I don't understand it . When I was working at Wrongway Regional Medical Center with all its stress, plus the normal life stressors, I typically had good dreams.
Now that I've been retired a year, and my stress level is down near zero , I have bad dreams. Not nightmares- just uncomfortable dreams, like not getting something done or TCB, and having to deal with the consequences.
Last night's dream included the scenario of finding an old man in a cornfield who had been neglected and was in need of hygienic and medical care. I called 911, gave a report, and did what I could until EMS and the PD arrived, but it was a very uncomfortable dream.
National Blah Blah Blah Day is "an impulse to do get the things done which people have been nagging you to do". My dreams are nagging me to do something and I'm not sure what that something is.
Specializes in LTC, assisted living, med-surg, psych.
For what it’s worth, Davey, I’ve been retired since 2014 and I still have recurrent dreams of working in the hospital, even though I left that job 15 years ago. I think all nurses have those dreams where they neglect a patient all throughout the shift or don’t know that patient is assigned to them. Me, I literally relive 12-hour night shifts and see everything as vividly if I were standing at the nurses’ station right now. Inevitably there is a patient I don’t know I have till the end of the shift, and I run behind all night long, trying to put out fires all over the place and failing miserably. And in the morning when I wake up, I’m almost as tired as if I’d really worked that shift.
I’ve noticed that I have this dream more often when I’m stressed over totally unrelated matters. Like your cornfield, it’s hard to find a way out of it and it feels like there is unfinished business. Don’t know exactly what it is (can you get PTSD from nursing??) but obviously there’s something that needs to be resolved. My job now is to find it. Maybe it’s the same for you.
Considering what we go through stressor wise, I say definitely. Some specialties moreso than others, think trauma and critical care, as well as generally understaffed areas like med surg and LTC/LTACH-before anyone jumps in with how much more stressful their job out of these areas is, yes I understand, but these are most commonly known. Many high stress jobs see burnout and PTSD. It's sad, it doesn't have to be like that!
ETA: psych is another area that will most likely bring about PTSD due to the nature of the specialty
Specializes in Psych (25 years), Medical (15 years).
40 minutes ago, Hoosier_RN said:
Many high stress jobs see burnout and PTSD. It's sad, it doesn't have to be like that!
When I was stabbed by a client diagnosed with schizophrenia back in '98 I suffered from symptoms of PTSD. The incident was bad enough, but management's handling of it made it worse.
For example, a manager said that I had to complete paperwork after I was treated in ER for the stab wounds!
That made me feel all warm and fuzzy.
It all worked out in the end, however. I had a run-in with that manager several months later, was suspended for a week with pay, and got another position that I had requested.
I also sought services from an art therapist that changed my life.
Outwardly retirement is creative and sanitized (mannequin leg) but there are unresolved issues needing attention (old guy) and maybe professional or outside help (police and EMS)
I know someone who once dreamed that they were 1) buck naked 2) riding a garden tractor and 3) at work, wherein 4) the "hospital" was a ginormous multi-floor building consisting of only supporting structures such as beams with narrow boards going between them. Otherwise no floors, no walls, no doors. The patient assignment included patients in all the different areas and the nurse had to ride the lawnmower naked across the beams as if on a tightrope in order to get from one to the other, while everyone stopped stared from all the areas above and all the areas below, because they couldn't figure out why the nurse was doing this--as if there was anything else that could be done.
Davey, I see you one cornfield and raise you one wall-less, floor-less, garden tractor-tight-rope-riding naked nightmare.
Easy interpretation: Nursing can make people feel like ?s in a circus performance.
Considering what we go through stressor wise, I say definitely. Some specialties moreso than others, think trauma and critical care, as well as generally understaffed areas like med surg and LTC/LTACH-before anyone jumps in with how much more stressful their job out of these areas is, yes I understand, but these are most commonly known. Many high stress jobs see burnout and PTSD. It's sad, it doesn't have to be like that!
ETA: psych is another area that will most likely bring about PTSD due to the nature of the specialty
I don't know about PTSD but I have crippling bouts sometimes that can last for days re some of the abuse I read about or how some patients were treated throughout their lives resulting in their conditions. Especially adolescents and sexual abuse etc. I will not work adolescents anymore! Or I will end up in jail!
