Not enough stamina to be a nurse?

[pitaya]

Nursing school clinicals are wearing me out. It feels like more than just being tired and having my feet hurt at the end of the day. I have always been healthy, but since nursing school started, my body has been going crazy.

Nursing students, do you ever feel like you won't have the stamina to actually perform as a nurse? I try to get up early and eat a good breakfast and I eat lunch and bring snacks, but on clinical days I am hungry all day long. It doesn't matter what the clinical is, but it seems as if being up so early and going all day with a lot of standing up and walking just burns up my calories. My stomach will feel empty all day! I eat and eat and eat, but still feel like I'm hypoglycemic and going to pass out at times.

Besides the increased appetite, my problem number two is I can't take so much standing up. I know I will never be an OR nurse because I just can't take standing up for so long without being able to sit down and the masks make me feel like I'm suffocating. I've never had to do so much standing up and walking for a whole day a time. Is it normal to be fatigued from this? Will my body ever adjust to so much standing up and walking around? My whole life I've been a student which has included a lot of sitting down, until clinicals started. The part-time jobs that I've had were all sitting-down jobs. I'm beginning to think I'm not cut out for this! And it's not that I'm in horrible shape; I'm at a healthy weight, although I don't exercise as much as I used to...could it just be that I need to exercise more? I am constantly looking for an opportunity to sit down!

What is bothering me the most, though, is that I'm coming home with shortness of breath. I had a clinical today that wasn't even that stressful or tiresome, but I'm still short of breath just walking around my (small) house. Is my body just trying to get used to this kind of new activity? Could it be anxiety? I'm really thinking I should just find a desk job because at this point, floor nursing seems completely out of the question. I'd appreciate any insight you have or knowing if you've gone through anything similar!

[kayty2339]

Maybe you should talk to your dr about it. The shortness of breath is what concerns me. That is not normal. Being fatigued after a long clinical day is definitely normal and feet hurting is definitely normal, but walking around your house shouldn't make you short of breath. I guess it could be anxiety, but maybe you do need to get your blood sugar checked??

[JROregon, ASN, BSN, RN]

100 % agree with Kayty. Get checked out by your doctor. You should not be out of breath at home, that isn't normal at all. After getting fully checked out, you might have more stamina with daily walks. Build up to a mile at first and go from there. I haven't been tired at all from clinicals but I do agree that it is really tiring standing in one place for a long time.