Nurses w/Lupus or other CTDs?

I have rheumatoid arthritis and since starting my career as an RN, I've had quite a few flare ups. But that could also be because my dx is new. I discovered I had RA about a month prior to graduating nursing school (what a great graduation gift, huh?!). I have to split up my 3 days of work and not do them all in a row, which kind of stinks. But if I do 3 days in a row, I find myself bedridden the following day.

I'm also a bit nervous about what treatment/meds come next....the 400mg of Celebrex isn't cutting it anymore and the next step up is methotrexate and/or prednisone. I dread either of them d/t the side effects. And anything that reduces my immune system scares me because I work in the ICU and get exposed to some nasty bugs. I take it one day at a time because if I step back to look at the big picture, I become frightened of what my future holds. Sigh.

Melanie = )

I've had chronic costo chondritis (inflammation of the cartilage joining my ribs to my sternum and the pain radiates all over to my back, neck, throat, collarbone, shoulders, you name it) for the past 9 years, on and off. Nothing worked too well for my pain (esp since I have such a weak stomach). During a flare up I usually take 800 mg motrin tid and try not to move too much until the pain goes away, which usually takes 1-2 weeks. I've had my latest flare up for 11 days now and I was prescribed vicodin for my pain, but I can only take like 3 tabs of it per day at the most because I get so nauseated from it and so groggy and dizzy. Needless to say I don't take it on days that I work. So on my days off I have been so nauseaus-not a lot of fun. It just plain stinks. :

For me, I know that I get my pain flare ups from certain types of physical activities usually related to upper body exertion like: lifting weights, shoveling, raking, push ups, sit ups, and running. I am nearly certain my daily duties as a nurse do not cause my costo chondritis pain to happen. That being said, when I do have a pain flare up (this time it was from when I raked my yard two weeks ago) it makes going to work tough because I am in a lot of pain. I did call in sick twice and then took it easy and rested a lot. So no, for me, nursing doesn't inflame my condition. It may be different for lupus or other conditions, I am not sure about those.