diapason05

Thats what I was thinking. My ultimate goal is to get to the point where I am a nurse practitioner. I know that I will be exposed to stuff all the time, even as a nurse practitioner, but I feel like it will be too a lesser degree. I just need to get through school and several years of nursing...

yeh, on certain days for sure. My husband just left on deployment and he tends to have a calming effect on me. The anxiety only happens once in awhile.. ;( I duno I am dreading nursing school in the moment because I dont want to even be thinking about possible health issues right now. Its cuz im going through a period of the anxiety. maybe itll change i dont know. I was so happy to find a career i could be interested in. ;(

Did you have some fear when you started too?>

I am really really interested in medicine/biology. I had cancer when I was 16, diagnosed my own thyroid disease and I definitely take an interest in health- Heres my problem- I get kind of crazy sometimes. I latch onto an idea and it drives me NUTS. I have extreme anxiety... Like, If I get the idea that I could be exposed to any kind of STD (this was in the past before I got married-- I was pretty safe anyway most of the time)-- I would latch onto it and absolutely OBSESS. I would feel so sick to my stomach. My husbands tested negative for anything but theres been times Id get into fights with him because I would start wondering if something didnt show up bc he slept with a lot of women before he met me. I would worry myself sick and then eventually it would subside. But it comes back sometimes. I don't think I will fully feel better until he comes back and gets his yearly test again. We will have been together over a year then. (His last one was three months into our relationship) Lately I have worried myself sick that the malaria drug my husband will probably take on deployment will react badly with him. I also have been worrying myself sick that we will have children with birth defects because of the chemo I had when I was 16 and bc of the thyroid problems I have now-- also, my husband is exposed to tons of random stuff and vaccinations being in the military and I am SO WORRIED that that could also cause birth defects in our babies someday or hurt him. What sucks is I have no plans to have a baby for a few years yet. - Im even worrying about health problems my kids could have even if they dont have obvious birth defects! I cant handle this!! Its driving me nuts. It seems like the more I know, the worse this may get. I'm afraid to do nursing now bc I am afraid that being exposed to all sorts of conditions (including rare ones) are going to only increase my level of fear. What do you guys think? I have been literally nauseous for two days scared about birth defects in my children that probably wont be born for four more years!!!!!!! What is wrong with me? I think this fear is probably rooted in my experience getting cancer- but Im seriously reconsidering if nursing is right for me. This doesnt happen all the time, but it happens enough that im afraid Ill drive myself crazy as a nurse (OR, What could happen is Im exposed to enough stuff that I get used to all of it and my fears abate because I realize that what will be will be and theres not too much I can really do to avoid some of it----) ^^ see I DO intellectually realize that you cant predict many bad health things, but I cant seem to stop worrying. What do you guys think??? No matter what I do, I end up reading enough about health that I know enough that it causes me to worry.... I feel like Im going to puke right now. I'm wondering if I should go into accounting or something, just so I can take my mind of my worries. Cuz ALL of my worries revolve around major health problems happening or losing my loved ones.

Thank you so so so much for all of that Daytonite. Seriously, thank you for taking the time to post that. I'm excited when I read what I'll be learning and there has never been another possible line of study that I have ever felt that way abouT!

yay!! I'm interested in all of it!! I think it is a really good sign that almost all of the stuff I may be learning actually interests me. I want to learn it.

Hi guys, I was hoping you could answer one or any/all of these questions I have. I know I am being impatient and will eventually see what nursing school entails on my own, but I am curious. Thank you!!!! I have heard a lot about enormous amount of care plan writing.. but what does that entail? As a nurse, do you ask questions regarding all the patients symptoms as you see fit, or do you ask a few standard questions and let the doc get more in depth? Do we learn about all the different blood tests a doctor can order, as well as what they mean in relation to the physiology of the body? What does the bulk of the book-learning part of nursing school consist of? (I've heard nursing theory, but what does that really mean? ) I know clinicals put some of what you learned to practice, so I am looking forward to that part. Are nursing courses science-based, in that you learn a lot about different diseases/possible causes?

I know of several people who opted for it because I guess they thought it would be less painful, shorter and they could schedule the birth. Any of those reasons- maybe other ones I don't know about. I'm TERRIFIED of having to have a C-section!! There seems to be a much better chance of my stomach tightening up if I give birth lady partslly. My mother had a c-section with my younger sister and she said the muscles were ruined after that. I am not worried about my lady parts being "stretched". No ones ever told me that their wife felt any different after giving birth (provided they wait awhile to start having sex..?) I just want to have a healthy natural childbirth. And I want to do it however is most comfortable for me. (aka I dont want my doc forcing me to lay down..)

