Some Days I Can't Stop Crying

[NurseOnAMotorcycle]

It's hitting me bad today. There are days when I just can't stop crying.

The beaten or raped toddlers, the dead mothers, the miscarriages, the parents who desperately beg us to force their kids into detox...

And on and on and on..

And then someone has the brass balls to complain that we didn't get them a sandwich. Sometimes I hate the world we live in so much.

I'm going to hug my kids, take everyone to the park, and try to remind myself of the good.

[R!XTER]

I feel ya. Some days on the way home from work I just burst out crying from all the sadness I've witnessed. It gets overwhelming.

[NRS86]

Wow ive been feeling the same way lately. I just started in er and im just overwhelmed with the ****** snd horrible things i see. And not just at work but on the news as well. I cant handle it anymore. Its almost putting me in a deep depression that its affecting my physical and mental health. Im just heart broken when i hear or see anything that happens to children especially. Im thinking about quitting my job even. I just dont feel as strong as other nurses are, i feel like im gonna snap one day.

[Lunah, MSN, RN]

Some days are just horrible. I take them one at a time! *hugs* to everyone.

[Dragonnurse1, ASN, RN]

Best thing to do is avoid the local news like the plague. I never watched the news when I was working (come to think about it I still don't watch) because it was too hard. Reach for the little things, the child whose fever breaks because you were there to give them Tylenol, the young girl that you helped get through her first migraine and she gives you a little smile when she leaves, the older patient whose blood pressure wasn't really that high but you brought it down and spent a little time with them and they leave content. We see so much garbage that you have to grasp all the little victories to keep yourself sane. Time will help, you will be able to sort some of this out better as you stay in the ER longer. Our night shift always collected on the parking deck to "debrief" after our shift and it helped a great deal. Look for the victories they are there.

[LilgirlRN, ADN, RN]

I was en ER nurse for 25 years. You stuff things in the back of your mind somewhere so that they don't bug ya all the time. I was in the car with my BF close to where I worked years ago and a memory that I'd hidden just jumped to the foreground and I was blubbering in no time. A raped 15 year old. All the tendons in her fingers cut cause she grabbed the knife he was holding. So scared she had to be admitted. Was my own daughter's age at the time. You need a mental health day or two.