Dealing with dysmenorrhea while on the job

[Emilie Wolf Elizondo]

I’m a pre-nursing student and am concerned that I might not be able to handle nursing school or a nursing job when I have severe menstrual cramps and other related symptoms. My symptoms were severe but improving up until a year ago, when they began getting worse again. I have strong cramps that don’t improve much even with pain meds and a heating pad. I also get diarrhea, constipation, nausea, headaches, brain fog, fatigue and can’t eat much or sleep well. It typically is severe for only one day but can last up to 3 days. I typically just need to eat small meals that are easy on the GI tract, take ibuprofen or aleve on a schedule, take hot baths , lay with a heating pad on the worst day, and use stick-on heating pads on the less severe days and just wait it out. So for up to 3 days I’m not functioning well. I am worried that teachers or supervisors would not be understanding if I needed to call in sick once a month. I am also concerned that if I was forced to work on one of these days, patient care would suffer if I had to suddenly run to the bathroom or the pain and brain fog caused me to work slower or make a mistake. How do nurses handle this issue? I’m sure I’m not the only one who deals with this, because this is a common problem.  
 
Also I’m open to any other suggestions about how to lessen the symptoms and get me more functional during these episodes!  I will be seeing my OBGYN in a few weeks and will bring this up at that time. 

[amoLucia]

You most definitely need to follow with your PMP. As for nsg school, there might not be too much wiggle room - you have to attend classes; only so little 'sick time' is granted before you jeopardize your program attendance requirements.

Even if your status were to be determined as ADA eligible for accommodations, you'd still have to work with school and your clinical sites. There could be a possible allowance for FMLA thru your employer, but you'd have to be employed for a while first, and then that allowance does run out.

So it sounds like your best approach is to follow the recommendations for expert professional care as your first step.

Good luck on your health and school/career expectations.

Also welcome to All Nurses. I feq tell new members they might want to change their user names to something anonymous here for social media. Everybody & anybody, friends or foes, and quacks, follow this site, so you'd want to be careful.

[speedynurse, ADN, BSN, RN, EMT-P]

I would definitely go to your PCP or OB to get further treatment - it sounds like this might be more than just bad cramps. I do see your concerns about functioning at a high enough level in school and as a nurse, but if you get treatment to where you feel better, then this may alleviate a lot of your concerns.

[londonflo]

On 12/29/2020 at 5:51 PM, speedynurse said:

it sounds like this might be more than just bad cramps

When I was a teenager, my period cramps would bring me to my knees. Such awful pain....I ended up being diagnosed with ovarian cysts but it was a long time before I was diagnosed.  Surgery was a God send at 16. Older me had horrible "period headaches" 3 days a month. I just wished away the days I worked through those days. Thinking back I had 3 days a month I dreaded working times 12 months/ Who is willing to suffer a 36 days/year for a 'hormone headache'. Please keep searching for answers -- we, who have this symptomology need better treatment and care!