Sickly Nurses????

Nurses General Nursing

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:confused: i'm new to these message boards and the more i read the more i'm wondering....hmmmmmmmm.....how many of you nurse's out there have been diagnosed with fibro, lupus, rls, sjogrene's syndrone or similar conditions? i'm asking cause i'd worked as a lvn for 17 years and just thought that my last 5 years were getting consistantly worse due to all the usual things like bending, pulling, turning, walking miles up & down those concrete corridors---you know just giving good regular patient care. i started having worsening symptoms of fatigue (even with enough rest), constantly aching & painful spasms in weird areas on my body (sometimes just kneeling down to start an iv could cause this), feeling flu-like symptoms all the time, mood swings, bad tooth decay (due to decreased amount of secretions from ss), why i always had to wake up in the middle of the night to get something to drink (which i had kept at my bedside for years), dry eyes & nasal passages (thought it was allergies), running a race everytime when i did sleep (those feet & legs just kept on going & going & going), getting worse after working a very stressful night shift ( you know--short-handed--too many codes to handle with the staff you have on hand) i would feel worse but i knew that i had to go to work cause i had 2 teenage daughters to raise. anyway i had a very good family doctor in the small town where i worked on staff at the hospital and he treated me for everything he could think off , giving me cat scans, ultrasounds, x-rays you name it we did it. even went thru surgery cause we thought it was my ovaries causing the pain in my rt. side at one time. well that pain went away but another took it's place after awhile so he decided to send me to a rheumatologist specialist and for once in my life things began to make sense. all the docs who thought the pain or other symptoms were all in my head cause they couldn't find a reason for them---this man became my answer. i thank god my family doc referred me to him cause i have never felt better sure i have flare ups but i can deal with them. and it also helps that soon after i was diagnosed a year ago that i got married to my ex-husband again and quit work and now the stress level is down. so there is help out there for people like me who once thought all this was just a figment of my imagination cause i was overworked and underpaid lol---but my patient's remarks and laughter made up for alot of that. gosh i was only gonna ask a question but i guess i got to rambling ---- if any of ya have the same problems with your health i'd be interested to know. thanks for listening.


atrial blue


:idea: :idea:large

Hi,

Count me in. I have RSD/TOS/Fibro?CFIDS and a gazillion other weird things. Got hurt on the job lifting and developed RSD which started a chain reaction of one thing after another. I'm currently having to take narcotics for the pain although even having a fairly hefty dosing regimen I still experience significant pain. On top of all the things I developed on my own I also have brachial neuritis and femoral neuritis due to surgical accidents.

I have seen 40+ doctors in an effort to get help over the lsat eight years. I did and do take care of myself, eat healthy, exercise as much as possible which isn't muich but many of these things developed due to delays in diagnosis since a fair number of physicians are suspicious when nurses seek their help. If one mentions the internet their radar goes berserk because they believe that if you read about it on the net that you are making up the symptoms due to reading about them!

I frequent another board for support and information and there are many nurses with RSD, TOS and firbo/CFIDS along with lupus and MS.

I'm currently trying to live my life one day at a time because I ahve no other choice. It is a constant battle against good days vs bad days with the bad winning hands down. I try to remain hopeful but severe neuropathic chronic pain does take a tolll on one's ability to cope with life in general.

Warm personal regards,

PappyRN

Quite sometime ago I read that nurses do have more autoimmune diseases. This the article said, was from exposure to infections that trigger them. The predisposistion to the autoimmune disease is hereditary but if you are a nurse you are more likely to experience the triggering infection. That was years ago I read the article. This article said that there is even one type of seizure disorder that is autoimmune with a viral trigger. I think there has to be a head injury also. Wish I had kept it.

I have rheumatoid arthritis and just recently diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, both of which are autoimmune. My neurologist said that the bulk of his patients are nurses and he also said stress is the number 1 cause of MS.........imagine that!!

Specializes in OB/GYN,L&D,FP office,LTC.

I have been a nurse for 30 years. I have lupus. I sure believe that the constant stress destroys our immune system. I know several nurses that have autoimmune disorders.

I have often wondered just how many nurses are affected.

I was diagnosed with Fibro 5-6 years ago. I got chronic bacterial arthritis 15 years ago, which now I have osteo-arthritis thru out my entire body. I recently was told that I now have bursitis,& tendonitis. There are days I wonder how much can be attibuted to nursing. I was only able to work 8 years as a LPN before going out on disability. I would love to go back to the patients I miss them. As everyone knows we have no stress LOL.

Mary:o

I got the "triggering" infection in my first year of nursing as an LPN- I caught strep throat from a co worker and was out of work for about 2 weeks and then worked one 12 hr shift in the ER and took care of a little boy that had mono, then developed mono and about 6-9 mo's down the road, all the fatigue, aching pain and trigger points started. It wasn't bad at first, I went back to RN school and even did some traveling nursing, but finally got bad in the last few yrs. I now have Fibromyalgia, RLS, buldging thoracic, lumbar and sacral discs, and bone spurs up and down my back (just found incidentally while being scanned for MS!!), and my neurologist is about 98% sure that I do have MS, but just haven't had any lesions show up. Full time nursing is getting VERY VERY hard!! I am in the process of trying to apply for some Case Mgr jobs, etc.. hope something turns up.

