Panic Attack?

patput

patput

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Hey everyone,

I'm about half way through my EMT-B class, and just started riding with my local volunteer ambulance. After sitting a few 8 hour shifts with no calls last night I finally got two. First call was a sign off, but then around 5 this morning we got toned to a respiratory distress outside of our district (we're one of the few agencies that staffs ALS providers 24/7 in the area). Obviously my nerves were through the roof, finally a call, it woke me up out of a dead sleep, and the response time. We got there and took over care from the local fire department. As soon as the pt was in our rig the medic started an IV. As soon as he did I started getting nausea, lightheaded, tingling extremities, got really hot and my heart started racing. Needles had never really bothered me before, but this one pretty much put me out of commission for the call. I had to fight fainting for a bit. It wasn't until after we finally dropped of the pt and got back to the station that I started feeling alright again. That was right at the end of my shift and I've been thinking about it all day. The medic I was with said that it was probably just motion sickness from riding in the captains chair backwards, but it felt like a lot more than that to me. I'm nervous to go on a call now because I don't want the same thing to happen, or for me to actually faint. Any ideas on what was going on? Anybody been there? Any ways to make it better? EMS is something I really have been getting into, but if I can't handle watching someone get an IV then what good am I? I'd hate to have this be the end of it all.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Pat
 
Sounds like a panic attack to me. Don't worry; you're not alone - it's hard to imagine that anyone in the emergency services wasn't panicking a little bit on their first few shifts, or their first day as an EMT, or first day as a medic, or every pediatric call ever. When you're on the way to a call, and you feel that happening, breathe, remember that you have no responsibility, no liability, and remember that all you have to do is observe, breathe, learn something, ask questions. If you were dispatched to something that sounds 'bad', don't let yourself get worked up, the vast majority of our calls are a lot less critical than they seem. If you don't like IVs, look at something else. If your patient is responsive, you can work on getting a more complete history, or try to comfort them - they probably could use something to distract them from the IV too. And with experience you won't have any problem with those calls.
 
Or it may mean your done before you start. Some never get past the fear.

Fear can either make you better or it can cause you to be a danger to patients as you don't do what they need.
 
Sure everyone panics a little at first, but not all were so incapacitated by their panic/fear.

I wouldn't quit just yet, try a few more calls and if it doesn't get better EMS isn't for you. No shame in that it takes a bigger person to realize that and walk away than to keep trying something they obviously can't do.


Doesn't sound like motion sickness to me.

Watching the icky stuff gets better. I nearly passed out when I watched someone get stitches the first time. I also nearly hit the floor when I was helping a tech scrub out some road rash.

Now not much phases me.

Except suction. That still makes me wanna throw up.
Sent from LuLu using Tapatalk
 
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I agree with Sasha. You can't base your future on this one call. It was your first "big" call. Get a few more under your belt and then see how you're doing.
 
We go through swings in our physiology all the time.

I'd gamble that at a certain point in the call you started to focus on HOW your body was reacting -- due to the culmulative stress of the empty shifts, anticipation and then "Holy Carp, here it is!"

At the start, it's anxiety, but once you start to fixate on your discomfort, it starts you on a cycle. Unless you break that cycle, the physical symptoms, fanned by your attention on them, get more intense.

From the sensation of your own heart beat you realize you're sweating, next thought, "What's wrong?" then you notice the nausea, and on and on.

Bottom line is stopping the vicious cycle, which means focusing completely on the task at hand -- what you CAN do. Focus on the patient first, your partner second and you last.

Granted, as a Newbie you're doing a lot of observing now but don't let that stop you from checking the patient, finding things to do to make him/her more comfortable, anticipate what your partner needs and just see what your hands can do.

It's all about action; I'd say you're still WNL.
 
Thank you for all your input! I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one that's been there. I figured it was a pretty common thing, but the crew I was just wasn't very reassuring about the situation. I'll definitely try to keep myself busy, but being my first "real" call it was pretty much observation the whole way which probably got me. Every other call I've been on I at least got to do vitals or something what would keep me busy along with SAMPLE/OPQRSTI and I never had any issues before. Never dropped an IV either. I'm hoping that was just coincidental and I'm just over thinking it.
 
This happened to me earlier this year. Got an IV during training. needles dot generally bother me but I started getting a little nervous and anxious and started worrying about being worried.. And the cycle began. Passed out. Your not alone!
 
I'm a grown man and I've never experienced fainting before in my life...well, until last month, when I did my clinical ride-along. I was so wound up going into it that I never actually slept the night before. I got there just before the shift started at 7am, and went out to the unit with the medic I was assigned to go over where stuff was in the back. As she was showing me stuff, suddenly my nerves got the best of me and I started to feel like I was going to faint! I sat down, dook some deep breaths, and a moment later I was fine. A moment after that moment (i.e. like a minute later), the tones go off, my medic leaps out, slams the door jumps in the front, and off we go to our first call. For a moment I feared I was going to be the first call, but alas, I was perfectly fine for the rest of the day after that intitial burst of stress.

In hindsight, that stress was nothing compared to waiting on results of my EMT-B practical test I took Tuesday.
 
Do another call. This very well may be an isolated incident.


I had 2 similar incidents in EMT and Paramedic schools... and I found out that each coincided with lack of sleep and not eating breakfast before the incident. Neither was particularly gross, and I was perfectly fine before and after each one. I now get good rest and enough food before heading off to work, and I haven't had a repeat since then.


Maybe that's your issue.
 
I agree with most of the others here. Probably just a combo of being wound up, stressed, and out of your element.
I remember the first time I rode on the truck. When the sirens came on for the first time my stomach felt like it fell out. It was this weird combo of excitement and panic.

Linus makes an excellent point. Make sure you are well rested and well fed before your next shift (and during it). I suspect this was a one time thing. Good luck :)
 
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