Quote From: suebonnetsue Why are hoarders so often nurses? There must be an explanation, but I don't know what it is.
For people who grew up in these awful circumstances, there are some good websites:
http://www.childrenofhoarders.com/forum/index.php
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/childrenofhoarders/
I hope all of you, children of hoarders, know it is NOT your fault, you did NOT cause it and you can NOT fix it.
Hi, I'm working as a patient care tech and going to nursing school...and what I'm seeing is really frightening. We all work 12-hour shifts and each of us do the physical/emotional/mental tasks of several people in those 12 hours. On most shifts, I don't even have time to go to the bathroom. From what I've seen, many nurses are fried within six months of passing their boards. I've had several of them tell me to leave school and do something else while I still had my health, sanity and sense. These are good, caring people who went into nursing for the right reasons, and then had the compassion driven right out of them. Even before I saw on this program that the hoarder was a nurse, I figured she was in the profession. Several of my co-workers drive cars that are so full of fast food trash that they can't even roll down their windows. They're embarrassed about it (and no, they aren't homeless) but seem too worn out/burned out to care about anything.
Caregivers are notorious for not taking good care of themselves. I was a paramedic for more than a decade before going to nursing school, and the same thing happens in EMS. We finally make it home after a tough shift, flop onto our beds, and just stop giving a damn. When you have to wake up again in 12 hours and start another shift, why bother? Healthcare providers in this insurance-driven age are put through living hell. Most of the nurses I work with are taking some type of antidepressant and need Ambien to fall asleep at the end of their shift. Painkiller addictions are not unusual for healthcare providers who have access to them. Most of us have injured our backs/knees/shoulders/name-the-joint, and employee health gives out painkillers like candy to numb the pain so they can get us back to work quick (often without doing much for the injury, itself).
I haven't given up on nursing (and like many nurses, I've already invested too much $$$ to quit). But I'm also seeing the real-world beyond my books, and it's little wonder that people don't stay in the profession. Many people doing clinical care often work in extremes, and the lady on this show is no exception...she's got some real issues with hanging onto things. Sounds like for the longest time, all her stuff was ALL she had left to hang onto.
