beyond belief.........heck, I work nights. But lately, I've had a slew of patients who act like a bad night's sleep is going to land them in the ICU or something. Literally, they are panicked and crying as though a limb was just amputated. They want double and triple dose sleep aids until they are sleeping, regardless of the risks.

I try to tell them "Maybe its not really a medical problem at all, might just be U R not tired". I bite my tongue and thing to myself "Yeah, you lay in bed all day telling the staff to get this and do that..........so why would you be tired? I wasn't aware being waited on was such hard work that it should provide you a good nights sleep."

Last night I literally had a woman go into a full blown panic attack that almost lead to me calling the rapid response team. What stressed her so? Her blood was not done and she wanted to go to sleep........it was going to keep her up and she'd never sleep and then the world tilts on it's axis causing great shifts in the climate (or so she acted/though) and killing millions............................(tongue in cheek).

What gives with the...............poor cooping mechanisms? Seems to be a bad nights sleep just meant you didn't sleep well.

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    • Featured Replies

    Are you really a nurse?

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    I sooo hear ya on that one ...

    Life, death, ethical/moral dilemmas, shift work, lack of family understanding of what I do ... these things about nursing are not wearing on me nearly as much as the lack of coping skills among so much of the population.

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    Are you really a nurse?

    I don't understand what that's supposed to mean. Why wouldn't she be?

    Juli--sounds typical. I have seen this as well.

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    • Experts

    We live in a society that values immediate gratification. If it ain't right, people expect a quick fix right then and there with minimal to no effort on their parts.

    If someone suffers from insomnia, repeat doses of sleeping pills is the form of immediate gratification. Adopting good sleep hygiene habits over the long run is a form of delayed gratification with results that are not so instant.

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    • Author
    Are you really a nurse?

    I may sound unimpassioned, but I just think there are some things not worth treating with medications. Especially with meds that are so well known for being addictive and................in the end cause the same problem they are supposed to fix.

    Like someone else said, its a matter of instant gratification. The idea of having to carry such a heavy cross as missing a nights sleep just to avoid something petty like drug addiction/dependence (tongue in cheek again) is so far beyond these people. I'd hate to see them when a real medical emergency comes up.

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    • Experts

    As someone who suffers from insomnia over long periods of time, I only wish I could get instant gratification once every six months. I could not believe how rested I felt, although in pain, when I regained consciousness after being under general anesthesia for surgery. I made a point of telling my surgeon, although I am sure he could care less that I can't sleep.

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    • Experts

    The OP can have my insomnia any time. I'll be happy to make a gift of it, since he thinks I am less for wanting a night or day's sleep.

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    you got it right the first time -- poor coping mechanisms. actually, i envy you. in my unit it seems to be "granny had a poor outcome so let's bring our guns to the hospital and threaten everyone."

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    • Author
    As someone who suffers from insomnia over long periods of time, I only wish I could get instant gratification once every six months. I could not believe how rested I felt, although in pain, when I regained consciousness after being under general anesthesia for surgery. I made a point of telling my surgeon, although I am sure he could care less that I can't sleep.

    Now come on...........do I have to explain the difference between insomnia and someone missing one nights sleep here? Please, before I lose A LOT of respect for you, tell me you are kidding and don't think that even through 9 degrees of separation this post is related/directed at you.

    :jester: Ohhh, lol.........you are kidding.....right?.......I hope so.

    "You're so vein, you probably think this thread is about you............doooon't yooouuuu, dooooon't yoooooou?"

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    • Author
    you got it right the first time -- poor coping mechanisms. actually, i envy you. in my unit it seems to be "granny had a poor outcome so let's bring our guns to the hospital and threaten everyone."

    gee, and i thought the guy who told us he'd overcharge us for gas at his station because his mom was going home on insulin was nuts. thats a true story too..........his mom never used insulin before, he didn't like that she was being d/c'd on it (thought we broke her or something) and said he'd add $1 a gallon to our gas price if he saw any of us at the gas station he owned.

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    • Author
    I don't understand what that's supposed to mean. Why wouldn't she be?

    Juli--sounds typical. I have seen this as well.

    Oh, BTW............"she"......................is a HE.......................:eek:

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    As someone who suffers from insomnia over long periods of time, I only wish I could get instant gratification once every six months. I could not believe how rested I felt, although in pain, when I regained consciousness after being under general anesthesia for surgery.

    I'm also an insomniac, prone to long periods of not getting any sleep, and suffer from night terrors and night paralysis when I do sleep, so I'm pretty obsessed with the idea of getting a good night's sleep. I just woke up a little while ago from a night full of nightmares...well, at least I got eight hours of them.

    Although I can tolerate not getting any if I know that it's only going to be for a few days, and that I'm not going to have to get up and do anything, the idea of not being able to sleep makes me lose all sense of reason...especially if I'm sleep deprived to begin with.

    I also remember being under general anesthesia one time and waking up feeling like I had had the best sleep of my life.

    I've worked with patients like that and can see that they are way too fraught about the sleep issue, especially the ones who don't get out of bed all day and then wonder why they can't sleep, but I can also identify just a little bit.

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