Nursing Student needing ADVICE!

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Hello. This problem I am having may need quite a long introduction, but I will summarize as best as I can. What I need is genuine advice. Last year I was a very hard working student and I got a 4.0 GPA and go accepted into my university nursing program. Now this year, I ended up having to get paired up with a random roommate in a dorm room because I do not have a car. This first semester has been a downhill spiral for me. Last year, my roommate, who ended up having to transfer schools for her major, was perfect. She was never in the room really, and when she was, we were friends and she was quiet as could be, so I could STUDY. Now this year, I thought that getting assigned to a random roommate in a small dorm room would not be horrible, but it has been. My roommate is not that bad of a person. She initially started off watching TV all teh time in the room and it was hard for me to adapt to since last year I was able to study without any problems. We ended up working out it out where she uses headphones while watching TV now, but I still find way to get distracted, like when she is opening and closing drawers she is really loud and just kind of careless where my roommate last year was always courteous as can be and dead silent. Also, she does not care about school and it is hard for me to be in this environment. I have tried and tried to switch room and it has gotten to the point where I feel I NEED a single, but there is not a single room available on campus. I have no car, so I cannot go anywhere off campus. Now it is to the point that whenever I go and study in my room, or do anything, I just cannot do it. I get so much anxiety inside of me and I just have a panic attack. The library is a 10 minute walk from my dorm every single day, and I just fear that I will be unhappy there. My roommate snores each and every night too and it keeps me up and I have to use ear plugs and ti still does not blcok it out. What do you suggest I do to cope with this situation? I really need advice because I can see my grades and motivation slowly but surely slipping through the palm of my hand. Next year I have plans already to life with 3 people and I will have my own bedroom, but I just fear I will not be able to get through this one more semster with this girl and I feel that things will go downhill to the point where I have too many issues where I may have to just go home. Please, I need genuine advice here.

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I lived in dorms for three years, and I only studied in the room when my roommate was not there. I went to the library frequently, and also studied in my sorority's house when I wasn't there. I liked using the library, it was quiet and there were several good areas to study in. I think you're being a little unreasonable. You live in a dorm, which is your home. People watch TVs in their home, listen to music, talk, have friends over. It's just life, you adapt.

Okay, thank you. Yeah, I am going to try to take away all of this negativity and hope my dorm room can just work, because it is definitely the most convenient. I have another serious question. I have been using ear plugs now to study and sleep ever since the past probably 3-4 months, and now I am experiencing quite a lot of pain because of them. It is really worrying me because in a way I "depend" on them with my roommates snoring and to cancel out sounds while studying. I have started to use a very small drop of water inside of my ear canal to ease insertion of the earplugs since I have a small ear canal and now I fear that is maybe causing all of my pain. What do you think is the issue here? Right now I am sitting up at my computer and I just am dreading taking out the ear plugs because it drives me to the point where I am almost to tears.

Okay, thank you. Yeah, I am going to try to take away all of this negativity and hope my dorm room can just work, because it is definitely the most convenient. I have another serious question. I have been using ear plugs now to study and sleep ever since the past probably 3-4 months, and now I am experiencing quite a lot of pain because of them. It is really worrying me because in a way I "depend" on them with my roommates snoring and to cancel out sounds while studying. I have started to use a very small drop of water inside of my ear canal to ease insertion of the earplugs since I have a small ear canal and now I fear that is maybe causing all of my pain. What do you think is the issue here? Right now I am sitting up at my computer and I just am dreading taking out the ear plugs because it drives me to the point where I am almost to tears.

Swimmers ear.

Also I think you need to evaluate your own level of personal responsibility. I am not trying to be mean but as a nontraditional student who lives in a home where I will be interrupted for any number of reasons I have had to learn coping strategies. Also if you are this easily distracted, and can't sleep, and irritable perhaps there is something else going on with you?

While, I can sympathize with your situation, in my opinion you cannot expect a roommate to be 100% silent when you are in the room and trying to study. People make noise even when they are trying to be quiet. You asked that she use headphones when watching tv and she did it, you then say you find yourself being distracted with other things. I don't see how moving into a place that has your own bedroom will cancel out ALL the noise in the house. My husband snores on occasion...I can be on the 1st floor with him sleeping in our room on the 2nd floor and I can still hear his snoring if its quiet in the house.

As the poster above stated, you are easily distracted, irritable, not being able to cope with noise and you can't sleep. Were you like this when you lived at home and needed to study during high school? Not being snarky with that question, just wondering if these aren't some sort of signs of stress you aren't dealing with well. Does your school have a counselor you could talk with. Maybe you have an underlying stress that's causing you to be so unable to tolerate any noise etc.

