Have you ever had a client become ill whilst doing their nails?

[gemforster]

As the title says really.

I was doing a work colleagues nails (At my day job) after work on Thurs and just as I was doing her cuticles she started to have a fit. This girl has never had fits before and we ended up having to ring an ambulance. It was a terrifiying experience. My immediate thought was that she reacted to the cuticle remover. It has since been confirmed that it was nothing to do with that but my confidence was already rock bottom. This has really terrified me and put me off. :cry: Help me overcome my fear of doing more nails please!

 

[Rinn]

You poor thing, you must have got an awful fright.

If it makes you fell better I had a lady go into labour whilst having a pedicure.

It didn't get as far as towels and hot water but still a bit nerve wrackiing. lol

You'll be grand when you get over the shock. :hug:

 

[CHarvey]

We had a client who had a brain embolism whilst in our chair. It was horrific and if she hasn't been with us and instead at home she would have died with in 15 mins. Took the emergency services an hour to stabilise her before she could be moved. She has since had another embolism whilst at home with her son

 

[jacquelineanna]

One lady who fainted as I was doing her nails .. I managed to get her from her chair as she was sliding onto the floor, into the treatment room and onto a couch.

And another lady having her nails done started to feel very faint and the same thing - into the treatment room and onto the couch.

 

[Lynne Baker]

Blimey, what a shock for you, no wonder it freaked you out.
Take comfort in the certain knowledge that you probably saved her life. Had she been at the wheel of her car, or on her own at home, the outcome would have been very different.
As far as allergies are concerned you will have no doubt carried out a full consultation before starting, asking about allergies and meds. It is entirely possible that people can be allergic to things without knowing, which is why we ask "do you have any KNOWN allergies?"
(still won't stop any of us fretting though, eh?!)

I'm an RGN by profession, with a post grad in Theatre Nursing, so you'd be forgiven for thinking I'd be über calm in such a circumstance as yours. Er, no! I had a client faint and fall off my couch, breaking a floorboard in the process. (he was a tall, well built gentleman)
I did all the right things but I still sweated like a gurl until he came round!

The worst thing was when I went to do a little old lady's nails and found her dead in her chair. She was 93 but I still convinced myself that it was my price increase that had killed her!

You'll be fine, sweetie, honest. Have a gentle hug and a Werther's Original.

 

[geeg]

Really it couldn't have happened to a worse person as I know from your posts you seem terrified of doing nails on anyone apart from your family. I don't know how to advise you to get over this phobia and incidents like the above surely don't help but get over it you must by just keeping on and pushing yourself ... If you can't get over it then nails are definitely not for you.

We all have some insecurity when starting out, and I don't know if yours stems from fear of nails or fear of the clients or client complaints?

 

[blossom]

I feel SO sorry for you .... I once had a client faint on me but it didn't last long thankfully but blimey what a scare!

It IS scary doing nails at first .... but the more you do, the less scary it is. I had a peek at your profile and I see you did your training several years ago - just wondered if you think a refresher course might help your confidence a bit?

Is it the doing the nails that scares you or meeting a stranger and having to chat and be in quite close proximity for an hour or so?

I've been doing nails 10 years and I STILL get a few butterflies in my tummy when I am expecting a brand new client and I've no idea what they're like - it's not an all-consuming mind numbing worry and I'm always fine once they are in and we are chatting but I do still wobble a little bit lol!.

Have you tried Bach Rescue Remedy? It does take the edge off. xx

 

[nicole333]

When you get over the shock you will hopefully be able to look at it with less terror, but I do feel for you to be in that situation and alone (I'm guessing you were alone)

I am also a Nurse (Psych) and work with clients who are at risk of taking their own lives, so have all the advanced skills to deal with that, but I would still feel shaken and so would my colleagues because we are human beings!

Like Lynne said, being with you may have saved her life.

Edit.. I think you need to acknowledge that your response is perfectly normal, but it's how you take it from here that will determine the outcome. Feel free to PM me and I can take you through a little exercise if you like.

I have a little story to share to hopefully make you realise that it's normal to react like you are...I was newly qualified and in post and it was my second day on the ward, so you can imagine where I started from in the 'holy carp, this is it!' stakes. A colleague found a patient who had attempted an unsuccessful hanging, so we all responded to the alarm, not knowing what we were running to. We found her appearing to be unconscious and her lips were a little blue.
When it was all over and dealt with, I was in the clinic room with my colleague and the Consultant and ended up having a little cry. I felt quite overwhelmed and the adrenaline was still pumping. To put this into perspective, I was qualified, had access to equipment and experienced colleagues, but still felt like a rabbit caught in headlights.

 

[saberhagen]

Poor you, it will take some time to come to terms with. the adrenaline drop after such an event can make you feel dreadful.

