An observation | Arthritis Information

 

I was with my mom today at the hospital when her nurse and I got to talking, it turns out she has RA too. Does it seem to anyone else like alot of women in the nursing field have RA or some other autoimmune disorder? I ask her what she thought on the subject and she said there were several women at that particular hospital with some sort of autoimmune problems. She also said that she and the ones she talks with all think it's a stress related thing.

I've been to alot of messages boards and there is usually women who are or have been nurses. Could it be the long hours, being over worked and under staffed? I didn't really have a chance to ask this woman before she had to run off to her next patient.

I don't know if it's just me or has anyone else noticed this? Lorster, your post about your traveling nurse assignment made me finally ask. I hope you can get out of this contract without any added stress. God bless all nurses for the jobs you do. Doctors offices and hospitals would be even worse without the kindness and caring you wonderful nurses provide to the patients and their families. You are truly a gift to people who are sick, suffering and scared. As a recent retiree and a switch to Humira...I believe that stress has a great deal to do with the P side of things.  Used to be I would flare up after some overly stressful period...and then after paying more attention to myself and getting caught up on my sleep, the flare up would ease up.  Now I have almost 0 stress and I'm on Humira and both the P and the PA are hardly noticeable.

Women are more likely to get autoimmune diseases(75%), in RA it's a 4:1 ratio.

But since many AI diseases are thought to have an infectious trigger, it's an interesting idea. Nurse's immune systems are constantly provoked by an endless series of infections both bacterial and viral - and this done under the most stress filled, health straining work environment possible.

I wonder if there's ever been a study done? Maybe one of the Nurse's unions?

Lynk39126.9911111111Auntlisa, my Rheumy told me he was "disturbed" at the number of auto
immune diseases that he is seeing amongst medical care professions. It has
to be a combination of things like genetics, being female, lifestyle, stress
levels, what you eat. For the first many years of my career, I worked more
than one job, I was a single mom with three mouths to feed. I burned the
candle at both ends...all the time. I didn't eat right, exercise right, I worked
all shifts, double shifts, double back shifts 10 in a row was nothing. I think
it finally caught up to me. There is nothing I can do to reverse the damage I
have created. But I do now know that I am going to take care of myself and
not get myself in bad situation...lol...as I talk about this new nursing job,
ack. It will be interesting to find out if the job can cause it. My theory is
that we have a genetic predisposition and some major events occur and
WALA, we have RA. Probably not that easy but I"m waiting for the cure. I had that thought last night while reading posts.  It was like man, there are a lot of nurses with RA or other AI diseases.  Nursing does seem to combine stress, infection and long work days. 

Never really have thought of that....but you are so right.

Good to see you here AuntLisa. I hope everything will be ok with your Mother.

 

 

Hey Lovie! How ya doin girl? Good to see you! Don't know what is up with my mom yet but trying to keep good thoughts.

I never really thought about the stress factor alot but the more I think of it, my RA reared it's ugly head when I was fighting workman's comp case. I think it really started when I was a kid cause I remember having some problems when I was young but when the WC thing was happening, it hit me like a brick.

The nurse thing really struck me yesterday. I have no earthly idea how this woman put the IV in my moms arm. Her hands and fingers were so twisted up. There are days when I can't hold a soup can let alone something so small as a needle! Nurses are amazing people.
Hi there,
My sister also has RA and both she and I first began showing
symptoms after VERY stressful events in our lives.

I'm a TOTAL novice to this whole RA thing; but for what it's worth; I
strongly believe stress can trigger the whole ugly ball of wax.

JinxAww Jinx, so sorry about you and your sister. Wish I was a novice to crappy disease but I am not.

Not only does stress seem to play a major part in triggering RA but the stress from having RA doesn't go away either. In a sense, you are lucky if you and your sister are close, you both have someone to lean on when times are tough. That means so much. Good luck to you both and take good care of each other.Wow, thanks so much for that!! That is so kind!!

Yes, my sister and I are close and she has been battling RA for
years; while I am just in the beginning stages w/ a tentative
diagnosis of RA.

I'm sorry to hear that you have had such a hard road of it. Life is
certainly not always fair, is it??   Sometimes all we can do is endure;
and wait for better days.

I hope that you, too, have someone to lean on while dealing with
"crappy diseases".

You take good care, too. You are so right Jinx, "all we can do is endure and wait for better days" very well said! I have found that is the trick, we just have to adapt.

I do have someone to lean on, I have a wonderful hubby who takes very good care of me.

You can also find a tremendous amount of support here. Whenever you are up or down or just need answers to questions you might have, someone is always here to help or just to listen.

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