THIN

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So I am 100 days post PNAP. I watched the documentary Thin in which the patient (a nurse) tells the nurse that she is a nurse and took insulin from work to try to kill her self. She was not reported to the BON. So question diverting Insulin versus Morphin does the board not care that there are nurse with eating disorders that are diverting Insulin, Lasix, and Thyroid to be thin? 

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Specializes in Med/Surg & Psych.

I'm sure they care but if it's not reported to the BON then they have no way of knowing.  You'd be surprised how many nurses get fired for failing a drug test or suspension of diversion and their employer does not report it. 

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On 12/24/2020 at 9:10 PM, Gratefully2years said:

So I am 100 days post PNAP. I watched the documentary Thin in which the patient (a nurse) tells the nurse that she is a nurse and took insulin from work to try to kill her self. She was not reported to the BON. So question diverting Insulin versus Morphin does the board not care that there are nurse with eating disorders that are diverting Insulin, Lasix, and Thyroid to be thin? 

People still thyroid medicine to maintain being thin? it's a cold world out here. Wow. 

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Specializes in Med/Surg; Case Management; LTC.
1 hour ago, Indiana RN said:

I'm sure they care but if it's not reported to the BON then they have no way of knowing.  You'd be surprised how many nurses get fired for failing a drug test or suspension of diversion and their employer does not report it. 

Why I bring this up is because in my 7 years with PNAP I was hospitalized for anorexia and bulimia and my case worker was like just stay clean and sober. 

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Specializes in Med/Surg; Case Management; LTC.
23 minutes ago, cynical-RN said:

People still thyroid medicine to maintain being thin? it's a cold world out here. Wow. 

Yup. I know now enough  To know that thyroid medication taken without an underactive thyroid will kill you. I am a nurse clean and sober but still waging war against Anorexia and Bulimia and now out of the thumb of PNAP I realized they never really cared about the fact that I had a severe eating disorder just so I stayed sober. So  When they say in your contract that this is because of substance alcohol abuse or other mental disorders they really need to leave the other mental disorders out of it because they don't give a ***

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Let's be honest, the board of nursing only cares about the public and the perception of the public on the nursing profession. 

These monitoring boards only care about power, control, and money. 

If any of a nurse's problems (like an eating disorder) don't present an overt threat to public safety or poor public appearance, the BON doesn't care; and as long as these monitoring programs are bringing in maximum cash and holding their thumb over you, they don't care either. 

That's why I really wish nurses would start caring more about each other because we're all each other have, outside of our friends and family support systems. I really believe authentically caring for each other could be a transformational move and enable a lot of change. 

@New mommy 26 You are so very much more than the size of your waist or a skinny defined face. I'm sorry your monitoring program and the board of nursing didn't seem to care, but it's not too late for you to care for yourself and do some healing. If you ever want to talk, I am here for you. I've had to do a great deal of personal healing on my own too (not eating disorder related but PTSD and other mental health). I know of some very good self healing resources. 

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7 hours ago, New mommy 26 said:

Yup. I know now enough  To know that thyroid medication taken without an underactive thyroid will kill you. I am a nurse clean and sober but still waging war against Anorexia and Bulimia and now out of the thumb of PNAP I realized they never really cared about the fact that I had a severe eating disorder just so I stayed sober. So  When they say in your contract that this is because of substance alcohol abuse or other mental disorders they really need to leave the other mental disorders out of it because they don't give a ***

I never thought about that. Thanks for the lesson. I cannot fathom that level of despair. Quite unfortunate. I’m very surprised. 

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Specializes in Addiction Medicine, ER, and Psychiatry.

Thank you for bringing this delicate subject matter to the forefront. I have used an example similar to this in discussions in my healthcare recovery group so many times. Why are we (the so-called lepers of the nursing world) any different than a nurse who allows him or herself to become impaired related to low blood sugar, self image issues, or trouble at home? If I cannot count on my coworkers to take care of themselves, then how can I trust them to care for patients? Why is this no different than "what we did?" My husband, also a nurse, comes home from work and tells me a story every night about unsafe practices by nurses who are unwilling to take responsibility for their actions, or even worse, are never held accountable. And here I sit.  Its been nearly three years since I worked as a nurse.  I'm facing probable suspension (yes, I have a lawyer) because I missed two call-ins over the Summer?!  I'm sober, my tests prove it. I have doctors writing me letters of recommendation, places of business begging me to come work for them, and a nursing career shattered because I asked for help some years ago. Something is broken within these "Rehabilitation" Programs.