To whoever mentioned the tooth decay, after I started having symptoms of Fibromyalgia. Every 6 mo's theres a new cavity or two!! I never had a cavity up until then!!! Now MD's are saying that MS may be caused by amalgam fillings, my mouth is full of them!!!

Hope there's some help for us broke down caring nurses!!

Originally posted by pappyRN

Hi,

Count me in. I have RSD/TOS/Fibro?CFIDS and a gazillion other weird things. Got hurt on the job lifting and developed RSD which started a chain reaction of one thing after another. I'm currently having to take narcotics for the pain although even having a fairly hefty dosing regimen I still experience significant pain. On top of all the things I developed on my own I also have brachial neuritis and femoral neuritis due to surgical accidents.

I have seen 40+ doctors in an effort to get help over the lsat eight years. I did and do take care of myself, eat healthy, exercise as much as possible which isn't muich but many of these things developed due to delays in diagnosis since a fair number of physicians are suspicious when nurses seek their help. If one mentions the internet their radar goes berserk because they believe that if you read about it on the net that you are making up the symptoms due to reading about them!

I frequent another board for support and information and there are many nurses with RSD, TOS and firbo/CFIDS along with lupus and MS.

I'm currently trying to live my life one day at a time because I ahve no other choice. It is a constant battle against good days vs bad days with the bad winning hands down. I try to remain hopeful but severe neuropathic chronic pain does take a tolll on one's ability to cope with life in general.

Warm personal regards,

PappyRN

:bluecry1: Sorry pappy that you are having so much pain and cannot find a doc that will listen to you. I guess I just got lucky with my doctor--I wouldn't know what to do without him. He listens to you and looks for the right way to treat your symptoms and pain. We move with my husband's job all over Texas but I still go back to him cause I have tried other doctors where we been transferred to and they won't listen to you. They look at you like you are drug seeking --Hell I take enough meds that I don't want anymore added to them I just want what my regular doctor has given me and they still won't listen. Keep looking there is help out there.

Originally posted by TELEpathicRN

I got the "triggering" infection in my first year of nursing as an LPN- I caught strep throat from a co worker and was out of work for about 2 weeks and then worked one 12 hr shift in the ER and took care of a little boy that had mono, then developed mono and about 6-9 mo's down the road, all the fatigue, aching pain and trigger points started. It wasn't bad at first, I went back to RN school and even did some traveling nursing, but finally got bad in the last few yrs. I now have Fibromyalgia, RLS, buldging thoracic, lumbar and sacral discs, and bone spurs up and down my back (just found incidentally while being scanned for MS!!), and my neurologist is about 98% sure that I do have MS, but just haven't had any lesions show up. Full time nursing is getting VERY VERY hard!! I am in the process of trying to apply for some Case Mgr jobs, etc.. hope something turns up.

To whoever mentioned the tooth decay, after I started having symptoms of Fibromyalgia. Every 6 mo's theres a new cavity or two!! I never had a cavity up until then!!! Now MD's are saying that MS may be caused by amalgam fillings, my mouth is full of them!!!

Hope there's some help for us broke down caring nurses!!

Me Krispynurse said something about the tooth decay that is one of the symptoms of Sjogrene's Syndrone another autoimmune

disease which I was diagnosed with---It's caused from the decrease of secretions---Always wondered why my mouth was contently dry and my eyes---There is a test for this that your doctor can tell you about. Check it out with all the other things you have I hate to say it but you might have SS too.:o

Krispynurse Sjogrene's syndrome,Lupus, and others are also other disorders seen frequently in fibro people. For anyone wanting further info, and fantastic info, checkout Fibrohugs.com it is a nice site. It also has a support group with other people some being Nurses also. Hopefully everyone had a safe and fairly symptoms free 4th.

Thanks maah for the web site

Specializes in Cardiac/Vascular & Healing Touch.

Since we are talking about sick nurses, please send light & prayer for my friend & co-worker, Tina, who is on a vent tonite (asthma). She worked overtime (a double) on July 4th, feeling rough but stayed anyway, then went to the ER, got admitted to the ICU then got tired progressing to intubation. She is a mom of two little boys & has a sweet hubby who not left her side except to go potty. She is an awesome nurse, though out of school a year, she has a real gift for healing. She appreciates your prayers!

A coworker of mine is recovering from a bout with MRSA. After becoming deathly ill, it was found she was infected in her urine, sputum, AND blood. Scary isn't it. I fear that many of us are MRSA colonized and it's just 'waiting' for a weak moment to get us....like tiny mutant buzzards...

My friend is now slowly recovering, gaining strength on our rehab unit. I'm praying for a full recovery and a return to nursing.

I notice that I don't fight off stuff as easy anymore so I agree with the weakened immune system theory. Maybe I should retire now before I get septic with MRSA too....

Sending out prayers for Tina, and all other injured and ill nurses. :kiss

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