healer_energy

Thanks again for the TMAP link. I shared your comments and the site with my preceptor and she agrees with them so I my confidence is restored and I have something to use as a basic start. What I am looking for now is some way of knowing how they stack up as far a side effects. Say someone heavy comes in and you have a choice of drugs for their psychological problem but you want to choose the one with the least weight gaining aspects. Or it might be any other side effect such as activation, sexual difficulty etc. PS I did receive your private e-mail address and will use it if I think it is appropriate. Thanks.

Thank for your reply! We had some TMAP algorithms given to us at school and I dug them up. Thanks for the great websit with them all! However while I was searching on line for them I came upon this website Bush To Impose Psychiatric Drug Regime - Health Supreme which seemed to cast aspersions on the sources for the info. Drug companies with obvious agendas. I was very discouraged and I am delighted to make contact with someone close to the work. I would also love to PM you but I am not sure how to. I also found a great psychopharm book. I am sure you are familiar with Steven Stahl. He put out a Prescriber's Guide which is a bit smaller than a regular size book, has reasonably large print, clear and COLORED sections, LITTLE CARTOONS, a section for each drug called the Art of Prescribing and another called Pearls of Wisdom. And it is listed alphabetically. Also an appendix listing the drugs by classes. Anyway, I ordered it today. You can see what is important to me - yep, no squinting,cartoons and smaller books. Sonya

I am a psych nurse practitioner coming to the end of my training. I have been a nurse for decades but not in psych so I am finding myself feeling rather lost in this new field. Specifically the medications. I am spending a lot of time studying them but it is so frustrating when I read that you give this med for this disorder, but then this other one might work or maybe this totally different classification would be just as good. Or maybe you can combine them. And then there is the side effects. The lists are endless. I know that there are specific aspects of each drug that are the important thing about that drug - such as sexual problems, weight gain and so forth. But when I try to pin it down, it seems that all of them or most of them do this. Is there an source that could bring some clarity to this mess.

Reading the posts related to a master's degree from another field and transitioning into nursing, I feel I am in the same boat, in some way. I have been a med-surg/critical care/long term care nurse for decades and have a Master's in Nursing Ed. Now I am completing a NP in Psych and I feel like a fish out of water although I am loving it. Would people hire a person like me who has little experience in the psych field? I am confident that I can do it but the structure, the language and all kinds of unspoken knowings are all new to me. Sonya

Oh! Lordy! I have some traits of my mother! I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. I have to look into this a bit more! Sonya:idea:

I just saw your messages about these formulas and I am currently considering going to a chiropractor who also uses these formulas. I was wondering how it was turning out with you. Chiropractors very frequently are able to practice with many other types of modalities. I'm not sure how that works but it is common. I myself don't like chiropracty at all and wouldn't get that myself but I do think these herbs, supplements, whatever they are can be very helpful. I have taken them before with a nutritionist and still would be except for the cost. So I was wondering if you would also give me some idea about that. Thanks very much

Thank you for this info. I just can't find any other stuff about it. I think you may be right. It's been three days and I still feel woolly at times. Can you give me any resources. Thank you Sonya

I recently had anesthesia and I think what it does is strip off your aura because all noises and events around me just made me grip my head and ears and want to scream.:trout: It also felt like I was surrounded clumps of white wooliness. After a while I tried getting up and after throwing up I felt much clearer. Maybe I poofed away some of the wooliness. But then the nausea came back and the sensitivity was still there. A shot of phenergen was followed by an almost paralytic feeling sleep. When I woke up from that I felt much more solid. Just in time because a bunch of staff started clanging bed parts around next to me. I know I am probably more sensitive than some and since this was emergency surgery I was upset and afraid most of the time. I happened upon someone that said they knew healing touch and did some brief aura smoothing. However, this just brought on the nausea again. What are other people's experience with this? Sonya

This is my issue too. I am wondering if it is different in psych, which is where I am. I have had decades of experience in med-surg, critical care etc and I have always been focused on the emotional aspects of wherever I was. Now I am in a NP/Psych program and almost everyone but me has been working in the field. I know I can make a connection with a client and working with dementia will help me deal with "crazy people", I imagine. But the language, the theory, a therapeutic response.. I feel so horribly naive sometimes. We were watching a film about some disorder and I was almost overwhelmed by the pain evident in the client, but my class mates were laughing, knowingly. As we ourselves are the therapy, isn't experience necessary to gain the instinctive helping response. I can't just say "Let me consult the DSM or some other clinical text and get back to you tomorrow." I think it is different in psych and I am going to find a job in a psych inpatient setting for the next year while I am finishing up, even though I want an more independent role eventually. Sonya