Do you know that sometimes abusers were allowed to visit? Brought in by their girlfriends or wives who refuses to acknowledge what their other half did? It's very very hard to remain professional during those times.
I know someone who once dreamed that they were 1) buck naked 2) riding a garden tractor and 3) at work, wherein 4) the "hospital" was a ginormous multi-floor building consisting of only supporting structures such as beams with narrow boards going between them. Otherwise no floors, no walls, no doors. The patient assignment included patients in all the different areas and the nurse had to ride the lawnmower naked across the beams as if on a tightrope in order to get from one to the other, while everyone stopped stared from all the areas above and all the areas below, because they couldn't figure out why the nurse was doing this--as if there was anything else that could be done.
Davey, I see you one cornfield and raise you one wall-less, floor-less, garden tractor-tight-rope-riding naked nightmare.
Easy interpretation: Nursing can make people feel like ?s in a circus performance.
Phew JLK, that sounds like you had just smoked some good stuff??? That's the craziest dream I've ever heard of. I suggest this could help.
Specializes in Psych (25 years), Medical (15 years).
5 hours ago, Curious1997 said:
I don't know about PTSD but I have crippling bouts sometimes that can last for days re some of the abuse I read about or how some patients were treated throughout their lives resulting in their conditions.
Curious, I sense that you are a successful, intelligent, headstrong professional with a great sense of humor. You're one of my favorite people, virtually speaking.
One of the reasons that I believe I lasted so long and did so well in psych was because of my ability to detach. Somewhat.
Over my 36 year nursing career, I saw several psych nurses become crispy critters and I believe this was a result of their inability to detach. I could give you specific examples of really good psych nurses who hit the skids. Two that immediately come to mind had really good senses of humor, too.
By all means, feel free to poo-poo me and blow me off, but we need to detach from those we serve or remaining attached to their pain will be our demise.
Curious, I sense that you are a successful, intelligent, headstrong professional with a great sense of humor. You're one of my favorite people, virtually speaking.
One of the reasons that I believe I lasted so long and did so well in psych was because of my ability to detach. Somewhat.
Over my 36 year nursing career, I saw several psych nurses become crispy critters and I believe this was a result of their inability to detach. I could give you specific examples of really good psych nurses who hit the skids. Two that immediately come to mind had really good senses of humor, too.
By all means, feel free to poo-poo me and blow me off, but we need to detach from those we serve or remaining attached to their pain will be our demise.
The very best to you, Curious.
Thanks Davey. That's why I won't work adolescents. Too painful. I can never get over the many ways people find to hurt each other. The energy has to be immense!
If it was a good dream, helping the man in the field is just about feeling connected, and being useful.
Since you described it as a bad dream, it could be a sense of encouraging a negative habit in someone else, or behavior that may not be in your best interests.
But really, NAH. Probably not. LOL its just a dream.
Keep in mind, dreams are really just a means of your brain helping you to get rid of that day's unwanted information (I.e. short term memory) that is not going to be committed to your long term memory.
Im sure that in your case, helping someone that is hurt, is really just a way of getting someones face *out* of your short term memory. Like someone you pass on the street or see on TV or a profile photo etc.
Even a glance at a photo online can end up in your dreams.
Thats how utterly meaningless they really are, as far as how they should be interpereted. At least in my opinion.
The only thing dreaming has been proven repeatedly in doing, is helping us with memory.
There are some other interesting and not well proven theories on here as well.. so have at it.
VivaLasViejas, ASN, RN
22 Articles; 9,996 Posts
For what it’s worth, Davey, I’ve been retired since 2014 and I still have recurrent dreams of working in the hospital, even though I left that job 15 years ago. I think all nurses have those dreams where they neglect a patient all throughout the shift or don’t know that patient is assigned to them. Me, I literally relive 12-hour night shifts and see everything as vividly if I were standing at the nurses’ station right now. Inevitably there is a patient I don’t know I have till the end of the shift, and I run behind all night long, trying to put out fires all over the place and failing miserably. And in the morning when I wake up, I’m almost as tired as if I’d really worked that shift.
I’ve noticed that I have this dream more often when I’m stressed over totally unrelated matters. Like your cornfield, it’s hard to find a way out of it and it feels like there is unfinished business. Don’t know exactly what it is (can you get PTSD from nursing??) but obviously there’s something that needs to be resolved. My job now is to find it. Maybe it’s the same for you.