What Freaks You Out?

Nurses General Nursing

Published

Okay, people. It's time for a nice, fun, light-hearted discussion to blow off some steam.

WHAT FREAKS YOU OUT? What bodily fluid can't you STAND? What wound gives you the absolute WILLIES? It doesn't matter if you're an ADN, BSN, LPN, CNA, PQRST, ABCDEFG...every body gets the heebie jeebies over SOMETHING...even you stomach-of-steel ER nurses!

Mine is eyeball injuries/surgery...aaaaaaaaackkkkkkk!! Gross! Makes my skin absolutely CRAWL. Or when someone gets a little cut on their finger/toe/whatever and then squeezes it to make it bleed!! Bleah!! Then there's the ever-popular RESPIRATORY SECRETIONS. I can handle poop, pee, amniotic fluid, lanced boils, pus, whatever...but give me a nasty snot-filled trach, and I'm OUTTA THERE.

Share, share, share people! biggrin.gif

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Specializes in ALF, Medical, ER.

I can handle just about anything HOWEVER the one thing that will always get me is the sound a person makes when they are just getting ready to throw up. I can't spell the sound out in letters, but its that sound when you know its coming deep from within their bellies and they are giving it their all to get it up. Not the dry heave sound, the wet sound. EEEWWW

Specializes in Telemetry, Med-Surg, ED, Psych.

1. Compound Fx or external fixators - yukky! Just thinking about it will make me taste the bile.

2. Colostomies - To me, a filled colostomy bag full of stool resembles a cake frosting bag. The odor is over-poweringing. I can only do colostomy care with a mask on and a peppermint tea bag inside my mask.

3. Children Crying - I know its not gross, but i hate to see little kids (8 and up) crying from pain or other things.

4. Abused Children - I cant stand to see innocent little children the victim's of disgusting physical or sexual abuse. I cry for the kids and then I want to kill the victimizers. There is a reason I dont work in the PICU.

holy cats!!! it's taken me a long time to get through this whole thread, and i can only say god bless all of you!!!

[color=#483d8b]i haven't exactly seen anything like on this thread, but i have had some experiences.

[color=#483d8b]the first time i was admitted in the hospital for my heart, i was sharing a room with an elderly lady. well, i don't know what was wrong with her, but the smell.....words cannot describe!!!! i begged my nurse to move my room! she really felt awful that i had to deal with it. i never knew anything could smell that bad coming out of somebody's rear end!!! she brought me some "air freshener", it was baby powder scented, but i think the combination of the two was somehow worse! she told me the only room she could move me to had a male patient in it. i told her i did not care!!! i did eventually get moved, i have no idea how they found a place for me, but i have never been so grateful!!! ugh...

[color=#483d8b]another time i was in the hospital i had a room mate with emphysema (sp?). anyway, the entire time i was there, i had to listen to her hacking up what i imagine was her lungs. it was horrifying! the sound of that nasty junk coming out of her lungs.....}}}}shivers{{{{

[color=#483d8b]i have three kids, two are boys and are accident prone, so i've seen my share of injuries, vomit, and all the other things that go along with being a mom. i can't really stand seeing cuts that need stitches or glued together. (i've learned that for some reason, head wounds seem to bleed more than any other place on their bodies!) i can't really stand cleaning up vomit, or watching them vomit, either, let alone the smell. i've discovered a solution for this! i have a nice bucket that i line with small garbage bags. i usually put several in it. then when they vomit, i can easily just close up the bag real quick and run it outside to the trash can. this brings my contact with the sight and smells to a bare minimum! ( if i even think they're going to vomit, they immediately get a prepared bucket!!!)

[color=#483d8b]and i just have to say, that i have no idea how or why a cockroach would want to get inside someone's ear, but if i ever for any reason had something like that happen to me ( or any kind of bug crawl into my ear, really), somebody better just knock my rear end out, cause i will freak! i don't care if they have to just punch me in the face to knock my lights out, someone just better do it! the same goes with having any kind of "bug" therapy (maggots, leeches...ugh...just the thought bof having something like that on me makes me shiver and my legs turn limp, complete with gagging!)

in one word: maggots

almost feel sick thinking about it

:barf01:

Specializes in Community, OB, Nursery.

Ear wax and the GI bleed smell.

Anything else - regular poop, pee, blood, vomit, pus, you name it, I've grown accustomed to it. I cannot handle ear wax in big chunks, and the smell of blood mixed with stool invariably makes me retch. I can't help it.

Kneeling in front of a 600 lb plus patient measuring them for equipment and the smells when folds are being unfolded, my back teeth are almost gone from all the gritting.:imbar

Specializes in M/S, MICU, CVICU, SICU, ER, Trauma, NICU.

Gross, smelly men.

Especially when they try and hit on you. GROSS.

Specializes in Cardiology, Oncology, Hospice,IV Therapy.
Gross, smelly men.

Especially when they try and hit on you. GROSS.

:chuckle:lol2::roll:lol:

Actually, I'm fine with poop, sputum, fractures... pretty much everything. Worms, I could do. Leeches, okay. But I've been a CNA for almost 10 years, and still can't handle vomit!

After the patient's done, I can handle the clean-up. Having someone heaving in front of me, I just can't take. Hand 'em the basin and take off!

Fortunately, one of the girls on the same rotation as me is just awesome. She can't handle open sores, so I change and turn her open sore folks, and she takes care of people who are vomiting, since it doesn't bother her.

Specializes in Neuroscience/Neuro-surgery/Med-Surgical/.

The smell of a lower GI bleed makes me want to hurl :barf02:

The time when I cared for a patient that had a tumor behind her eye, the eye was removed, and because there was so much tissue loss the docs grafted muscle/tissue from her calf to her to over the incision....it was a big square box looking thing sticking at least 4 inches out from her head. Every hour I had to go in and with the portable doppler listen for pulse/blood flow and make sure the skin was warm.

Very bizarre, and makes me queasy just thinking about it. I truly felt bad for the patient, she told me she just couldn't bear to look at herself. :(

Specializes in M/S, MICU, CVICU, SICU, ER, Trauma, NICU.

Eyeball surgery and the block to do it.

I almost passed out from seeing it.

Specializes in Management, Emergency, Psych, Med Surg.

Loogies, snot. Otherwise, nothing bothers me.

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