Nurses. How are you managing the exhaustion?

[Doublefaced]

Cos there ain’t no exhaustion like this exhaustion

I am literally working, sleeping ( badly) working and repeating.
Normally if I feel a but down or a bit run down I can push myself to do a bit more exercise but I literally can’t get my legs to work when I’m off duty.
I know it’s not physical because when I’m at work I can go 12 hours at full throttle.

How the hell are other people managing-it’s a pretty common theme in my team so we’re not really much use to each other in terms of advice! My diet is probably crap. My skin is awful and my house is a bit grubby ( I don’t even get stressed about the housework any more )

Get a job in outpatients so much less stressful. I am wfh mon to fri

Ps Thanks for all the supportive comments. All very much appreciated

@Christmasfairy2020

Get a job in outpatients so much less stressful. I am wfh mon to fri

My friend has been moved from out patients to covid wards for over 8 months

@VashtaNerada

Nurses are incredible. I get lots of sympathy for my extra workload at the moment (primary teacher) but it’s nothing to what you lot are doing, and have been doing over the last year. Be kind to yourselves and fuck the housework for now

Thank you. I try not to feel guilty in front of my children's teachers when I drop them off looking like a drug addict in trackies. It means I've been called out overnight on a 24 hour shift after a full 8 hour day before that and they need to be in school so I can sleep.

@KeepWashingThoseHands

I feel terrible reading this thread. Apart from following all the rules I feel helpless in supporting people doing so much on the front line. My role doesn’t enable me to be an NHS volunteer. Is there anything I could donate to my local hospital for the staff? Treats, hand cream, anything as a gesture. I wish I could shoulder more burden.

Keep washing those hands! That's all we ask. Treats for the real frontline are very much appreciated. Us in the Cinderella services would likely cry if we got a tin of biscuits thrown our way.

I started nursing just over a year ago. I have no idea what's normal. I went from winter crisis to flu season straight into this. Lots of training has been stopped so I'm muddling through. I feel broken. I'm immunosuppressed and until recently was working on the green side of a covid unit. Now at home trying hard to learn a wfh role as of this week.

Im angry. This wasn't what I signed up for. I can't help people because I'm firefighting. I am learning the hard way. As much as I love my job, I hate it too. I only saw the dark side of covid so my experience is skewed.

I was a wreck before I was forced off. Exhausted, mentally drained, overwhelmed. Now I just feel guilt.

I'm the same 12.5 hours shifts. No breaks. Not sleeping.
The stress is like nothing else , and I'm very resilient.
Constant extra shifts to cover sickness.
Everyone getting a bit tetchy.
I'm also not drinking , don't want a hangover on top of it all.
I just try to make sure I make myself go for a walk every day I'm off.
I suppose we've just got to believe it won't go on forever.
I was so looking forward to a week off in March , but all leave has now been cancelled 😞

I’m not a nurse but I’m the daughter of an patient with Covid and I just wanted to thank you all. Your incredible hard work is what has kept us all going. Everyone is having very different experiences but the doctors and nurses in my parents hospital have been amazing and I have thanked them every single day. Nothing we say will be enough but please know how grateful we are.

‘The stress is like nothing else , and I'm very resilient’

This.
This strikes the chord.
Just got to keep looking for the light at the end of the tunnel!

@Pinkchocolate

I’m not a nurse but I’m the daughter of an patient with Covid and I just wanted to thank you all. Your incredible hard work is what has kept us all going. Everyone is having very different experiences but the doctors and nurses in my parents hospital have been amazing and I have thanked them every single day. Nothing we say will be enough but please know how grateful we are.

Hope things are ok ?

My god it's humbling reading this thread. You nurses are amazing. I think about your lives a lot. How incredibly hard you are working, the relentlessness of it.

Walking or running every day I'm off. NOT working all the extra shifts like I did first wave. going to have to give in and send kids to school full-time. I just can't manage homeschooling on my days off, any more.

@Doublefaced not really but thank you. The odds are against us now but hospital staff are still fighting this fight for us so I do have some hope left. I hope you manage to find what works to give you some peace and escapism from what you’re dealing with. I can only imagine how hard you have it.

