nerdse

I just made i 119...pathetic...but i do have 2 ask how many of us are afraid 2 even ask r colleagues 2 do this in case they rat us out to admin? nurses do eat their young n they bite n claw 1 another all too often... there r other boards, u can usually post on them anonymously, maybe u know some1 at another facility that u can tell where u won't get into trouble b/c u are not working there? ppl u can email? if u know of blogs out there, put in ur 2 cents' worth n add the link? n b sure 2 tell them why u r doing it anonymously...if hiring mgrs r looking at facebook n myspace n googling blogs 2 c what their employees or potential hires r up , n they do it make no mistake, then ppl need 2 b careful that their identity remains anonymous until we have a movement 4 change that is so overwhelming that admin can't fire ppl 4 signing it n admitting it. :typing i intend 2 do some of those things now that i have the url 2 send. pls do the same. we need 2 move on this it is so sad that we have 2 b scared 2 use r real names or have them show b/c we risk loss of job in some cases.

unfortunately true; sad tale but it's 2 things. 1st w/o some regs few orgs or even ppl will do the right thing. after all they had to pass a fed law about safe lifting. 2nd is they tend 2 go overboard b/c they know this. but u can go on their site n c what they have for pt safety goals which is the biggest charting h/a 4 most nurses, comment on what they want 2 add. did that n encouraged others to a couple yr ago when NPSGs looked 2 b a bit much, they did trim them a lot. believe it or not they r really trying 2 help, they have been looking at staffing, but i think maybe we should try n enlist them 2 up the staffing ante, be allies with nurses 4 pt safety, they may not, but i think in most states u have 2 be accredited by them so they get pd n e way...it's not like they have 2 butter up the hospital admin. ' we could at least try...:typing

"I sent that email on March 16th and finally got a response back from my rep. Here's what she thinks about safe staffing... 'While I appreciate the goal of H.R. 4138, I think we should first focus on assuring that we have enough nurses to fill all of the open and available positions before we start mandating staffing levels and fining hospitals that cannot find nurses to fill available positions'" they really don't get it do they, if the staffing was safe a lot of nurses who have left the profession would come back just like they apparently did in CA. I see those claims, and I haven't seen anyone refute them so far...if u r from CA can u verify if it helped 2 have ratios? i would think it would help...for the above reasons. roght now im not able 2 nurse on the units but hope this illness won't last 4ever...if i get well i would love to work nite telemetry or med surg in a ratio-mandated environment.

integrity will get u screwed most of the time, but i still practice it...i answer to a higher authority that expects me 2 act that way. don't snow them it isn't right n the PTB will find some way 2 get u if they really want 2.

the docs said i had lupus, then no, RA when the ANA went to nl, then yes, lupus even w/o the positive ANA b/c not every1 has a pos ANA, then no, RA, b/c ANA is neg, then yes, possibly lupus d/t borderline ANA...now finally it's fibro, but i still get butterfly rashes when i don't feel good n sometimes, as weird and 'my teeth itch' as it sounds, when the irritable bowel acts up i can feel every inch of my gi tract. if i m out in the sun i hurt like @##$$@!! - even my skin hurts w/ touch, or clothing, or air currents (rules out nudity, b gr8ful 4 that! ) i remember my GM saying they call it the practice of medicine b/c they haven't got it right yet, they're still practicing! n on the fibro board there is some1 who was misdx w/ fibro n has Chiari 1 malformation! Practice, indeed!

there is now a federal safe lifting law that hc facilities had to have a committee in place by early 08 and a lifting policy to reduce injuries by 7/08 and it was 2 include things that make the place little or no lifting by hcws. that's not a lot of help 4 u all but facilities have been presented w/ more than enough information that lifts etc. pay off in decreased WC claims. n they never seem 2 include the cost of all those legal types and all those hearings n stuff 2 get claims heard, i bet it costs more 2 deny than it would 2 just take care of it b4 it gets worse... the ppl who play the system seem to get stuff out of WC no matter what:nono: the legit claims seem 2 b the ones denied...we have a really messed up legal system...