Thank you for your postings. So with this Swimmer's ear what do I do to get rid of it? I need my ear plugs at night for sure due to the snoring, but I suppose I will have to stop wearing them while studying. I have visited the counseling center at my school and they did not do much to help me besides suggest "muscle relaxation" techniques. I really agree with what you said though - I cannot expect someone to be completely quiet and I think I have somehow convinced myself that this girl needs to be that way, and anything that is deviated from 100% silence I find to be "so annoying" and it just sets me on edge. Do you think I should just leave my room altogether and study somewhere else all the time, or learn to cope with this environment since it is definitely a lot more convenient for me to study in and it really is not that loud since she does watch TV often and that makes the room noiseless.

If it were me, I'd try different techniques to cope with the situation and study in the room. If it gets to the point where its really irritating, maybe take that 10 minute walk (its good for you physically and mentally) and go to the library to study for a while. Then head back again. It doesn't have to be an all or nothing thing for studying in the room or the library, mix it up a little.

Okay thanks I appreciate that advice. I will do that then. I will stop using my ear plugs and then just put on my headphones which are these: http://www.howardleight.com/images/media/0000/0241/leightning_L3_main.jpg?1345620849 to cancel out some sounds without having to worry about it giving me swimmer's ear. I will put ear pods in with white noise too to see if that works for me. Are you guys able to say.. read a completley new reading in the textbook that you really need to understand WHILE listening to music or white noise? I just am so accustomed to needing complete silent when doing things like that, but I do not know if many others are able to have music while doing so - just wanting to see if it is worth giving a try or if it will end up being a mistake because I won't comprehend anything. I kind of just want to "train" myself to be able to study and read with music because I feel it may help my scenario a lot.

I am a married woman with 2 kids (LOUD kids..haha), a husband, 2 dogs and 2 cats..needless to say my house is never quiet. I study better with a little background noise. If its totally silent I can't seem to concentrate on what I'm reading. So, to answer your question, I prefer a little background noise, whether that be music playing lowly in the room just the general noise in the house.

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Do you think this could help me study? Or is it more distracting?

Count your blessings YOU ARE IN A NURSING PROGRAM call on your inner strenth things are gonna get

much harder to cope with then a noisy room mate .....clinicals ,cranky patients ,etc. etc.etc.

I am not a counselor, psychiatrist, therapist, etc. and even if I were, that would in no way qualify me to offer any sort of diagnosis or advice over the internet. That being said...I sense a lot of anxiety in your post. You obsess about very normal everyday noises (shuffling papers, opening drawers, etc.) and it clearly is a source of intense stress for you. You obsess about the quality of your sleep, to the point where sleep is actually becoming more difficult. From what you have written, I get the feeling that you are experiencing the sense that the world is against you - you lost your old roommate, didn't get the single room, don't have a car, etc. You're focusing entirely on the negatives in your life, to the point that it is now affecting your sleep and health. You don't want to go to the library because it takes 10 minutes to walk there, but how much time have you spent worrying about this? I bet it's more than 10 minutes.

Does your school have a counseling center for students? It might be helpful to talk some of this out, in person, with someone there. I am in no way suggesting that there is something "wrong" with you. We all go through stressful times in life and sometimes, the stress becomes too much. Do NOT let this hinder your path to becoming a nurse. A counselor can give you some strategies and coping mechanisms for dealing with this stress. If you don't have a counseling center, do you have health insurance? Many health insurance plans offer a limited number of counseling sessions via telephone, for free. It's worth looking in to. Good luck to you, and remember - this will pass! You can get through this.

Pecanpies - I appreciate your post. Hearing from all of you on this site has made me realize that I really need to be more optimistic about things. Earlier in the year, I was actually able to deal with these things and just shrug them off, but as you know, they have now become essentially the "end of the world" for me. Last night I turned around from my desk and told my roommate that I do not want to have this odd tension between us because it makes me being in the room feel really uncomfortable and I just want there to be nothing weird in between us. I believe that helped a little. I still cannot control her ever move, but I feel that my room in this dorm is probably quieter than a lot of the ones I could get stuck moving in to - so I will keep reminding myself that. Do you, pecanpies, think that I should spend the majority of my time studying in there? I am doing it right now and I am not having too many issues or stressful bouts, so I am hoping that maybe I am on the road back to my old self. I do only have one more semester left of this, and I guess it is not going to be perfect, but I will have to make use of a lot of stress-reduction techniques and make use of my alternative sites to study such as the study room in my dorm or my library, no matter how not so "ideal" they are in my mind.

In addition, yes, I have visited the counseling center. To be honest, it was kind of "lame." They gave me a sheet with muscle relaxation techniques and told me to get an apartment off campus after I had told the woman three times I did not have a car.. haha, so it was not the best experience.

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