Looking for recovered or recovering TN nurses

DistressedRN · Jun 30, 2018

Hi! I'm new to TNPAP as well, started my monitoring two weeks ago, but have been clean x 118 days today (but who is counting?) I'd love to see the answer to this. So far I've only had to give one urine on my very first day. I was so worried it would be dilute that I didn't drink enough and it came back abnormal because I was too dry. Can't win. I will tell you that several nurses in my Birchwood group have had hair tests recently.

bunsthataresticky · Jun 30, 2018

Blood, yes. Hair no. Only reason for hair is that when I got pulled for it I had recently had surgery so knew it would be positive. I let my case manager know they pulled me for hair and she changed it to urine.

Kel65, MSN, RN · Jul 2, 2018

Peth blood. Option 1 which has ethanol test was positive . Split sent out for EGT was invalid due to bacteria. Peth to confirm abstinence. This was my 2nd positive on ethanol, EGT split was negative which confirmed it was a false positive. I have kidney issues which sometimes causes Trace positive on the ethanol. I know only do option 3 or option for 4 which are EGT to avoid this stress.

DistressedRN · Aug 18, 2018

TNPAPNurse,

I got an email telling me I had a PM from you but when I tried to open it here, I'm getting a message saying I don't post enough to send/receive PMs yet. Crazy, huh? I could see the first sentence in the email...welcome to the program and it's gonna be ok. We can do this!

TNPAPnurse · Sep 21, 2018

Just checking on ya to see how it's going! I'm not sure I have posted enough to PM yet, but eventually I'll get there!

DistressedRN · Oct 24, 2018

So far, so good! I had my first hair test last week and it was negative of course. I had heard horror stories about people getting scalped and leaving huge gaps but my lady was awesome. She took it from three different places and you can't even tell.

I honestly have barely noticed I'm in monitoring. I wake up in the morning, check in and I'm done. I have a job where no matter when I'm selected to test, I'll be able to go that day. There are tons of sites near my home and job. I traveled extensively over the summer before I started working and the Spectrum app makes it so easy to pick a new site and log meetings. I love my Birchwood meetings online and have met so many supportive women there. Overall, I feel great. My recovery is going fantastic, life is so much simpler now.

TNPAPnurse · Oct 24, 2018

I'm glad you're able to have a sunny outlook. I'm trying to be positive. I don't enjoy my Birchwood group. I think it's a waste of my time and my money. About four people take up the entire hour, and I gain nothing by hearing people talk about their lives. I've said before that I know I need monitoring of some sort, and I know I messed up big time. But these one-size-fits-all programs aren't for me.

Again, glad things are going smoothly for you!

DistressedRN · Mar 4, 2019

So, here we are...it’s March. How are you doing? How’s recovery?

TNPAPnurse · Mar 23, 2019

On 3/4/2019 at 5:03 PM, DistressedRN said:
So, here we are...it’s March. How are you doing? How’s recovery?

I’m doing as well as can be expected. Looking back to last year and the year before, I’m leaps and bounds ahead of where I thought I’d be when things first went to hell.

I’m working full-time and counting the days (months, years), til I’m out of the program so I can pursue my dream of travel nursing.

I’m sober of course, but I still have to fake my way through the 12-step BS. I think I’ve discussed it before, but I have some serious philosophical issues with it. I’m down to two meetings a week as far as my requirements go. Glad it works for some, but it’s just not for me.

Hope all is well with you!

DistressedRN · Apr 10, 2019

I’m a 2 meeting a week girl too. ? Who is your Birchwood moderator? **** usually does a great job with keeping his groups on track & everyone shares equally unless there truly is a week someone needs more time.

I just now finished my step one on paper with my sponsor. I feel like some people are really struggling and need the structure and constant oversight and to eat/breathe/sleep and poop recovery 24/7 and to call and ask their sponsor what they should eat for breakfast. But I honestly think that they’ve just replaced one obsessive behavior with another.

I’m not trying to work my problem alone by any means, but I’ve found a tribe of reasonable people in recovery who get it. Life balance is important. If I’m neglecting my family/friends and my job and myself to run to a meeting every time the doors are open and only associate with others in the program I’d be more miserable than I was two years ago!

Keep on trucking. We will get there. ❤️

NurseVT10 · Aug 27, 2019

Hey guys,

I've recently been asked to complete a Tnpap evaluation due to a prior DUI 3 years ago in order to obtain my license. No other violations or drug offenses are on my record. Can someone explain what this might entail and what I should be prepared for? Thanks!