i've been tested on n off 4 RA n lupus, i get a butterfly rash when i feel really sick but they say it's just fibro...n i can rel8 2 all the other things u have w/ urs, me 2...have had 1 strong n 1 weak ANA rest r negative, sed rate is always pretty high tho... but some days i have to admit i get petulant n wish it WAS fatal at least 4 me! get really tired of feeling bad, but i just kinda call it a "u'd feel better if u were hit by a fr8 train" day n laugh it off, nothin' else u can do. It will usually get better...usually... it gets discouraging...i remember when AIDS activists had all those protests n then breast CA survivors n friends had protests 4 more $ to help them, i don't think they should have less but i think they count on us all being 2 sore n tired to have a protest! :zzzzz

i also fought this dx.but i didn't know some consider it a form of RA...do u have n e more information on that? Pls? :thankya: i m thinking that may b why the other poster mentioned some1 she knew of getting remicade, plaquenil, mtx, etc. 4 fibro...

i have a gf very close 2 me who has that n had 1 surgery, facing more. she insists that is what i really have but neuro claims i don't, he's not a surgeon, can u tell me how many n what types of MD u had 2 c b4 u got a firm dx for this? i swear sometimes that's the real problem! but don't want to be a hypochondriac... still, my whole family has had weird sx 4 generations that make me wonder...

if working as a cashier hurts u might want 2 get this under more control b4 u try, but i understand. take care in opting 4 this, c 1st what it takes 2 stay on an even keel. doing what ur doing now 4 ur health, tho, i kept working 4 22 yr b4 i had to decide i need 2 go out on disability at least 4 a while 2 c if this flare will ease or not. so there is hope just set limits out front 4 family, friends, profession, n keep up the good work. keep in mind u can do other healthcare things that will help, like sw, u r still helping ppl but physical demands may be less. also if u get thru n r able 2 nurse, u can work 2 get a yr or 2 in a hosp, usu i tell ppl follow ur dream 4 a specialty but if ur not sure how long u will last try medical nursing or med surg as u get quite the education. while u r there learn what u can about case mgt and utilization review and quality, those r places u can sometimes go if u can't keep up w/ nursing - they r hard 2 find sometimes, tho, as there r a lot of us disabled nurses nowadays n we all need this type of job.

THX THX THX. i have never attempted suicide but have had days that if it all ended i would not have fought it 1 bit. i can understand why! the pain is awful, it wears u out n things that help w/ pain don't work 4 fibro...u can give me a narc, it will help the other pain conditions so that i can bear the fibro better but it will not help the fibro or it just helps a little n that strong a med u don't want 2 take if it isn't helping, it is so weird. n frustr8ing...i used 2 say there are days when walking in front of a loaded freight train would feel better than the way i felt that day! i know it wasn't true but hyperbole does serve 2 illustr8 concepts...

i didn't know n e 1 would give u remicade 4 this, i have other autoimmune syndromes n believe this is also autoimmune. nsaids cause me problems i can't take them often, have also not heard of getting plaquenil or methotrexate 4 it, NSRIs, yea, not SSRIs tho' - plaquenil and methotrexate and remicade r usually 4 lupus. mine mimics lupus n i was misdx w/ lupus 4 yr of arguing was it lupus, rheumatoid, mental illness, u know the whole thing of "it can't be FMS there's no such thing" that they have gone thru until recently. What type of MD did the person on remicade go to? do u know? i would b appreciative if u want, i can give u my email offline. THX.

Lyrica isn't bad 4 some, u have 2 c if it will help, i know someone it does wonders 4 but she did gain lots of w8, me, i swelled up n at 1st it seemed 2 help i felt a lot better n then i just crashed...same thing happened w/ acupuncture. Like n e thing else it is very individualized; give it a mo. on lowest dose but stop if side effects are unbearable. i had 2 go back 2 Neurontin which works 4 me. i was misdiagnosed back n forth 4 yrs. have actually had it a long time. ppl don't believe u hurt but that's gettin better since there is info out there proving there r changes on functional MRI n PET scans indicating changes in pain perception...i had some1 once say 2 me after they got it that they could not believe i still worked in this much pain. i have a gr8 rheumatologist n orthopedist (he was the 1 gave me the 1st dx n the rheum. confirmed). But at long last it seems to have gotten the best of me, i m so sick right now. i m lookin 4 something n hopin some disability time n then a diff job at a diff place will help. i h8 2 give in 2 this but there r times u have 2 step back n take stock...i let the current employer play me n i m payin 4 it now, if i had changed when i had the chance...but 2 b honest i have a skill set that lends to ppl offering me jobs w/ unrealistic workloads! i have a pretty long list of skills actually, think that does more harm than good at times...n i didn't get n e really decent offers, but could have looked @ things like govt types of jobs that maybe i could've done where if they had me work long hrs they'd have had 2 pay OT so they'd have said go home on time. i let myself get 2 tired. pls take that as a warning 2 listen more closely 2 ur body, n realize its best 2 stay no longer than maybe 5 yr at a place, after that they look at ur medical costs n find ways 2 make u leave b/c ur also usually vested by then if there's a pension plan. find something u can do 4 less effort n in the meantime do all the CE u can manage, keep learning. Often going 2 classes isn't helpful b/c it will wear u out, but there's medscape.com for nurses, lots of CEUs do at ur own pace, spectrum is often an employee benefit n if not they usually give a free offering once in a while. if u have a pda or smartphone go 2 epocrates.com 4 free drug ref, some1 at my facility who was really in2 this stuff got me hooked, aside from interactions checker 4 drugs, drug ref, there are tons of calculators of all sorts 4 free n they have CME, but it is still helpful, u can do at ur own pace n most nsg places will take that plus u stretch ur mind learning more. u can do all this in small bites. same person turned me on to free-ed.net 4 a whole lot of diff courses, u can learn about almost n e thing u can think of there n most if not all is free. keep learning. Good luck to all my fellow fibro folk out there n let's keep supporting ea other.

