Dropping out of 4th semester nursing

Jules A, MSN · Jan 13, 2009

Please do whatever you can to finish school. Living with a chronic disease is tough and having a flexible career like nursing that pays well and has great health benefits will take a huge amount of stress off you. It would be unlikely that you can sit for the LPN boards and being a CNA is backbreaking work and pays nothing, imo. Wishing you well.

morte, LPN, LVN · Jan 13, 2009

I have had an EGD and my GI doctor took A sample and tested it for celiac disease. However, the results were negative.

one sample is not enough, as prev poster said multiple spec. MUST be taken.......and a neg bx doesnt RULE OUT celiac dx.......some persons have the sx without positive blood work or biopsy......the ONLY definitive way is thru diet.....absolutely gluten free for an extended period of time.....good luck

http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/

gluten sensitivity forum,

http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/

same

forum

"the gluten file" at the top of either on,,, huge amounts of info

pagandeva2000, LPN · Jan 13, 2009

I have recently begun 4th semester in a 2 yr school. Graduation is 4 months away. However, i was just diagnosed with IBS and have consistent extreme stomach pain daily. There is absolutely no way that i could make it through 26 clinical days without leaving early or missing less than 3 days. The pain can't be controlled other than leaving and trying to relax at home. I think that school is making everything much worse due to the stress. My only option is to drop out and wait a semester. I think that nursing is right for me but i need to avoid the stress at this time. I would like to attempt to get a CNA or LPN job during the summer once i get myself better. How do i go about getting a CNA or LPN license after 3 semesters of nursing completed? I've tried googling it, but I can't find anything. Help?

Sorry to hear about your illness; especially since it may knock you out of nursing school this late in the game. As mentioned you have to inquire with both, the Board of Nursing in your state as well as with your college regarding eligibility to challenge NCLEX-PN. I live in New York and just recently, they stopped allowing RN students to sit for NCLEX-PN after their 3rd semester. Some states, however, still allow it, but forms have to be filled out by your school to show proof that you have successfully passed the previous semesters. Or, it may be that your state may allow it, but the school may not offer this option or service (why...who knows??). There were plenty of LPN programs that did not allow them to certify as CNAs after fundamentals of nursing.

One thing to keep in mind is that there will be physical as well as mental stress working as a CNA, and especially as an LPN...running around giving medications, starting treatments, supervising CNAs, etc... Just be sure that your body can handle it because the worst thing in the world is to have to take many rest rooms breaks in the midst of patient care and administrative demands.

Bottom line is that I hope you get better...your health is the most important thing.

Magsulfate, BSN, RN · Jan 13, 2009

Take everyone's diet advice here, and please please try to stick it out these last four months. There is no guarantee that they will let you back in to nursing school. Who's to say they'll have a spot for you the next go around? And as my father told me many many times during nursing school, "Baby, the time will pass whether you're in nursing school or not, so you might as well go now,, and you'll be a nurse before you know it."

Vida · Jan 13, 2009

Vida,
If you changed your diet before getting tested, you will test negative. You have to have the antibodies to gluten in your blood to test positive so if your are not eating it you are technically in remission and will not be able to get accurate results. Your symptoms sound very similar to mine, I would bet you probably do have celiac disease. If you do, you need to avoid all gluten because very small amounts will cause damage to your villi. I have read that after one exposure it can take up to a month to heal. I'm not trying to be preachy but I am very passionate about this subject and the long term effects of having the immune constantly going haywire are not very nice.
The "gold standard" to be diagnosed is having an endoscopy, having several (at least 11) samples taken from different areas because damage tends to be scattered and patchy. There are also recommended blood tests but there is a high rate of false negatives. It is important to see a doctor who is familiar with the disease and not just what they learned in the one minute it was covered in med school 20 years ago.

Sweet Caroline,

I hear ya sister on the immune probs. The same women in my family also have a slew of auto-immune probs, all of which are more tolerable with changes we've made to our diets. The most devastating is my little sis who was diagnosed with "IBS" (I hate that title, it's not a real dx when you don't know the problem!), and Lupus - which was giving her probs with her reprod system and thyroid. Beyond needing a little help with maintaining the thyroid fxn, she's symptomless if she eats right. The docs don't get it because her lab work comes back not making much sense. We both take this really seriously too, and have trouble not getting too preachy about diet and food being the answer to all medical problems!!!!

Vida

meghanlane · Jan 13, 2009

Thank you all for the advice. I will begin trying the gluten free diet; I'm willing to do anything to fix this! I'm beginning Elavil tonight to hopefully relax the IBS. I'm also scheduled for an upper GI series of xrays to rule out Crohn's since the doctor saw some inflammation from the biopsy. Also, an ultrasound to view the cyst on my right ovary. I have officially withdrawn today without academic penalty. I will be able to reenter in the fall semester. I've realized that I must first focus on my health before I attempt to care for anothers. My extreme fear is that the stress level of nursing may not be right for me, and my body may not be able to handle the stress on top of what else is wrong. Hopefully, this break will bring some answers. I wish I could just push through the 4 months, but I'm going to listen to my body and take care of it first.

