My nerves are shot!

[bandas]

I am at the point where I think I am losing it (mentally)! And I feel like such a loser for it. I like school but clinicals are making me a basketcase. I can't stop stressing over them. I don't sleep, my stomach is always in knots, I throw up, I yell at my kids. I'm shaky and I have a continual headache. I've also been having panic attacks. The times that are the worst are the day before clinical and day of clinical. I find myself obsessing over everything that happened that day. "Did I give her the call light? What if I didn't and she got up and fell? Its the smallest of things that plague me and it is driving me CRAZY. I think, "God is this career for me?" But the thing is, I love it when I'm at the hospital. The anxiety doesn't affect me there. So I don't want to give up, its just that my home life is a mess from it. I just need to find a way to let things go, and gain confidence in myself. My husband says he can't live like this. I know that I'm making him miserable. I've even debated taking anti-anxiety meds. I think that I've always had anxiety problems, but they tend to be coming out more with the stress from school. Any thoughts or personal experiences with anxiety?

[jon_kulas]

The day before clinicals, I usually get nervous.. got sweaty, and "tachypneic", and my mind whirls. I have told this experience to a clinical instructor and it helped a lot. The fact that there is someone who understand what youre going through helps. She also said that I should "identify" those things that make me go "whirlies" and act on it before it gets worse. So What I do is identify and write down all the things that triggers the anxiety, then find a way to minimize it. It works for me. Hope this helps.

[locolorenzo22, BSN, RN]

Same way. I get paranoid in the day or two before clinical, then I end up being fine once I get there. It's just becoming comfortable with new patients and learning how to cope. It will get worse as LTC switches to acute care next semester.

I generally tend to id my triggers, then just keep telling myself "you know what to do. Do it right, and there won't be an issue." Take a breath, a day off, and remember that family's first, school second.

[JentheRN05, RN]

I developed severe anxiety in my 3rd year of nursing school. It was severe enough that I had been put on clinical probation for a semester because of my anxiety. It ended up coming out in my clinicals. Don't let this happen to you.

Learn meditation techniques or get to your doctor for anti-anxiety meds.

My instructors urged me to do this, and I did.

My first 2 years of nursing school, I kept my anxiety at bay with meditation and relaxation techniques. If you learn them well enough you can put yourself at peace in a moments notice. It worked for 2 years of nursing school. You have to take care of yourself in order to be able to safely take care of others. Always remember that.

[Curious1alwys, BSN, RN]

I developed severe anxiety in my 3rd year of nursing school. It was severe enough that I had been put on clinical probation for a semester because of my anxiety. It ended up coming out in my clinicals. Don't let this happen to you.

Learn meditation techniques or get to your doctor for anti-anxiety meds.

My instructors urged me to do this, and I did.

My first 2 years of nursing school, I kept my anxiety at bay with meditation and relaxation techniques. If you learn them well enough you can put yourself at peace in a moments notice. It worked for 2 years of nursing school. You have to take care of yourself in order to be able to safely take care of others. Always remember that.

:yeahthat:

It'll only get worse if you ignore it.