Nursing career and Crohn's Disease

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Specializes in Neuro ICU.

Hey, everyone.

I'm wondering if any of you out there are working nurses with Crohn's disease. I am - get this - two weeks into my ABSN program, and just spent three days in the hospital culminating with a diagnosis of Crohn's. (I was joking with the RNs that I was eager to get onto the nursing floors, but not THAT eager!) Right now I'm not a happy camper - I'm hurting, pooping, worried, feeling completely clueless and trying to catch up under the haze of Vicodin on all the pathophysiology and assessment that I missed.

So the good news is I have almost two years before I really need to worry about working and my career and how this is going to affect it all, but I have to admit I am worried. In a week and a half of NS, I think I've heard a dozen jokes about never having time to pee while working - what the heck do you do during a flare-up when you need to hit the john a dozen or more times a day, and when you need to go you need to go NOW? I already feel like I need those tear-away warmup pants when the need hits. And the pain - holy sh*t. Clearly I can't care for patients if I'm on Vicodin like I am now, but without it I'd be curled up in a ball whining and whimpering again. Is it easier to control long-term than it is to deal with this initial bad flareup? I don't have my GI appointment for another 2-3 weeks so I'm sort of floundering without knowing what's going on right now.

I guess I'm just curious what experiences others have had, with the disease itself, with managing it, with dealing with work and management and symptoms, and just what your long-term strategies have been. I've never had any sort of chronic disease before (plenty of acute problems, but always fixable ones) so I'm kind of going through some sort of mini-grief here... anger and depression and denial and all sorts of things swirling around upstairs at the moment.

Thanks. :)

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There were two of us on my floor with Crohn's and one with UC. I only ever had one flare, and the other two, because of the busy nature of our floor, I couldn't tell you when they had flares or not. We all covered for each other if we had to spend an extended ;) amount of time in the restroom. Once you've seen the GI doc, you'll start meds that will make things settle. Steroids were my wonder drug. I did a round at diagnosis, started a good anxiety regimen, and haven't flared since. (I'm newly diagnosed, too.)

One of the other women tried to reduce her stress naturally, failed, and I'm pretty sure was in a chronic flare state. The third woman is a brandy-spanking new Crohn's case, so they're still trying to get her under control.

If the meds you get don't work, speak up. Learn all you can about diet. If stress triggers you, don't be afraid to take something to help you maintain a healthy brain chemistry surrounding stressful situations. Get a healthy amount of sleep at night. Skip the Advil, but take some Tylenol if you need it. Warm packs are a Godsend. The hardest part about being chronically ill is figuring out what works for you, and getting through the rough first part. After that, you'll be fine.

Good luck, and I hope you feel better soon!

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twois- It is wayyy doable. :-)

I have UC and have had it for 20 years. I had flares, but it's about getting the flares under control with maintenance medication and preventing the stress from getting to you. Whether it be exercising and diet. Those are 2 factors. I did nursing school and passed and now have my RN license and will begin working soon. When I was doing clinicals, I had no problems, and when they say that you don't have breaks, that's a lie. You do get breaks, and depending on how your time management skills are, you can keep yourself healthy and working. Don't use it as an excuse. Use your dx. of Crohn's to motivate you to succeed. Hope it helps!

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Specializes in Neuro ICU.

Thanks, guys. :) This was really encouraging to hear.

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i have ulcerative colitis. there are times when i have got to go, no ifs ands or buts.. my nursing school faculty have been really great about accommodating me, everyone has, really, i just made sure i informed everyone.

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twois- It is wayyy doable. :-)

I have UC and have had it for 20 years. I had flares, but it's about getting the flares under control with maintenance medication and preventing the stress from getting to you. Whether it be exercising and diet. Those are 2 factors. I did nursing school and passed and now have my RN license and will begin working soon. When I was doing clinicals, I had no problems, and when they say that you don't have breaks, that's a lie. You do get breaks, and depending on how your time management skills are, you can keep yourself healthy and working. Don't use it as an excuse. Use your dx. of Crohn's to motivate you to succeed. Hope it helps!

Nursing school is a lot different than being on the floors. Many, if not most floors are understaffed and you are lucky if you even get time for a full lunch. You saying that it is a lie that people don't get breaks(in the hospital) is just plain ignorant. It is a very prevalent problem, as well as intimidating nurses to work off the clock for free. Do a search on the forum and you'll see countless threads of us supporting each other even to go to the bathroom! There's a 20+ page thread somewhere out there. Often times people will have shortened lunches and carry their phone with them, making it not a real, legal break. And 15 minute breaks are very, very rare.

The time management issue is a management line to improperly take blame away from them for understaffing and put it on the overwhelmed nurses. You really need to look at it from the perspective of supporting your fellow nurses first before you turn on them, eaRN.

While I agree that time can be made to go to the bathroom during most times, time for breaks is not always going to happen. While I am not trying to scare the OP, I am trying to give eaRN a dose of reality. *sigh*

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Specializes in neuro/ortho med surge 4.

Honestly, breaks are rare and lunches are almost non-existent. I "work" through my lunch. If I don't I get out even later.