I am just reading this almost a year later and wondering what happened to you over the year. But I wanted to say that there is a lot of mental health aspects to all types of "medical nursing". I have worked med surg, ICU, CCU,ER and teaching and always emphasized the assessment of stress and the family crises that occurred in the face of illness. [sometimes at the expense of exact hourly measurements!] Those moments of connection were the heart touching times I remember. Finally now, at 60 I am getting into psychiatric nursing with some formal training. I know I will be good at it with a little theory and learning the language. So if you did choose the med-surg route, it's all good and you don't have to lose anything. Good luck ! Sonya

I think all the ideas are good. I personally cannot do them in any other way that straight from the front of the MAR book to the back. Sometimes I go backwards so I hit the farthest away ones first. Sometimes that fools the phone calls that always happen when I am farthest away from the phone. It also makes it more interesting. I work evenings and I do mark the later ones with the tabs so I can flip around a bit better. But I also like to go straight through and recheck the others too. I think one thing that has not been mentioned is too stay really focussed and don't get into situations with the aides, or take side trips for checking this and that. I generally don't divert even for pain meds since I will be there generally within 15 mins or so. I usually put a piece of paper and collect requests, information or whatever and then just do all those things after. And yes, it is really slow at first but it get's better. Honestly. Sonya

I do know this feeling and I think mine started when my husband died 4 years ago. Every day I opened my eyes and the world was still wrong. And now that I am 60 thoughts of retirement and "What's the use of starting something new" keep popping in from time to time. But I have started new things, even though I am not sure where they are going. And, as I tell the residents in the nursing home I work in. "Every moment you are alive, you are making a difference, to yourself and everyone you come in contact with." You took the time to write here on this forum and you bet you have made a difference to almost everyone who read your message. Then they may have discussed in with someone else and so the ripple of your thought goes out... it's a bit mind boggling actually. Many are reviewing their lives and feeling grateful. Others are so relieved that someone else feels like them. Thank you for this. But what helped me immensely was a statement given to me during a practise therapy session. "Loneliness and grief [as well as other feelings] are just emotions. THEY WILL NOT KILL YOU." I was so terrified to feel lonely. I thought that would be just the end. So after that when I feel lonely, mad, sad etc. I remember that and just let myself feel it. I find that it just sort of goes away in about 2 hours. I hope this was helpful. I was dwindling a bit myself today. Thank you for reminding me about it. Sonya

I am in somewhat of the same boat. I am 60 and having completed my MS in Education/Med Surg 10 years ago I am now doing a post graduate track in psych. I am not going to be a NP but a clinical nurse specialist. I have had very little experience in psych nursing except some clinicals. However, I want to do some counseling and working with geriatrics in the nursing homes. I am very experienced in NH work, especially with the Alzheimer's population. And I have been encouraged on more than one occasion that I would be a shoe-in. However I am going to get as much clinical experience as I can get and I do feel that working with demented people has given me great skills in observation, intuitive interacting and so on. At first it was intimidating in class because almost everyone there has a psych back ground but everytime I spoke up with my opinion and comments, it seemed that I had said something intelligent. And I could mostly get what they were saying once I had them translate some of the language. I also think that maturity and experience do mean a lot having taught students in nursing of many ages. So... go for it. Sonya

Yes, I don't mean to be flippant but I think it is a truth that many, many people who go into helping professions are unconsciously seeking help for themselves. I was a bit surprised that you were worried that a psych history would be a problem. And I agree that you are uniquely qualified to help people through your own experience. Maybe things are getting more open now than they used to be but at my work there are many staff members on "meds" and who speak openly about their diagnoses. Their seems to be now disadvantage. Of course, if you work with the demented, anything goes! Sonya

Can anyone tell me about some good web sites for psych students? Right now I am wallowing through the theorists and would love to find some good explanations and comparisons that I could just pop into my notes. Sonya