u/The33andUpClub

TLDR: have you tried Guanfacine?

Long version: only knew about the PMDD and was on Prozac for several years - was amazing, saved my life and my marriage. Barely even noticed my cycles. Dropped a bunch of weight / couldn’t eat my feelings and Prozac stopped working. PMDD rage came roaring back despite maxing out my Prozac dose. Then I got pregnant and stayed on the full dose of Prozac even though I felt horribly depressed and anxious. Had horrendous post partum anxiety and higher than baseline depression. Despite knowing this, I made no med changes because PMAD convinced me it would be bad for breast milk/ baby. Spent 16 months sleeping 2 hours at a time. Then finally switched to Zoloft. It did nothing. Finally finally finally convinced doctor to screen for ADHD: very very very obvious yes.

I trying vyvance. Felt like I could see sound and taste color to distraction … not in a good way. In a way that I got lost in details that were irrelevant and was irritable even more so. Tried Wellbutrin. Hard no. Don’t remember why but it was a no.

Tried Lamictal … don’t really think it makes a difference but psychiatrist won’t let me off of it because too many changes at once. So still on Lamictal and Zoloft even though they do jack all.

On concerta 36 am and 27 mg in afternoon sometimes if i remeber. I dont resllg feel like the the concerta is working. Started ozempic and I extra special dont think it’s working.

Doctor had me try seroquil and I was optimistic because it’s all about dopamine. It did nothing except make me sleepy. So I quit that.

Now she wants me to try Guanfacine ER. But I’m SO TIRED. I feel asleep until 9 pm at night. Most mornings I wake up feeling dread about life despite everything being wonderful. And guafacine has a potential for sleepiness. I already have dizziness on standing and ozempic constipation which guafacine can also cause.

Can someone tell me if it helped them?

Ok New Grad Nurses - listen up.

I am going to get up on my soap box and tell you something I wish I'd been told when I first started. Other than nurses eat their young, and they do, I want to tell you what I desperately wish I'd know. And maybe you're a gen-Z nurse and already know this because y'all seem to have this confidence thing DOWN. But here's what I wish I knew.

You are valuable BECAUSE you know nothing. I'm going to say that again for the people in the back. BECAUSE you are ignorant and fresh and green, you are a RESOURCE.

Your energy and vitality are the lifeblood of nursing. We need, yes I said NEED, the energy of your desire to learn. We need fresh eyes who are going to ask questions. Because every time you ask a question, we remember to see it as we once did. We are reminded that this isn't normal. That everything around us being a garbage fire, is not another Tuesday. That high intensity, deeply emotional moments matter. They deserve a pause. They deserve self awareness and space.

Your naivety is a blessing. It is fresh air in stuffy room. You are the open window. And yes, training a new grad takes time, and grace and patience. And yes, it does cost energy and time to be the one training a new grad. So be humble, stay open minded, and show that you're thinking hard about what you're learning.

But never ever forget that you are an asset.

An asset.

You are an asset.

And this is precisely why nurses eat their young. Because your curiosity, passion, positivity, compassion - it reminds us of everything that's been stripped away and knocked out of us. It reminds us of the nurses we should be, always wanted to be, never thought we would be.

You hold up a mirror that not everyone can stand to look upon.

Maybe you already know this. Thanks for humoring an old lady who wants to pass on her meager wisdom.

With heart,

A tired old nurse (I've been a nurse for 5 years).

Ps. Even if you have a 4.0 - nursing school teaches you nothing. You know nothing. No offense. Don't let that make you panic. Trust in your education, lean on it, build on it. But don't walk into a unit with the notion that your 4.0 means you're not going to struggle. Struggling is good. It means youre growing.

#HealthcareBurnout #MoralInjury #TraumaInformedCare #NurseLife #HealthcareWorkers #CompassionFatigue #Burnout #The33AndUpClub

Hi - I'm new here. Been a bedside nurse in the NICU for 5 years. Love my patients. Love my managers. Hate my job.

That's not fair.

I hate the way I have to practice with the tools I am given and the lack of time to take care of human beings ... like the lack of time to attend to their humanity.

I'm feeling a calling towards getting my MSN so I can teach future nurses (or turn them away because this shit changes you and not always in a good way ... (this thread sums that up nicely)

... but I also feel like functional medicine is the future ....

I see all these ads to become a 'certified coach in _____ nurse coach, menopausal coach etc etc. I have never taken a coaching course ... but more and more, from my very uninformed position, it seems to me that coaching is being used as a way to circumvent getting licensed.

All this to say - I am sick of healthcare in its current iteration. I don't want to crawl further into the belly of the beast ... I don't believe in the institutions anymore. It's not sustainable. Not the way we treat patients, not the way we treat providers. Not the way it's all about the dollar.

But I also exist in the real world and need to feed my family. So where do I go from here? Was it worth going back to school? I'm done being a wage slave ... I'm done working for the system ... but I'm 34 and I don't know about the ROI ...

So I come to you reddit. Please don't be mean. But I do appreciate if you could be real. Also any coaches here? Is it working? By working I mean, please don't pitch your course on how to be a nurse coach. But is it putting enough money in your bank to replace bedside 12 hour even at a part time level.

TLDR: I want to do MORE for my patients but I don't know if higher education is the answer.

#healthcare #burnout #NICU #NICUNurse #HealthcareBurnout #MoralInjury #TraumaInformedCare #NurseLife #HealthcareWorkers #CompassionFatigue #Burnout #The33AndUpClub #nursepractioner #nursecoach #NP #MSN #DNP