If I have to take a quick 2 minutes to go to the bathroom I can usually do that. Believe me I have been in the bathroom and I get paged overhead for phone calls. Seems to happen almost everytime I step in the bathroom. Some days you get so busy that you forget you have to go.

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Ayvah,

I had a huge argument prepared, but you know what? I don't have to justify it to you. If you chose to put blame elsewhere, so be it; if that's what gets you through your days.

Twois,

I've always had a positive mindset and what gets me thru the hard times is the saying "Quit your complaining." There is always a choice you have to make. Sometimes choices aren't one's that we like, but when there are no other options, you chose the best out of all the options offered. I can tell you, during my clinicals, all my instructors worked with me if I had a flare. Also when I was doing my preceptorship, I had no problems. You have designated breaks scheduled, what you chose to do on that designated break is your choice, but you live with it. Doesn't mean you like it (behind on charting, choice to either stay late and have lunch or leave on time but multi-task during lunch). It is possible to work, and with time, you'll get to know your body better and to catch a flare at the beginning prior to it becoming a full on flare. Just like we teach patients about preventative care, you practice what you preach. :-)

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Specializes in Neuro ICU.

That's true. What I'm going through now is a full-on flare that I ignored for days assuming it was something viral that would pass; hopefully in the future I can recognize this sooner and take evasive action if possible. I have to hope they won't all be this bad.

I know that there is going to be variation from employer to employer, and from unit to unit even within a hospital as far as the support of coworkers and break policies go. I know that it'll probably be easier as a student than it will be as an RN. I know I may have to make some sacrifices with my time before, during, or after my shifts. I am going to stay as hopeful as possible - take as good care of myself as possible - and do my best. I don't give up on anything easily and nursing means a lot to me. It's just so frustrating to have this come up... two weeks into school! But I guess it's better than two weeks into my first new grad job, right? There's always a positive side. I have two years to learn this new quirk of my health before I'm out on my feet supporting myself as a nurse.

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Specializes in NICU Level III.

I've got..SOMETHING. I've missed a lot of work with it and it's still not diagnosed as anything. I thought it was a parasite (it started when I was traveling) but all the cultures/samples have come back negative (DARN!!!). I'm having a colonoscopy in a week so...I may be adding Crohn's or UC to my list. So far no issues at work but it flares up with any stress. :(

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Specializes in Oncology/Haemetology/HIV.

I have had UC for 22 years.

I have been a nurse for 17 years.

When I was in nursing school, I had one instructor that tried to fail me on clinical, because she felt that having UC shoud bar me from being a nurse. She had been taught, as many older nurses had, that there were psychological issues that "caused" the disease - and that, also, made me unfit to be a nurse.

Virtually all other instructors liked my performance and were enthusiastic about me.

I have been successful for the most part with my career as a nurse. Most of my coworkers/managers have been unaware that I had the disease unless I told them. The one manager that was a problem, was difficult with most of the employees, not just me. Thus, I am very careful with whom I discuss my business with - I learn who I can trust before I disclose my status to.

Having said that, Ayvah does have a point. Frequently, I have worked places (I was a traveler) that are not supportive of their staff, short staff, and then inappropriately blame staff with the "time management" BS. And even with adequate staffing, there will be times as a new nurse, that it will be difficult to manage time. There are some workplaces, where I as an experienced nurse, woud not recommend to a fellow IBD nurse, and generally I would not recommend those to ANY nurse as they were unheathy and toxic. But being supportive goes both ways. My coworkers rarily know about a flare, but would be supportive, because I am supportive of theirs: assisted coonception woes (those hormone doses and the stress can turn people into emotional wrecks), their new first motherhood (do I really need to hear about your constipation and the shape of your nipples at lunch?), their divorce (please don't yell b^&*h over and over at lunch about your soon to be ex, or how women are slime).

Be discrete. Be responsible with your diet and meds - I know the restrictions are a pain, but miss too much work because you "HAD" to eat popcorn and didn't FEEL like taking the meds becomes a problem. If someone notices the excess BR time, just say you had a flare - no one wants to know what it looks like, how excruciating that it is, consistancy or how much your butt hurts, especially at lunch.

And be aware of how steroids affect your mood if you have to take them. When you are cycling up or down, emotions and behavior can be quite labile.

Once you have experience and can pick where you work, find a place that can be compatible with your status. My last job, near my family was abysmal - little time for BR or breaks - I would go 14 hours without being able to eat. I would find myself flaring, not able to get my meds like I needed to. I quit - my manager was upset - but she could not control the poor staffing issue.

I actually now work in a more fast paced, critical area, but the ratio/staff support/conditions are such that I get to eat healthy, take my meds and staff and management are more supportive. Interestingly, we have several diabetics, HTN cases, and an RA nurse there.

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Here you go eaRN. If you choose not to listen to 26 pages of nurses with experience, or if you want to blame all of them for 'time management', that's your own prerogative. There are good floors out there but there are many, many floors which have issues.

NO LUNCH??? NO BREAKS??? Is that common in nursing????? - Nursing for Nurses

One step to a solution is getting mandated nurse : patient ratios laws. I'd encourage everyone to consider joining CNA/NNOC/NNU. Safe RN-patient ratios really do save lives, and would be a huge step to ensuring we all get our needed lunch break.

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