Welcome to the New Nurses with Disabilities Forum!

Hi,

What is the name of your boook? I am interested in the read. Thanks!!!

Sharona97

great idea........i'm disabled with copd/emphysema and last year had to put my license on hold due to costs and only having ss.......sure miss nursing a lot and also conversation! thanks for the forum,will be here more often now.....

but i'm still fighting it, and even though i too miss nursing perse, i still have this website to log into, and that gives me a lot of comfort.

what about billing for a local doctor who is just starting his/her practice or established doctor ou know ? network...network... thanks and good luck, mary

It's the coplications concurred during and S/P after the pertussis that prevent me from gainful employment today. Maybe not tomorrow or the next day but just maybe again. I've received some great feedback on research nursing I plan on checking out. Thanks for your thoughts, I still feel like I can work it!!!!

Wow, this forum has really taken off! At one time I asked for a forum like this and it looks like my request (and I am sure the requests of many others) were heeded. Thanks so much Brian, nurses with disabilities need a place to help us feel less alone. It has been amazing to hear how everyone is coping with the curves life has thrown them. Aren't human beings amazing?!

i am a nursing student, who is actually just getting started next week, and i have a pinched nerve --most everyone is claiming that it is sciatica.. but my chiropractor disagrees.

i am too thrilled about this forum!!! i am thankful because we needed this badly. yet i find myself nearly paralyzed to touch my keyboard to write---i'm afraid of what response will come back---ok, take a deep breath.

i'll be 47 in november and have suffered from a cervical injury since 2004 that was ignored and not aggressively treated until 2006 (wc). this injury may require a multiple fusion, but i won't know for sure until i see the neurologist next month. all the prescribed modalities from holistic to traditional approaches have resulted in no improvement. in 2005 i decided to study nursing. i struggled through school to finish my nursing pre-reqs (completed this past june). i can no longer attend school because of chronic pain and the effects of numerous drugs (narcotics/antidepressants...) prescribed to alleve my symptoms.

my doctors told me it was good to continue with my studies, and even encouraged me in my chosen major. academically i was doing well (i have a 3.5 gpa). i mention this because it was assumed by my doctors (including primary treating to pain management to psychologist) if i could perform this well in school that certainly i was employable and well enough to enter nursing school. but it was always a struggle to perform at school. and my caregivers were made aware of my suffering because i constantly complained that i was getting worse, but all they seemed to look at was my ability to meet the challenges of school. (i made it through sheer will, and my faith in god.) however, physically and mentally i can't do it anymore.

it wasn't until my recent diagnostics showned that my condition had worsened, and i am forced to wear a cervical collar to restrain me from being a bobble-head, i am finally being taken seriously. i may have worked myself too hard thinking it was all in my head since the doctors were saying everything was ok. i believed them despite what my body was telling me. i needed to believe them to keep going. now, i may have to accept that nursing may not be in my future, no matter how much i may want it. i haven't given up though, but i do have many unanswered questions, which i hope to find help for in this much welcomed and needed forum for all of us.

if any of you have some insight, suggestion, or encouragement i'd like to hear it. thanks again, brian & the allnurses staff for your good work.

samburu

"wise make simple." words to live by.

i became "disabled" in 2000 due to a surgical procedure that kept me on the operating table for over 12 hours. i have severe nerve damage that makes my legs "go numb". feels like i have a trillion hot needles being stuck in them. i have been receiving ssd since then and i'm in semester 4 of 6 in an adn program. i sat for my nclex-pn in july (after 3 semester of nursing) and passed. i landed a job at one of the best ltc facilities in my area and i'm loving it. i have recently received many compliments from other nurses as well as the don. i start semester 4 tomorrow and will hopefully have my rn by dec. 2008. i'm very concerned that "traditional" nursing will be difficult for me. currently, i've been able to deal w/ the pain my disability causes, not letting on how much pain i'm in, but how long can i do this??? it concerns me a great deal. i'm 46 w/ 2 teenage sons and i know how big of a role model i am for them. i'm a 3 time cancer survivor (all different types) and they've been through it all with me. i've been working for a month now and just hope i can continue and find ways to deal w/ my disability and pain. i thoroughly enjoy the work i do and can't wait to get my rn. i'll continue to keep putting one foot in front of the other and go where the road takes me.

you will make it !!! if nursing is your choice then remember there are many ways to do nursing. it is good to have a purpose and goal, no matter how small ! learn and investigate each day and you will finally reach your goal. turn no into yes.....have a goooood day........mary

God Bless Ya! Doesn't this forum give you hope? I love it and I too have some of the same fears of being able to continue the pace and skill I once had 6 years ago. I was a leader in my clinic and in my heart and the compassion and will power are still there. Hank in there, there are many areas of nursing for us and our experience. And I thank all nurses who have responded with recommendations and links. Brian you are awesome.

Hi everyone, I'm Amy, just graduated from nursing school and just got my license to practice! Yay! I'm to start working as a NICU RN in two weeks.

I have a few things going on medical wise and this forum will hopefully help me adjust to that and a career.

I have had Type I juvenille onset Diabetes since age 12, 18 years now. I'm going through a rough patch right now trying to balance my basal rates. It's a work in progress and I'm hoping being on the go alot with nursing will make it a bit easier to manage.

I also have recently been diagnosed with "undifferentiated connective tissue disease" which they are treating kind of like "pre-lupus" don't know if that makes sense. I have really bad arthralgia, a positive ANA and some other issues - soreness and bruising, etc. I am on tramadol for pain but the doctor wanted to give me plaquenil but b/c of the possible effects to eyes I can't take it (I have some mild eye issues in one eye so we don't want it to get worse). I'm going to see a new rheum. next week in hopes to find some better/aggressive treatment as right now I just hurt all the time, even with tramadol. I've used other pain meds (vicodin, etc.) for the pain but the effects are pretty much the same as tramadol so I figured I'd stay on the tramadol as its a bit less severe of a drug.

Anyway, I'm really praying that I can be a great nurse even with all of this going on. I'm 30 years young and I want to enjoy a long career!

Here's to a long active career! Congratulations on the job!

Hello,

I am a new graduate of nursing school preparing to take my boards.

I was dx about a year ago with rheumatoid arthritis. I'm so scared of what is to become of me, and me dreams of being a nurse. I often wonder long I'm going to be able to do floor nursing:o. I'm in pain alot even though I take my meds, and most of the time I need a nap in the middle of the day. I dont plan on telling anyone at the job I have lined up for me. But I know someone will catch me limping or something and ask. I hope I can get some support from you guys. I love this site and all the support you show each other. I'm glad I found it.