Chronic Illness

I learned thar a LOL can take 60mg oxy ir tid + + and be okay

i am on disability for epilepsy, dysautonomia (the primary reasons), degenerative joint disease, degenerative disc disease, fibromyalgia, diabetes (the least of my "problems"), chronic pain (see the listed diagnoses), a very limited ability to tend to ordinary chores (ie- making ramen noodles sends my back and shoulders into spasms), and no ability to visit/attend activities (or family events) away from home d/t heat intolerance (even if others are comfortable- my thermostat along with the dysautonomia cause heart rate and bp problems). i just finished 19 months of chemo for leukemia (another "least of my issues" things- i should be ok..but chemo is hard-- lots here know that as they deal with it now).

i am still an rn (keep my license, and do the ceus). and even before i became disabled i knew enough to know that if i wasn't walking in someone else's shoes, i needed to keep my mouth shut.

"lazy" is a deliberate choice to not do something. being unable is not the same thing.

selfish? how? because they (i) can't run around taking care of others like i did for more than 20 years???

incompetent??? where does that come in? my mind is fine. :) and, if someone is incompetent, it's often due to reasons they can't control.... how can someone be judged for that? (in terms of seeing them as "less than" a part of some predetermined "worth").

i never thought i'd end up like this. i doubt any of the many, many nurses on this forum thought that either. yeah-- a lot of people here are struggling - either as they continue to push their bodies to the point of agony, or with the very painful knowledge that they aren't what they used to be.

you might want to think about how you'd want to be thought of if you lost your ability to do what you spent your life doing. it really bites.

good luck as you work through your own issues with this :)

I feel like you assumed that its my personal opinion that people with chronic illness are lazy and selfish ect. I'm sorry if that's is what you think, but it was not my intention at all. If you re-read my post you will realize I said I am looking for more knowledge because I am always faced with a negative stigma of CI. As I said in my original post I DO NOT believe this stigma. I want to learn about how caring for patients has changed other nurses perceptions of chronic illness and how it has changed their nursing care as a result. I feel like I am being subtly attacked for trying to gain more knowledge and grow as a nurse. It is not wrong for me to want to gain knowledge; any proficient nurse does the same on a regular basis.

I feel like you assumed that its my personal opinion that people with chronic illness are lazy and selfish ect. I'm sorry if that's is what you think, but it was not my intention at all. If you re-read my post you will realize I said I am looking for more knowledge because I am always faced with a negative stigma of CI. As I said in my original post I DO NOT believe this stigma. I want to learn about how caring for patients has changed other nurses perceptions of chronic illness and how it has changed their nursing care as a result. I feel like I am being subtly attacked for trying to gain more knowledge and grow as a nurse. It is not wrong for me to want to gain knowledge; any proficient nurse does the same on a regular basis.

Your right there is a large stigma about people with CI the worst being that thay just want to ( live off the state and not work and Are druge seekers) none of this is true so it's best just to forget what you have been told about people with CI thay are the same as you but in pain !

I feel like you assumed that its my personal opinion that people with chronic illness are lazy and selfish ect. I'm sorry if that's is what you think, but it was not my intention at all. If you re-read my post you will realize I said I am looking for more knowledge because I am always faced with a negative stigma of CI. As I said in my original post I DO NOT believe this stigma. I want to learn about how caring for patients has changed other nurses perceptions of chronic illness and how it has changed their nursing care as a result. I feel like I am being subtly attacked for trying to gain more knowledge and grow as a nurse. It is not wrong for me to want to gain knowledge; any proficient nurse does the same on a regular basis.

No- it's never wrong for you to want to gain knowledge :)

This is what people with CIs face EVERY day- that is a perspective that maybe you could use in figuring out your own views on it - that's all. Not meant as an attack- but a way for you to see what it's like when those who really don't give a rats exit hole about the human behind the diagnosis deal with people with chronic disorders. My point about thinking about how you'd want to be regarded still stands, though- that can help with finding your own beliefs fairly easily

There are slugs that happened to be disabled- I believe they'd be like that no matter what their lot in life. And, there are those who seem to come through all they go through with incredible grace and success...and they are rare, but often amazingly inspirational. Gives us regular 'gimps' something to look up to

I sincerely wish you well as you figure this out for yourself.

I agree with that mindset, %100.... I wish it actually made it easier to move without pain :)

As the population ages, and since the 1960s, when the ability to revive folks after MIs was invented, more and more of what we see is chronic, not acute, illness.

"Cardiac Cripples"

Just we should learn professional behave. But nursing professional behave is quiet different. As a nurse, always should be helpful to the people.