Can I still be a nurse??

[duckyluck111]

I already posted about this but my topic was closed because it sounded too much like I was asking for medical advice, which wasn't my intention. With some help I re-worked the post to get some more feedback. I'm interested if anybody has had any personal experience with chronic pain and nursing and how they handled it.

I have had moderate to severe chronic pelvic pain ever since the birth of my daughter 3 years ago. I have had two surgeries, 3 rounds of PT and every test under the sun and while they keep finding things and treating me for them, everything they find seems to be incidental to the pain and maybe has made things worse. I have been on different medical regimes but I have constant pain.

I am worried about how this diagnosis is going to affect me and how being a chronic pain patient is going to affect 1) my ability to handle the job of nursing. 2)my ability to get a job. Do I need to disclose what medication I am on or that I have a pain issue? Do they ever look at your medical records?

I am in pain no matter what I do, so I might as well be working and having an active life...staying busy actually keeps me fairly distracted from the pain (not wholly but it definitely beats lying around obsessing about how much pain I'm in) but I worry that others may not see it this way. Any input is appreciated. I have put a lot of time, effort and money into my education but the pain is getting worse and worse. I'm wondering if I should call it a day and switch career paths.

What have been other nurses/students experiences that have chronic pain in clinical and in the workplace?