I am a nail student and a nurse in general practice. I have people regularly collapse but absolutely never as a result of what i might or might not be doing..i have to say though it is not something you entirely get used to. You do start to feel more capable of dealing with the crisis but you still feel dreadful with the adrenaline drop after the event. Do chat to a sympathetic person to discuss your personal feelings or pm me.

if it helps i find that people treat themselves to treatments when they feel `off` to cheer themselves up and make themselves feel better in themselves, not necessarily realising that there might be a reason why they didn`t feel well in the first place. I am sure your client will feel much better that she was with you and the support you offered than if she had been home alone...you might feel like c**p at the moment but i bet you find she will think you are absolutely wonderful.

don`t let this put you off or knock your confidence...it sounds like you handled things well and as a result this should be a confidence building exercise....after all if it happens again you are now more experienced than most and will know how to handle the emergency

best of luck

 

[squidgernetball]

I think we all have fears and worries in our lives (flying) and you seem to really worry about doing nails. This clearly won't have helped. It is how you move on from here. I would definitely look at the support you're being offered by fellow geeks. Other people have super phobias that really can be helped, so do look at what's available, whether its a refresher course or doing some exercises as suggested. Familiarity with your procedure, your clients etc will help, as will confidence with your products, so do persevere. Good luck x

 

[Wooshka]

Yes, it would have been scary but you must push yourself to move forward and get your logical brain thinking........thinking that it had nothing to do with you or your products, it was just one of those things that happened and it was with you.
If you let this affect you doing your services, then I would consider another profession but in all honesty, most professions deal with people daily and this could happen anywhere at anytime.

My dog is a severe epileptic, he is on the highest doses of every med he can be given and he still fits weekly and sadly the medication he takes has severe side effects and is killing him slowly but I know there is nothing I am doing or not doing that is causing his fits, it is something in his brain and there is nothing I can do to change it and the same goes for your client.
There is nothing you did do or could have done to stop or cause her fit, it is internal, in her brain and now they have started, the medical field will do what they need to do, to help her.

I bet she will be back as soon as she is able to give you a big hug and say thank you for helping her, although my dog can't talk, I know the look in his eyes says thanks for helping him during a fit and I know, if I wasn't around to help him, he would be dead for sure.

Be thankful you were able to help her in her time of need and remember logically, the chances of this ever happening again or anything similar, are very slim and rare, it's up to you if you let it ruin your career or not.

By the way, dog and human epilepsy is exactly the same

 

[Wonda]

As an Epileptic myself, I only imagine what those around me think when I have a Grand Mal fit as I’m sure it's a scary thing for people to see.

Thing is, this kind of incident happens at ANY time, in ANY situation.

You can not blame your treatment on it, Epilepsy comes in MANY forms. Not all are fall on the floor fitting, some are not even noticeable to the untrained eye.

There's a lot of things that people don’t understand about Epilepsy, 1 is not all Epileptics are light sensitive, yes there are some who are unable to be in a car on a sunny day due to the sunlight flicking through the trees, or at Christmas, twinkling tree lights can also cause seizures. However, there are some who are not photosensitive & are able to put up with flashing lights. Another, DO NOT put a spoon down a fitting persons throat to prevent them swallowing their tongue, just move stuff away from them to stop them hurting themselves, don’t try & restrain them & when they’ve stopped fitting, place them in the recovery position.

I've occasionally had full blown seizures & thankfully I’m not photosensitive, but most of the time mine are what’s called petite mal or absence seizures, I can hold a basic conservation with you, but I wouldn’t remember a thing. Only those who know what my fits are like, know when I’m having them.

Scratch did a page on Epilepsy a couple of months ago, it was very good reading. Even if you don’t have it, I’d recommend EVERY SINGLE PERSON to take a few minutes of your day to read up on what to do if someone if having a fit as you may save their life .... or if you believe some old fashion stuff, you may injure the person fitting & yourself.

There are over 80,000 people diagnosed with Epilepsy in the UK alone. It's a very scary thing to have happen to you & to see happen to someone else.


But the main thing is this ..... IT COULD HAVE HAPPENED AT ANY TIME & PLACE. Do not let it interfere with your career.

 

[waffle4]

As the title says really.

I was doing a work colleagues nails (At my day job) after work on Thurs and just as I was doing her cuticles she started to have a fit. This girl has never had fits before and we ended up having to ring an ambulance. It was a terrifiying experience. My immediate thought was that she reacted to the cuticle remover. It has since been confirmed that it was nothing to do with that but my confidence was already rock bottom. This has really terrified me and put me off. :cry: Help me overcome my fear of doing more nails please!

I think you need to turn this around and take the positive from this. YOU SAVED HER FROM POSSIBLE INJURY. Had she been at home on her own or god forbid driving she would most certainly have injured herself seriously. You did a great thing, you were there, you called an ambulance, YOU HELPED HER. You should actually be proud of yourself! Has she been round or phoned you to say thank you? I bet she's really grateful you were there. It is absolutely nothing to do with nails and you need to seperate that fear entirely. Don't let it put you off, something like that will probably never, ever happen again but if it did you would know what to do now. Keep up building your confidence by doing as many nails as you can. This lady would most likely be mortified to think she's put you off of doing nails again. So keep calm, confident and keep at it! Good luck xx

 

[elizabeth1]

Hiya! How awful I once had a fit at the hair dressers with colour on my hair lol! (Not a good look) you cannot blame yourself, Like others have said if it wasn't for you she may not be hear.

I don't think it would be a bad thing for you to contact the lady and ask how she is. I think she would be fine if you showed your concern. It may help your confidence and she can maybe advise you on how to deal with this should it happen in the future. Maybe you could raise money in your salon for the corse (epilepsy) and maybe do a first aid course? I hope this helps 😊 xxx