Anxiety in Nurses

[Goldenlight]

Hello!

Are there any nurses out there who suffer anxiety and if so, what do u find helpful for you? Also have you been successful in overcoming anxiety and continued to work as a nurse?

[blondguy]

Hi Goldenlight

Welcome to the forums and good on you for posting!

I had a girlfriend that was in charge of a big emergency dept and she had bad anxiety. She increased her appointments with her counselor and her GP scripted her a low dosage of an SSRI AD.

She did continue to work as a Div1 Grade3 for a long time afterwards.

Im sorry that I cant speak from a nurses point of view but I did see her find some peace.

I am ex corporate and have been in senior roles and have had anxiety as well (chronic) and I increased my appointments to weekly after I saw how she improved and it worked for me as well.

As a health professional you would know that anxiety symptoms vary but we both worked with a different therapist at the time (with difficulty) until we had partial recovery from this awful disorder. I still see my GP now for a 'tune up' I still take an AD every day just so I have a platform on which I can heal more effectively using the counseling as a tool

Its not really relevant Goldenlight but if the Health minister doubled your pay it still wouldnt reflect the dedication and care nurses provide

there are some nurses (and many other caring people) on the forums that can be here for you Goldenlight 🙂

my kind thoughts for you

Paul

[MarkJT]

Goldenlight, you can most certainly live with anxiety. 1 in 5 males and 1 in 3 females in Australia have some kind of anxiety disorder so you are most certainly not alone in your journey.

Check this thread out - it is awesome and specifically for medical and first responders:

https://www.beyondblue.org.au/get-support/online-forums/ptsd-trauma/ptsd-for-medical-and-first-responders/page/3#ql7j4HHzvGGEbv8AAOnT_A

I think you will get some answers there and also, have you heard of mindfulness? If not, download the "Smiling Mind" app and start it. Mindfulness is a really good way to control anxiety. Takes time to learn it so you have to persist with it.

Mark.

[Goldenlight]

Thanks for your support Paul. Yes maybe I'll see a counsellor, I have been thinking about seeing one for a while now, may just do it, it might help me cope better. When I am at work I am ok, it's mainly when I am at home, like I can't switch my fight flight off. Thank-you for your reply and kind words, 🙂

[Goldenlight]

Thank-u for the link Mark, I have found it helpful and interesting to read. Maybe it's ptsd that I have at the moment after seeing an unsuccessful resus of a patient. Yes you are right, I should definitely start mindfulness meditation, I use to do it all the time, thank-you for the reminder. Thanks again for your reply. 🙂

[blondguy]

No worries Goldenlight and thankyou for posting back too!

I was a senior manager in the private sector for years and worked through this awful disorder.

The severity of the anxiety does reduce with super regular counseling. I wasted 13 years of my life seeing a therapist every few months until my GP gave me a wake up call (not that you need one of course) about seeing on every week. I really didnt want to as I thought I could self heal......whoops!

MarkJT (above) has great advice above too

kindest

Paul

[Goldenlight]

Ok, you're giving me the push I need thank u! I'll go n see someone, probably regularly, self healing isn't working for me at the moment. Thank u for sharing your story.

[MarkJT]

Goldenlight, the self healing may not be working as well as it should, but it probably just needs to be complimented by some clinical work. It is great to read that you are going to go and see someone and as Paul spells out above, it is quite often the case that when you have regular treatment, you can get on top of anxiety.

Once you get some more skills from the clinician, then your (continual) self healing will come right into play.

Love to hear how you go when you do see someone.

Mark.

[Goldenlight]

Thank-you Mark, what you've written makes perfect sense. I will keep u posted on how I go. Now it's just choosing who to go and see? Any tips on choosing someone? Also I tried that smiling minds ap u tolde about - love it! Thank u, got any more useful bits n pieces to add? Let me know I'm open to ideas! Thank u 🙂