SRNA anxiety

Dogen · Jul 23, 2015

Has your therapist screened you for depression? Have you gained or lost weight recently? Any changes in your appetite? Are you still tired when you wake up? Any trouble falling asleep or staying asleep? Nightmares?

What have you found relieves your anxiety even a little bit? How's your social life? Are you doing anything fun, do things you used to do still sound like fun? Are you exercising? How's your diet (healthy, mediocre, crap)?

Anxiety is terrible, it requires so much energy to cope with that it can leave you exhausted, and it can send people into a depression. Especially if the fear of anxiety leads to your world getting smaller - going out less, seeing people less, etc. If your therapist is working you through CBT, that's the most efficacious single therapy you can do. If you want dual therapy, which has been shown to increase efficacy, you can try talking to a psychiatrist or psych NP (your therapist can probably refer you) and see if an SSRI is appropriate. If you find that the CBT helps you, an SSRI can help increase clarity for you to function and make better use of what you learn in therapy, with the intention of taking you off of it later when you've completed a round of CBT (typically a full course of CBT is ~20 sessions).

Good luck.

srna16 · Jul 23, 2015

Thanks for the reply. I'm not taking any meds and have not had trouble with anxiety prior to anesthesia school. My days consist of waking up at 3:30am and going to clinical in the OR until around 5:00pm. My days off are spent studying. It's an intense program where we are constantly reminded that being a CRNA is the ultimate responsibility and we must work, work, work to be competent and safe providers. My body is not tolerating the schedule any more and I have thus been extremely anxious about my future in anesthesia and ability to do the job/care for my patients, especially on such an autonomous level. A career as a CRNA carries a heavy stress load and I am wondering if anyone else has experienced this, and whether it's just school or if I'm not fit for this profession. I am very worried about burnout and that I am too easily fatigued/anxious to carry the responsibility of a CRNA. I've done well in my program so far but I'm really starting to break down. It sucks that I'm questioning things when I'm almost finished with school, but I don't want to be a liability or dangerous to my patients if I'm too anxious to handle it. I'm just wondering if any other CRNAs/SRNAs have felt this way, and if it's just school or if I'm not cut out for the career.

J&B-RN, BSN, MSN, RN, APRN, NP · Dec 12, 2015

I know this post is a few months old but I was wondering how you are doing? Did you finish school? Are you feeling less anxious? What did you find helped ease your fears?

im especially interested because I'm in the interview process for CRNA school and I have anxiety. I've had it for years. It's been a hellish battle to get it somewhat under control and I am absolutely terrified that CRNA school will be way too much for me to handle. I don't want to give up because I've been working toward this since I was in high school, but I also don't want to be an anxious mess and completely miserable. I feel like you and wonder if this is really the right career for me... I'm worried I just can't handle the stress.

So im interested in hearing your story.