Sweet Caroline · Jan 14, 2009

I have a book by Dr. Peter Greene, the Director of the Celiac Disease Center at Columbia University, it is full of good and accurate information. According to him gluten must be eaten from one to three months before damage will show. He also quotes another doctor saying that a person needs to eat about 4 slices of bread daily for at least a month. There is also cross contamination to consider. If you share mayo, butter, PB + Jelly with others and they are spreading it on bread and redipping, that is enough to keep you sick. I don't share toasters or any dishes that are porous. I gaurd my food like a hungry dog when I am eating somewhere where people are slobs. I know it seems like a hassle to others but after so many years it's just normal to me.

I hear ya on the prozac. I had so many doctors tell me that my lab work was "normal" and "there's nothing wrong with you, maybe you should lose some weight, your stressed, depressed, etc...." When I finally found out was wrong with me I felt vindicated, I would have loved to have gone back to all of them to say "see, there was something wrong. Maybe you should try thinking outside the box a little more."

I'm really not trying to be preachy or pushy but if you have access to specialists I would look up a good GI, make sure he knows what he's doing and get an appointment. It sounds like your mother and sister shouold too. OK, I'll stop now. I really don't want to bore people.

:yawn:

Sweet Caroline · Jan 14, 2009

Vida,

Yeah, I have some of that too. Hashimoto's/hypothyroid, creaky bones and joints, raynaud's syndrome and I still go through periods of extreme fatigue. I am always afraid that something else is going to hit me, they say once you have one autoimmune disease you are at a much higher risk of developing another. The sad part is that I still feel a thousand times better since going GF. I agree with you about the term "IBS", not because I don't believe that it's real, I just don't believe it's idiopathic; something is causing it and it should be investigated further before just telling someone that there isn't anything they can do.

I always get copies of my labs, even from my current doctor who I think is great. If I have copies then I can see the numbers, think, and investigate for myself. I have also been told a few times that everything is "normal" only to look at the labs and find out that isn't true or that there is a pattern emerging that needs to be looked at ( like when my TSH was gradually getting higher everytime it was tested but it was still in the "normal" range.) You can probably guess that I am not too fond of the word "normal", there is no such thing. I can say without a doubt that I am definitely not normal, LOL.

Sweet Caroline · Jan 14, 2009

I'm sorry to hear that you dropped but at least you know you can return. You need to do what you believe is right for you.

Please go to your doctor and insist that they test you for celiac and if they tell you "you can't have it because blah, blah, blah - tell them they are wrong. There are over two hundred symptoms ranging from GI troubles to neurological to anything that can be caused by a vitamin deficiency (caused by malabsorption). There are even people that feel perfectly fine but their intestines are being damaged and they are not absorbing their food. Oh, and don't let me forget moodiness, irritability and depression. Also if you try the diet without a diagnosis, you will never be really sure and may eventually begin to doubt the need to follow the diet; it is important to be very careful because a little bit is way too much and if you begin to doubt then you might stop being careful. Of course if the tests are negative you can still try the diet to see if it makes you feel better.

I hope you find your problem, feel better,get back to school and graduate.

lamazeteacher · Jan 14, 2009

The concerned posts above have given you needed support for the things you need to do for youself. Always put your own well being first!

My brother-in-law had IBS in medical school and was able to resume his studies after taking a year off. Luckily finances weren't a problem for him. Can you rely on your family for shelter and food?

Then, when your health is improved, think about what employment you can get. Challenging the LPN/LVN exams in the middle of an exacerbation of your symptoms doesn't seem realistic. It's important to get the rest and allow time for medications to work. I'd find a reliable acupuncturist to augment western medical efforts, too. That has been a great help for me to handle stress.

morte, LPN, LVN · Jan 14, 2009

Vida,
Yeah, I have some of that too. Hashimoto's/hypothyroid, creaky bones and joints, raynaud's syndrome and I still go through periods of extreme fatigue. I am always afraid that something else is going to hit me, they say once you have one autoimmune disease you are at a much higher risk of developing another. The sad part is that I still feel a thousand times better since going GF. I agree with you about the term "IBS", not because I don't believe that it's real, I just don't believe it's idiopathic; something is causing it and it should be investigated further before just telling someone that there isn't anything they can do.
I always get copies of my labs, even from my current doctor who I think is great. If I have copies then I can see the numbers, think, and investigate for myself. I have also been told a few times that everything is "normal" only to look at the labs and find out that isn't true or that there is a pattern emerging that needs to be looked at ( like when my TSH was gradually getting higher everytime it was tested but it was still in the "normal" range.) You can probably guess that I am not too fond of the word "normal", there is no such thing. I can say without a doubt that I am definitely not normal, LOL.

ah yes, the old "it normal" when it isnt....gotta love it....and the trending labs that arent addressed or even mentioned....gotta love that too.....my TSH went down when i went off gluten.....was NEVER tech elevated....but went from 2.58 to 1.8.....very interesting subject....good luck to all

Sweet Caroline · Jan 14, 2009

Morte,

You are lucky that your thyroid went back to normal, maybe because your body was functioning better? You were pretty close though. There are new TSH values but alot of the labs have not changed the ranges, they are now supposed to be 0.4 - 3.1. Unfortunately when I went off gluten my thyroid crashed. I did get to experience what it's like to feel "normal" for a few weeks first though, it was great!