Nursing Student w/ Anxiety

[FriendlyCatLover]

Hi everyone! Long story. I have had terrible anxiety for as long as I can remember that has crippled my confidence and held me back for so long. I got it together and finally got into nursing school (it's an accelerated 2nd degree BSN). It's going great! However... at the beginning of the program I had what I think was a panic attack while waiting to get on an airplane. All of a sudden I started sweating and could feel my heart beating while chills ran down my back. I felt disconnected from the scene around me and just like I had to get out of there. I ran to the bathroom and threw up and ended up not getting on my plane. It was terrible. That had never happened to me before. I thought it was stress from starting the program.

About a month later I had an interview for placement for my clinical rotations. While I was waiting I started thinking about what happened at the airport and started sweating again...ended up in the bathroom dry heaving until seconds before the interview started. The interview ended up going great! Once I started talking I calmed down and relaxed it was just the waiting period that got me worked up.

Now I am going to be starting my clinical rotations soon and I'm getting really worried about these feelings happening to me on site. I start thinking about it and the bottom drops out of my stomach as I imagine myself holed up in the bathroom or not being able to do it. I really want to succeed and I'm psyching myself out. Did I make the wrong choice? Can anybody reassure me that it's going to be ok? Will I make it through my rotations? I've had different jobs and stuff and have never had these kinds of feelings before this year and I think I'm making it worse by imagining that it's going to happen everytime because it happened to me once. Any help or advice anybody can give me would really be appreciated.

[VivaLasViejas, ASN, RN]

The first thing to do is remember that your record of getting through bad or frightening experiences, thus far, is 100%.

The second thing is to NOT assume you're going to have a panic attack every time you're faced with an anxiety-inducing situation. That's how it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. When faced with a stressful event, acknowledge the fact that you're stressed, and ask yourself "what's the very worst that can happen?" If the answer is anything less serious than death, then remind yourself that you will make it through and let it go.

The third thing is to get professional help if you feel you can't control your panic attacks. It's not normal to freak out and throw up when you're nervous. Talk therapy can help enormously, and a therapist can teach you healthier ways of dealing with stress. And don't be afraid to use medications if necessary---it shouldn't be the first thing to resort to, but it can help smooth the way while you're learning to manage your anxiety better. (A word of caution: DO NOT take any sort of anti-anxiety medication before or during clinicals. This is very much frowned upon as it is against the Nurse Practice Act of most, if not all states.)

I hope this is helpful to you. Welcome to Allnurses.com!

[Carpediem1012, BSN, RN]

Great post Viva! One question though- is it because anti anxieties can cause drowsiness?

OP, very good advice from Viva- hang in there and it will only get better each time!

[VivaLasViejas, ASN, RN]

Great post Viva! One question though- is it because anti anxieties can cause drowsiness?

Exactly....drugs like Xanax, Ativan, Klonopin and so on can be sedating, so they're not appropriate to use prior to or during a shift. Now I'm sure someone will come along to disagree with me on this because they take one of these meds 3x/day routinely and never feel drowsy, but overall it's bad practice and against many employers' policies, to say nothing of an individual state's licensing board.