Ive aged 10 years in 10 months.
My kidneys are broken through dehydration. Constant donning and doffing. Its impossible to stay hydrated.
My self care is non existent.
I flit from work mode to mum mode (I work permanent nights)
I dont eat right.
I dont see day light.
Im a shell of the person I was a year ago 😔

I'm a Dr. Our ward is just coming out of a Covid outbreak where all the patients and all the staff were infected. I am so so stressed and tired. Been living on biscuits and coffee. Cannot switch off. Cannot sleep. It just feels like some never ending unreal twilight world. I want to wear some actual clothes that aren't scrubs or pyjamas and be able to think about something that's not work.

This weekend is the first one I've had off in a long time and I have promised myself no work emails. I told my colleagues 'in the nicest possible way don't contact me'

Things I am going to do
Go for a long walk in the fresh air
Do some yoga and meditation
Eat some decent meals with fruit and vegetables
Have some very long baths with nice smelly stuff
Watch a movie and cuddle my kids (well teen daughter probably won't let me get near her but maybe sit on the same sofa)

The worst thing is that it's like Groundhog Day. We are just about getting back on our feet after this outbreak and have been declared open to admissions again. Management think this is good news and are all back slapping 'well done us for getting through' Well firstly not everyone did of course and secondly it can now, and probably will, all start up again and I don't know if I can face it all over again.

Epsom salt baths with lavender helped me relax and fix my sore feet/legs. I'm off on maternity now but I started journaling too, sounds silly but writing things down helped me massively after a hard shift.

Try to look after yourself, this is a bloody awful marathon

[quote Pinkchocolate]@Doublefaced not really but thank you. The odds are against us now but hospital staff are still fighting this fight for us so I do have some hope left. I hope you manage to find what works to give you some peace and escapism from what you’re dealing with. I can only imagine how hard you have it.[/quote]
Thinking of you and willing for your family to have that miracle

@Doublefaced

‘The stress is like nothing else , and I'm very resilient’

This.
This strikes the chord.
Just got to keep looking for the light at the end of the tunnel!

Yes , it will end.

@Christmasfairy2020

Get a job in outpatients so much less stressful. I am wfh mon to fri

I have no idea how this post is helpful, when staff are telling of how they are on their knees. Large numbers of our outpatient staff have been moved to covid wards and for the rest of us there is no working from home as were are busy trying to cover a service with half the staff and sickness and respond to the needs of urgent outpatients and ever shifting priorities.

@Christmasfairy2020

Get a job in outpatients so much less stressful. I am wfh mon to fri

Good for you , hope you don't get redeployed. We have outpatient nurses working on the wards now. Struggle to see how nurses can work effectively from home. But yes , come on here , a thread about exhausted nurses and make a smug comment

ICU nurse here. Worked throughout covid but caught it end of november and not been in work since. Absolutely floored me and only now just about ready to resume. GP advised me to have further week sick leave as physically not quite there and I'm absolutely dreading it. Friend also caught it at same time but more fluey symptoms than me. She's been back at work a few weeks and said it's brutal. I just found the pace of work so fast, the way that patients deteriorated, and everything happening at once. I can flexi retire in april, might well consider it !

‘Get a job in outpatients so much less stressful. I am wfh mon to fri’

I suppose you spend your spare time eating free pizza, jumping queues in shops, begging for stuff on FB and doing Tik Tok dances?

Meanwhile, to all the real nurses who’ve posted, thanks again for your support. I actually slept a bit better last night. Have ordered the compression socks to see if it makes a difference to the heavy legs.
Am also going to do some meal planning because that’s another thing that is pretty overwhelming at the minute.
Thanks again and a big group hug. Keep going-we’ve got this!!

@NancyDrew1966

ICU nurse here. Worked throughout covid but caught it end of november and not been in work since. Absolutely floored me and only now just about ready to resume. GP advised me to have further week sick leave as physically not quite there and I'm absolutely dreading it. Friend also caught it at same time but more fluey symptoms than me. She's been back at work a few weeks and said it's brutal. I just found the pace of work so fast, the way that patients deteriorated, and everything happening at once. I can flexi retire in april, might well consider it !

I was planning that I’d have to work til 67. There is no way O’m doing that now and we’ll make sacrifices in other ways.

Nurses from me; THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU

We need to link this thread to some of the covid denial happy clappy ones though.

It’s diabolical reading how exhausted you all are. I’m sorry you’re all living like this, and then news of people just flouting the rules make me so mad, I can’t even imagine how it makes you feel.

I wish I could help in some way x