SAMPAGUITA

i'm a nurse & i have a problem!

Posted on 10/30/09, 10:49 pm

do you think our society should ban people with BP or any kind of mental illness to practice nursing?

please let me know about ur opinions

• Reply #1 10/30/09  10:50pm
  
  SAMPAGUITA
  what if it is bipolar or depression?
• Reply #2 10/30/09  11:02pm
  
  LizaIG
  NO NO NO! They shouldn't ban you from practicing unless you are a danger to your patients. Keep working if you are able!
• Reply #3 10/30/09  11:12pm
  
  missu
  I don't think so at all. People have a lot of strange feelings about those with mental illness but if you are functioning and trying your best you should be able to do what you love. Is someone banning you from nursing?
• Reply #4 10/31/09  12:25am
  
  SAMPAGUITA
  hi. im 24 years old i was diagnosed with major depression 2 and a half years ago. Im already a licensed nurse here in our country.After getting my license, i went into a one month training in the cvu, icu and ward in a local hospital.When i was a trainee, i can hardly follow the instructions (such as operating the infusion pump), i also find it hard to concentrate and to focus.. and i get so panicky and overwhelmed by anxiety.I just think that it was too stressful.Even the other nurses were seeing me like that and I felt really ashamed. I feel so powerless. I studied hard for my career, passed the exam and everything. I just could not accept that this is happening to me right now. I even cancelled my exam although i paid 50% of its price because its useless, Its actually a borad exam of America. (the nclex) . NOw,. im jobless, my pdoc told me to let go of nursing and find another job. But i couldn't let go just like that. I am thinking about my future and everything. Many suggested that, "why dont you focus on ur healing first and decide later if u still wanted to continue?":My answer to that is, i know myself. What if im already ok, then i returned on being not so okay. In nursing there should be no mistakes right? It's just so frustrating because i wanted to pursue hemodialysis nursing. I just dont know what to do. The fact that i cudnt do nursing is killing me. Pls please help...
• Reply #5 10/31/09  12:26am
  
  SAMPAGUITA
  Should i give nclex a shot?
• Reply #6 10/31/09  12:25pm
  
  Eyestwo22
  Absolutely...Take all your American Boards (nclex) and state boards in Nursing. And any Board Certifications that my be required.
  With your positive attitude and proper preparation you will pass them all. You have every right to work in a medical profession as long as your can perform up to the standers that are requested by your licensee.
  
  I practiced Optometry for 30 years while dealing with a Dx of Bipolar Disorder. I worked toward believeing in the "high functioning" of people with bipolar disorder, especially if they have had effective medical care. I have been very compliant with Lithium for over 25 years. My pdoc says that the longer people live with the illness, well-managed, the better their functioning becomes. And that has been true in my own life. My stability has been without any episodes and only comes with being honest with yourself and accepting who and what you are in life. When I compare where I was when I was in my twenties, thirties and forties, I can see that my life now - at 67 years old - is much easier to deal with. And I, too, have achieved more than most of my non-bipolar friends - especially in my profession.
  
  It takes a lot of patience and tolerance learn to cope and then deal with your past episodes and encounters that remind you of the hurt you experienced before being diagnosed. Continue to be kind to yourself and try to enjoy all the blessing your have.....that will make each and every day a positive joy to build on,Today & Tomorrow....
  
  Look not mournfully into the past. It comes not back again. Wisely improve the present. It is thine. Go forth to meet the shadowy future, without fear.
  Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
  
  Dr Fred
• Reply #7 11/01/09  1:21am
  
  SAMPAGUITA
  Hello thanks for all the kind words.I have many plans such as working in the hospital, taking up masteral (so i could teach), taking up the NCLEX (an exam), go into training about hemodialysis, and do some volunteer work. But right now i really don't feel like doing anything, not because I dont want to, but i feel this anxiety. You see my previous training in the icu is very traumatic to me because all the nurses there, they know that something is wrong with me, others are actually laughing at me. Anyway I realized that i have to be cured first. Especially with my anxiety which is the barrier in my goals. I dont know if my concentration memory and focus would improve. I am being cured for depression for almost 2 and a half years, and still, my cognitive functioning is not back to being intact. Thats my biggest frustration. I can do all my plans above, only if my symptoms would improve. Thats the bottom line (i just realized it right now). It doesn't matter what to do first. Right now i have to focus on myself.Because right now my self esteem is really low, and i dont have much confidence in myself. I guess i should work out on that first. Am i making sense?About patience, yeah its really hard to be patient, esp when u want sumthing badly. It wont hurt if i would fix myself first right?
• Reply #8 11/01/09  6:45am
  
  hatshetsup
  I lost my confidence and had low self-esteem for ages after my DX but now I just think I'll do the best I can. I'm no longer ashamed to be bi-polar, it also took me a long time to get over my behaviour when I was manic, yet again that wasn't my fault, it wasn't as though I'd taken drugs and behaved that way, I didn't ask for mental illness but now i've learned to cope with it. i wish you all the best in whatever you decide to do.
• Reply #9 11/01/09  6:40pm
  
  SAMPAGUITA
  Hello thanks for all the kind words.I have many plans such as working in the hospital, taking up masteral (so i could teach), taking up the NCLEX (an exam), go into training about hemodialysis, and do some volunteer work. But right now i really don't feel like doing anything, not because I dont want to, but i feel this anxiety. You see my previous training in the icu is very traumatic to me because all the nurses there, they know that something is wrong with me, others are actually laughing at me. Anyway I realized that i have to be cured first. Especially with my anxiety which is the barrier in my goals. I dont know if my concentration memory and focus would improve. I am being cured for depression for almost 2 and a half years, and still, my cognitive functioning is not back to being intact. Thats my biggest frustration. I can do all my plans above, only if my symptoms would improve. Thats the bottom line (i just realized it right now). It doesn't matter what to do first. Right now i have to focus on myself.Because right now my self esteem is really low, and i dont have much confidence in myself. I guess i should work out on that first. Am i making sense?About patience, yeah its really hard to be patient, esp when u want sumthing badly. It wont hurt if i would fix myself first right?
• Reply #10 11/16/09  7:05pm
  
  LizaIG
  My husband is a ICU nurse in a teaching hospital. He says the nurses are brutal on each other. It is a tough audience there. You sound a little depressed right now to me. When I am depressed, it makes it hard to concentrate, and feel confident in anything I do. If you trained all that time, you should do the enclex, and decide what you want to do after you are registered as a nurse. It is easier to finish your training, and then decide if you want to use it, because it is so hard to get into the programs. My husband knows a bipolar classic type 1 nurse that he has worked with for 4 years, and she is in ICU, and very active and functioning, but does have times of difficulty. She told him, she lost a decade before getting the correct treatment to do her nursing training. She decided she was going to do it, and she has, but it took alotta work for her!!!! Hope that helps, but you need to decide what is right for you. Hope this helps..Liza

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