Nurse Phobias?

[pattycakeRN]

Just wondering, since I have one of my own... what are your phobias as a nurse? I know some people don't like sputum (the deeeeep down thick stuff) and so on, but is there something of which you have a deep down, debilitating fear? I guess it doesnt even have to be related to nursing...

FYI, this crossed my mind because I have a memory of being 6 years old or so and the movie Mask being on the TV (the Cher one, not the Jim Carrey one) and I cried and hid in the closet. Now, maybe that didn't do it, but I honestly have a fear of that kind of deformity. I can't even watch the FX channel because I saw on the channel guide the other day that it was on. And recently, there was a yahoo news picture of a severely deformed boy's face, and I nearly passed out. I haven't been to my 'My Yahoo' page in over a month now. Weird? I dunno, but I get upset just thinking about it at home alone.

[twister431]

My phobia right now is ear wax. we do quite a few ear washes here and i think its just the texture, but when a huge ball of wet hairy wax ugh man i try to do as many as possible so i get over it but so far i have just made it to a slight shudder, ugh there goes one now. hahahaha outside nursing yes spiders are absolutely terrifying, and yes my wife dogs me about constantly. lol

much love

mose-:spam:

That earwax is brutal, I can't take it. If I'm in the exam room, during ear wash, I will leave and get another nurse. No no no not me.

[danissa, LPN, LVN]

i dont mind any suction stuff, vomit, etc. What does freak me, are amputations. I get cold sweats at seeing missing bits from a person. we had a wee guy last year, entire top of the skull missing, that above all else gave me nightmares. (poor wee guy died in the end).

[leslie :-D]

Harlequin icthyosis is a disorder wherein the infant is born covered in plates of keratin. It forms a diamond pattern, hence the "harlequin". The hardening of the skin also pulls the mouth into what can appear to be a smile. The baby is often born with full contractures of the limbs. They are often bright red.

Basically, they look like their skin is inside out. The eyes appear inside out. It's really, really horrifiying. They generally die within a few hours because the tightness of their skin layer makes them unable to breathe, and I believe the insensible waterloss is overwhelming.

i'm getting those visions of the h. baby in my mosby's again...

can't they detect this in utero?

leslie

[elizabells, BSN, RN]

i'm getting those visions of the h. baby in my mosby's again...

can't they detect this in utero?

leslie

Apparently not. I'd think with those new 4D ultrasounds you might start seeing it.

I did a little research and apparently there are a few cases in which children have survived. One is now a teenager and a triathlete. He takes large doses of Accutane, gets slathered in lotion 7 times a day, and has to consume 7500 calories per day to keep up with the metabolism of his skin sloughing off so often. At night he gets tube feeds of pure protein.

[rastanursern, MSN]

I'm terrified that we're going to get a harlequin icthyosis baby at work. DO NOT google that if you aren't prepared for it. It's a truly tragic and horrifying skin condition. I've seen pictures (due to unwise googling) and ever since I've dreaded it. We do get them occasionally on the unit, but I haven't seen it yet.

Omg, just googled it. That's just not right. No on deserves to have that.

[rastanursern, MSN]

What really grossess me out is sputum and suctioning :barf01:, just hearing the gurgling of the sputum makes me queezy, illllll.

[danissa, LPN, LVN]

What really grossess me out is sputum and suctioning :barf01:, just hearing the gurgling of the sputum makes me queezy, illllll.

See, loads of folk seem to be grossed out at the suctioning thing. I don't one bit, but I think the main reason is that I work only with Neonates. you can cope with anything tiny babies throw up and at ya, But I couldn't cope with the same from adults! Theres a certain satisfaction from getting that lump from the ET tube in a preemie, or from getting all the "chewing gum" yuk from the mouth of a CPAP babe. Anything to make them breathe easier.

But, I've never done this with adult secretions, so hats off to all you brave lads and lassies who do!:cheers:

[beachbum3]

vomiting. I'm hoping I'll get over it. I actually reflexively gag when I hear the noises.

[banditrn]

I'm terrified that we're going to get a harlequin icthyosis baby at work. DO NOT google that if you aren't prepared for it. It's a truly tragic and horrifying skin condition. I've seen pictures (due to unwise googling) and ever since I've dreaded it. We do get them occasionally on the unit, but I haven't seen it yet.

Well, of course when someone says NOT to do something, I've just gotta do it. That picture that I saw took my breath away! How awful.

[jessiern, BSN, RN]

Bridges. I'll had a reoccuring dream for years that my mother and I were driving over a bridge and it collapsed. I'm always about 5 in the dream. But, I hate bridges. I get tachycardic, sweat, really nervous. And I live on the Gulf Coast, and they are everywhere

[txRN07]

Dentures!!! I'm sorry but when I come in in the morning and see a patient's dentures in the little cup with the remnants of last night's dinner floating around, I want to hurl!!! Oh, and collecting those stool specimens!:barf01:

[NoWhereNear]

Headwounds. I have a severe phobia of headwounds.

Even insinuated headwounds in movies (someone with a gun in their mouth/held to the head) used to get to me.

I've been trying like crazy to desensitize myself, since I decided to go into nursing. (Still a pre-pre-nursing student, so I have a little time.)

I can say with pride that I can now deal with the photo on the Meningitis page of Wikipedia (pretty graphic autopsy photo of a head w/ the top of the skull off, showing the brain) and I watched Pulp Fiction without looking away when they shot Marvin. :w00t:

It's a start.

Nothing else fazes me so far.

I raised three boys. Snot,poo and blood don't scare me much.