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4 minutes ago, TrailRunnerRN said:

Thank you for bringing this delicate subject matter to the forefront. I have used an example similar to this in discussions in my healthcare recovery group so many times. Why are we (the so-called lepers of the nursing world) any different than a nurse who allows him or herself to become impaired related to low blood sugar, self image issues, or trouble at home? If I cannot count on my coworkers to take care of themselves, then how can I trust them to care for patients? Why is this no different than "what we did?" My husband, also a nurse, comes home from work and tells me a story every night about unsafe practices by nurses who are unwilling to take responsibility for their actions, or even worse, are never held accountable. And here I sit.  Its been nearly three years since I worked as a nurse.  I'm facing probable suspension (yes, I have a lawyer) because I missed two call-ins over the Summer?!  I'm sober, my tests prove it. I have doctors writing me letters of recommendation, places of business begging me to come work for them, and a nursing career shattered because I asked for help some years ago. Something is broken within these "Rehabilitation" Programs.

Funny thing is my first year as a nurse I spiraled because I was out from under my parents roof in my own place. I went to the ER at the hospital I worked at weighing 82 pounds with a potassium of 1.8. They saved me from a heart attack but I was told to take a leave of absence by my boss. No disciplinary action just take a leave.  She was the only boss I had that actually saw my ED for what it was a disorder that could cause me to pass out while caring for patients. I am better now not recovered but not underweight and my doctors have me on prescription potassium and magnesium. 

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23 hours ago, cynical-RN said:

People still thyroid medicine to maintain being thin? it's a cold world out here. Wow. 

14 hours ago, cynical-RN said:

I never thought about that. Thanks for the lesson. I cannot fathom that level of despair. Quite unfortunate. I’m very surprised. 

The funny thing is that I was told to get treatment for my drug use and told Renfrew was not approved treatment for me. So I went to rehab and became sober but the Anorexia and Bulimia went untreated so once the drugs were removed guess what raged. But no problem to the board just so you are not using drugs. It took me four months post PNAP to post this cause I was pissed but scared. Do I blame anyone for my disorder nope my choice to starve; binge and purge, and over exercise to numb out since I was 13. But damn if your going to demand sober and clean with dual diagnosis look at the global picture of mental illness and provide treatment resources 

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4 hours ago, Gratefully2years said:

 

I hope you are doing well. You have truly educated and opened my eyes to something that I was quite oblivious to. What do you think led to your anorexia/bulimia? I have often thought that it was the media's portrayal of thin models as the standard of beauty that influences people the most, especially teenagers. I think the board is only interested in scheduled medications that may impair the judgement of the nurse, but I don't think that should be the only focus. A nurse stealing insulin to maintain some psychosis induced metabolic state is very dangerous. Similar to someone stealing levothyroxine without having an underactive thyroid. 

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Specializes in Psych, Addictions, SOL (Student of Life).
11 hours ago, cynical-RN said:

I hope you are doing well. You have truly educated and opened my eyes to something that I was quite oblivious to. What do you think led to your anorexia/bulimia? I have often thought that it was the media's portrayal of thin models as the standard of beauty that influences people the most, especially teenagers. I think the board is only interested in scheduled medications that may impair the judgement of the nurse, but I don't think that should be the only focus. A nurse stealing insulin to maintain some psychosis induced metabolic state is very dangerous. Similar to someone stealing levothyroxine without having an underactive thyroid. 

Psych nurse and recovering alcoholic/California monitoring contract graduate here...... This all boils down to these programs not being individualized. The BONs certainly do care if a nurse's practice is impacted in an unsafe way by a mental health diagnosis and there are nurses I went through this with who had eating disorders, BPD, Bi-polar etc.....When they are reported they get the same choices that nurse impacted by substance use, but the programs are all cut with the same cookie cutter. However I bolded the sentence above because it shows how little even nurses know about mental health diagnoses. Anorexia Nervosa is rarely fuled by Psychosis and should not be lumped in with people who suffer from psychosis. They are different conditions and treated differently. I wish these treatment programs looked at the root cause of these problems. With some exceptions almost all addictions and anorexia can be seen as an addiction are about the patient having  a perception of control and  stem from a time or place where the patient felt they were powerless and afraid. Almost all addicts/alcoholics have one or more Adverse Childhood Events in their back ground. 

We do need to care about and help eachother but to do that we need to educate ourselves about addctions and their root causes. I am an outspoken advocate for nurses receiving actual help for addiction related factors such as ACE, PTSD, CPTSD etc...... but the fact remains that the nurse who is suffering/recovering stays silent as they are so often seen as damaged goods by colleagues who should know better. I highly recomend everyone either dealing with certain types of mental health issues read, 

The Body Keeps the Score, by Bessel Van der Kolk, MD. It is an exstremely enlightening look at the role played by ACEs in the development of mental health issues. 

Hppy

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