OOo sounds like a hassle. I know the medical literature states that levothyroxine is the way to go when treating hypothyroidism, but I no longer believe it because when I take too much, I get heart palps and when I take "enough" I still have many symptoms of hypothyroidism. Also, because I have autoimmune hypothyroidism (hashimotos), I need to keep my TSH under 1. A lot of my doctors didnt think of this, though some knew. I get really mad when someone tells me a TSH of 3.56 is "normal" and I am just fine. My life has become a small hell since my thyroid started going down. I am going on Armour thyroid this week and my doctor will be monitoring my TSH, T-4 and free T3. I've researched a lot about this and I don't feel like synthetic t-4 does the job. Its better than NOTHING yes, but its not working, in my opinion. I'm going to see how armour works for me. Anybody who might have thyroid problems is going to definitely have me on their side when I'm an NP. I have already decided that a lot of doctors dont seem to take into consideration how the whole body works together. I want to be an NP that helps people get to the root of their problem. I pray to God I can get a job that allows me some time with my patients to get full medical histories/symptoms- I do NOT want to be like many of my previous doctors and just medicate someone to solve one symptom. (Like I was on birth control for stopped periods and anti-depressents for my depression- Ive only had two doctors ever show any interest in my medical history- Most ALWAYS cut me off and won't LISTEN- and show some knowledge about what could be going on. I had to diagnose myself initially and demand the tests.)

Wow. Thats so not efficient. I really think something has got to give with the insurance stuff vin the next 10-20 years.

So.. I couldnt even prescribe thyroid hormone for myself?? That's kind of silly. I'm sure my provider would work with me though to order the tests I want and prescribe what I want for my thyroid. It's been so crappy trying to regulate my dosage. Some doctors have been dosing according to my symtoms, others only do it according to TSH. TSH is bunk, I believe.

Wow!! Well, I don't know if certain things would be deemed necessary by other physicians, but I know that hypothyroidism is more common than some people seem to think and I believe I'd feel lit was necessary to test for more than just the TSH in order to make sure my patients symptoms were not caused by this. Anyway, Thank you for your answer. I guess that is just something I will have to navigate in the future when I am finally a practicing NP. I do not think I will want to work for an HMO, though.

I have tricare (hubbies Navy) and my doctor participates in Tricare Prime which means any office visit, as well as any tests he orders, are free for me. I *think* he must be getting reimbursed for everything he orders for me.. otherwise I don't see why he would do it? - He ordered 26 different tests. (maybe the LAB is the ones who seek reimbursement, though? I am not sure) The thing is: As an NP someday, I want to feel like I can order a whole big panel of blood tests when I get a new patient... I know when I was at Kaiser, my doctors would tell me they "couldn't order that" and I read somewhere that the more tests they ordered, the lower paycheck they got. The other thing is; I wouldnt want to order a lot of tests for a patient who has a huge co-pay or pays a large percentage.. SO, what insurance provider do you guys works the best for you? Will most insurance companies pay a portion of Almost any test that an NP orders for his/her patient?

I know some states don't give prescription writing authority to NPs, but in the states that do, I was wondering if NPs can write their own prescriptions and order their own blood tests? I don't mean for controlled substances, like morphine or something- But, I have a thyroid condition and I was wondering if someday- when I'm an NP- I will have the ability to order my own TSH tests and write my own prescription for Armour? I always have to rely on the whim of whatever doc I have to order the tests I want done. It took forever for me to get the dx of hypothyroidism. It would be nice to have the ability to order what I want done.

To avoid long waits-- Go to a private school? I live in hawaii and while there is a waiting list (or just a lot of competition) to get in the nursing prgram at university of hawaii, the local private university (more expensive!), Hawaii Pacific University, has no such waiting list and accepts people if they have a 2.75 or higher. It's way more expensive, though.. But worth it to me since I can get it out of the way. They also do summer sessions at my school, so I hopefully can get my RN in 2.5-3 years, instead of 4. I duno how other private schools are. This one offers a lot of different scholarships that I am going to try to take advantage of. Also, why the heck go through all that? Just get your BSN.. Who knows, a BSN may be the requirement someday. Just get it and then if you ever want to move up in your career, all you need is the 2 years in a masters program!