Nice 2 c someone else w/ these same issues! helped me 2 start using nondominant hand more. Try that, u won't be a math genius but it might help w/ no. reversals and such. I have no. inverssion, reversals, tons of coping mechanisms. i figured it out myself by accident...they don't recognize it most of the time u r lucky they even said the term "math learning disability"! I was just a "bad kid" or "lazy" or "stupid" - cried my way thru most math courses when no one was looking. The ADHD I found out about so l8 in life it isn't even funny...2 l8 2 get help, w/ what I have now I can't take n e thing 4 ADHD! Would if I could n it would help... :smackingf

Disable n was working but i m incredibly sick now from what they r doin w/ my sched. I had a job I could mostly manage b4, but it was decided I couldn't b/c they were going 2 change it around n up the ante, n sez they'd put me in 1 I could manage; makes them look gr8 but once I was in the job everyone said was mostly sitting w/ no OT, I find out I have 1 deadline after another that stretches my ability 2 cope w/ my condition. Can't continue i m worn out. telehealth companies r closing/consolidating. i know they tried w/ some older ppl 2 get them 2 do it n some liked the attn but they couldn't hear or catch on 2 the info w/o more help; n telehealth not allowed to give over a certain amt of time. 1 less option... Admitting nurse option: u hear this n in some places the nurses say they have 2 do their own adm. assmt n won't hand off 2 another nurse b/c it's "not good practice" - but they take report if they didn't admit the pt and read the chart, what's the diff? Disabled nurses would b good at that but jobs would not be plentiful. Had a gf who did it 4 a while. She said there were constant c/o b/c she couldn't do 20 - 40 per shift. Mgrs c/o to the nurses 4 not admitting their own pts if admitting nurse couldn't do it, so she got labeled "useless" - quit b4 they could fire her, the person after her apparently didn't last long either. Unrealistic expectations. Then of course they cut the position sayin it didn't work...geesh, it was sabotaged! If u believe the NNOC ads u c from time 2 time in the mail, when CA instated staffing ratios more nurses were able 2 return 2 work n the shortage stopped, but u say that 2 a hosp admin n u best duck n cover for the verbal attack. Can't blame the hosp 4 being careful of $$ or we don't have jobs, but at same time, what u save in lawsuits seems it would pay 4 itself 2 do some of these things. My ? of the day: how much waste in HC spending is actually to pay 4 lawyers who make a LOT more than RNs do to stop legit suits while idiot ones get thru. AND 2 stop suits that wouldn't happen if they had 2-4 RNs instead of a lawyer... Also how much is spent on futile care? I mean, we all know stories of ppl w no hope of survival kept alive 4 sometimes wks or mo at a time on vents n such, coded over n over, expensive meds, but WORST OF ALL THEIR PAIN N SUFFERING! That story that got the award, every nurse on these boards can rel8 2 that. N they c/o how much it costs 4 healthcare 4 a disabled nurse???? It is legal in most states 2 deny medically futile care but they wont do that instead they say the ppl would sue them 4 sayin care was futile. Meanwhile, pts suffer. Just try advocating 4 pts. U get an earful n ur branded a troublemaker if not worse. n e way this has gone on 2 long i know sorry needed 2 rant a bit.