Is it just me that struggles to go to work?

[Mooonie]

I work as a Nurse on nights on the bank of 2 hospitals. I'm fine once I get to work but at about 3pm I start to get nervous, anxious sick etc. It's so stupid I want to give myself a kicking for feeling like this.

I think it's ridiculous a grown woman is having a panic attack about going to work, usually when I get there the staff tend to ignore you a bit so I just crack on with my job but it's always so busy and I can't do all the jobs I need to do and sometimes the staffing levels are ridiculous and it all just feels a bit much but we can't really afford for me to go to days.

Does anyone else ever feel like this? How can I give myself a kick up the arse?

AIBU to ask for ideas on how to get myself to work? I don't feel depressed its just it's a bit overwhelming

It's not depression it's stress/anxiety and it needs to be treated.

Does working bank mean you're a trust employee? Can you try both OH and GP in a two pronged strategy?

My friend has recently trained to teach nursing OP and is much happier. It's a very stressful job. Be nice to yourself...maybe it's time to think of some other work?

I have been in a similar situation. First step was an SNRI from the GP, which I’m still on now. During a particularly bad spell, I had Valium for a week or so. (I hardly needed to take it because knowing it was there made me feel better).

For the most part, it was sorted with those steps. But eventually I did stop working in one location that made me feel particularly anxious.

We were talking about this tonight at work. ‘The Fear’ coming back if you’ve had time off the ward, it can be all consuming.

I find it’s worse with nights than days and if I didn’t have a regular ward team, I don’t think I’d ever get over the fear to come to work!

I don’t have any answers but I would suggest bank work isn’t the best for an anxious person. I know there often isn’t an alternative but it can’t be helping.

The other thing I do is give myself a little ‘pep’ talk. List all the horrible things I’ve coped with, the nightmare shifts I’ve survived, the positive feedback I have got from patients and staff. Just to reinforce that I can do it!

Not a nurse but yes, very often. It is anxiety, and it's been getting worse lately. Medication does help, maybe time to go back on for me. for you and a recommendation to talk to your GP

I did when I hated my job. I dreaded going in because I hated being there! I currently work somewhere where I'm respected and treated decently. I don't dread my job anymore and mostly look forward to going.

Thanks all, I've taken annual leave for tonight to try and get some decent sleep, have booked an appointment tomorrow for the gp I'm also going to look into booking shifts in the same place for a few weeks

I feel like this too, I'm a nurse working part time and am experiencing stress and anxiety about work. Going back after days off is awful. I don't have any advice I'm afraid but wanted you to know that you are not alone

I’m in a similar but slightly different set up. I have found that I’m less anxious if my shifts are at the one location rather then multiple locations. The familiarity helps my confidence.

Yes I go through periods of feeling like you do. Different job but during bad spells I will sit and cry before having to go to work. Fine when I'm there but it's the thought. I try to remind myself why I'm going though.

I am a Nurse and have the same problem particularly on nights. I think there is more potential for things to go wrong on nights - patients fall, get confused and agitated etc and there are generally less staff. Where I work we are quite an isolated unit, no doctor on site at night and very minimal security. I have another job too and I rarely feel anxious going to that so I think it is just nursing which makes me feel like this. I generally feel sick and panicky as I even enter the building !

Thank you all so much! I know it's such a shitty way to feel. It's like I know I'm not going to have time to do anything I need to do! I think I need to use my annual leave a bit more I've got so much to take before Christmas :/

@Babyroobs that's exactly how I feel before nights. I can't remember when I didn't get shouted at on a shift by parents. It's very stressful and it's hard not to take it personally some nights!

Nurse here, also very anxious and nervous going on shift. I dont think its mental health problem for me. I just think its a natural reaction to a horrendously stressful job and regularly working in under staffed, over dependant busy wards with no food/toilet breaks. Its tough out there- i think booking a familiar place is a good idea!

I wasn't a nurse but I had a job I mostly hated. It got worse and worse and the thought of going was actually worse than the job itself. I don't know if there is a solution to this except change jobs. I don't think it's a mental health problem that can be cured with medication. Maybe counselling could help if you think the fear is irrational and you don't hate the job.

I'm a nurse too, but mental health community, so no nights.

In my last job there were a lot of organisational changes. I was off sick for 3 months due to a hysterectomy, and was aware before my op these would happen on my return. They did, and I hated it. It was a totally different job, and despite several years -decades even- experience, I couldn't get my head round it. Imagine going from a nurse role to a Social Work one (without Social Work training) and you get the idea. I was riddled with anxiety, wasn't sleeping, went back on the smoking, spent my weekends crying, had my anti d's increased, the works.

I considered asking my GP to sign me off sick but I knew I was looking for a new job, and with one recent period of extended sick leave which was easily explained to new employers didn't want to add to it so struggled in for the next few months while looking for a new role.

Fortunately after 4 months of this, I was offered a new job which matches my skills and interests better and the rest is history and im much happier. Maybe a new job is what you need? You spend so much of your time at work, its not worth making yourself miserable over.

I've just applied for 4 permanent jobs :) bit less money but more security and more teamyness :) totally just made that word up!

"Teamyness" is a good word. I totally get what it is even though I havent't seen the /new/ word before! Good luck with your job serach!

Yes, you need a good team around you. I think that’s one of the stresses of nights, less regular staff around. Plus as a pp said, more incidents seem to happen at night and there’s less support. I’m in mental health and have dealt with so many serious incidents at night, much fewer in the day.

Looking for a permanent role is a good call I think, it is less anxiety inducing imo.

I bank in hospice care and I'm currently going to weekly meetings for my anxiety. Work is one of my triggers. I get worried, panicked and snappy before a shift I also get a bad headache but I enjoy it once I'm there I'm not sure why it happens but I'm hoping the cbt strategies they give me in the next few weeks help I'd see your gp about anxiety maybe op.

Yes yes and Yes! I work in a completely different profession but have so much anxiety about work. I'm having CBT and on medication. I feel fine at home, just went back to work Monday after 2 weeks signed off and I'm already back to being a nervous wreck. The tension pain is back in my shoulders and chest, panicky feelings, palpitations and I don't sleep the night before. I agree a new job is probably the way forward!

Nursing, especially nights , must be so very stressful. I have been a parent of a very ill child overnights and the nurses were so very reassuring - I was hugely grateful although I may not have shown that.

Work - I used to deliver training events. I would be sick before the course. Vomiting in the morning and unable to eat. Filled with dread the days before. Would I find the venue? Would the train/plane/traffic be on time? Would the equipment work? Would the group be nice/the right level/ like each other? Would I remember everything? Once I started I was fine - and good at it - but the stress beforehand was crippling.

I still sometimes do it and still get stressed but mainly I do easier work, (for less money ) The skills I learnt though have stood me in good stead though.

I’m a nurse and I feel like this too, especially on a nightshift. I’m relieved to see it’s not just me. Hopefully a permanent workplace will help you feel a bit better. Good luck.

I’m a bank nurse and also feel like this. It’s like starting a new job if I haven’t been there for a while. I find mine is worst when I am dropping my son in busy bees before as I am then 5 minutes late to the new job

I felt exactly the same when I was a Nurse. As a previous poster said, although I felt like I was losing my mind at the time, it was actually just a natural reaction to being in a highly stressful situation without adequate resources or support, not a mental health issue.

I've changed careers and feel like a different person. Every job has its stresses but even on my worst week in my current job, I don't feel anxious about going to work.