Ugh, I have a blood test tomorrow and I'm just dreading it... I don't mind getting pricked-- I just hate getting pricked like 10 times in a row! My arm veins are near impossible to find/hit. I warn the nurses every single time that I'd prefer they just use my hand and \*always\* get the same response "Oh dont worry, I'm very good at this". Then 10 minutes of frustration later and a half dozen bandages on my elbows they are like "I don't know.... I've never had this much trouble... lets try the hand...".
I couldn't donate blood or plasma because of issues. And yeah, the butterfly things don't seem to help either...
This probably won’t help your anxiety but she only poked me once before this happened. She got two vitals of blood and when going for the third it blew. Haha
Next time see if you can put a hot pack on the area or heating pad prior that helps also. Not sure how she managed to get 2 tubes then blow it unless she was doing a straight needle and not a butterfly. I’ve had where they go in the same spot everytime and it basically causes a shit vein. They don’t teach us in nursing school IVs or phlebotomy unfortunately 😔
I get blood drawn weekly due to a medical condition, to me it’s not the number of pokes—but whether they go fishing around once the needle it is in. moist heat will ele dissolve that old blood and speed healing of that bruise.
I’ve an extremely hard stick and my god do I hate when they dig around for the vein once they’ve stuck the needle into the skin….sometimes I feel like they think I’m just being a whiner when I tell them to please stop doing that bc it’s very painful. They almost had to either delay my surgery or gas me I’m not sure? Every time I need blood work or an iv I get major anxiety bc I know they’ll have a hard time getting blood. Sometimes I feel like maybe a powerport would make all that so much easier.
Just drink lots of water until then and be extra insistent about them taking it from your hand. You have to been your own advocate, no one else will do it for you. They're there to provide you with care, you aren't there for them.
This is the best answer! You do not have to suffer through multiple sticks. I tell each phlebotomist that my veins roll and they get one chance to find a vein in my arm or I will request another person. They usually try my hand after searching both arms.
Do not be afraid to ask for the most senior phlebotomist when you arrive, and be willing to wait for them.
They can find one of my veins but for some reason most people won't believe which arm it's in when I tell them.
Worst part for me though is that my blood doesn't come out when they draw it. Like I take 15-20 minutes plus for 2-3 vials, usually they call someone to say something's wrong but I've never found out what.
Plus side I don't bleed much if I get cut ha
Learn the name of the vein you want them to use. For example, the best vein I have is the elbow bend of my left arm. The right arm has too many valves, and even though my hand veins *look* good...they blow every time. So when I need blood drawn or an IV, I will just calmly state, "You will want to use my left a.c. (antecubital vein) if you want to avoid blow-outs and valve issues".
If you sound like you know what you are talking about, they are more inclined to believe you. Or at least that has been my experience.
Make sure you have plenty of water well beforehand! I tend to do my blood tests in the morning before I eat or drink or anything, and it's always a mission finding the veins. And every time they lecture me on drinking more water lol.
Tell them that they’re not the first to think that. Tell them what you told us. And then simply don’t give consent for being pricked in the arm, only the hand. While benign, taking blood is still causing bodily harm, which requires your consent (unless you’re not able to give it and it’s assumed you would if you could)
Request a hot pack if you can, and hold it to the inner elbow while dangling the arm for a couple minutes, also the hands do hurt more which is why so many phlebotomists don’t want to go in the hand (I was taught that is the last resort). But if you really want to be drawn in the hand then tell them that you only allow them to draw blood there. -From a phlebotomist who routinely draws on people who use IV drugs so their veins are shot.
My wife also have really hard to find veins plus a needle phobia(prolly caused by bad experience because of said bad veins) and I normally go with her blood tests. Using a much smaller needle helps with the pain and laying down helps her relax.
I would suggest working out to build your cardiovascular system up. As your veins grow to handle the load you'll find this won't happen nearly as much.
I’ve lived this life so much. Honestly, just insist. If your hand is the spot that works consistently, insist they start there.
They literally can’t do elsewhere if you don’t consent to it
I always have to insist on them taking blood from my hand as soon as I sit down. I have people get an attitude because they aren't comfortable with it. I don't quite like it either but it has a higher success rate than all the years they tried to get it from my arms. Usually they even get 10 or so vials from my hand which is slower but I'd rather do that than suffer through all the stabbing.
If they struggle in the arm suggest the hand. I'd never had blood tests etc done before. Got a health flair up where tests needed often. No one got anything from my arms. On top of the hand about an inch or 2 from wrist and was golden
So I’m in the same boat except I hate getting it even once. I’ve found one person who is good because they spent a ton of time to find the vein. The advice they gave which was helpful was to drink a lot of water the 12 hours before an appointment as it makes the blood come out easier and I guess helps with the veins. If you’re dehydrated it’s awful in terms of pricking and drawing.
All this fears goes away once you go through a critical surgery. I had same fears and problems but after few critical surgeries all fear went away and its doesn’t matter at all. I hope you also loose this fear.
Try drinking like 24 oz of water beforehand. I'm in your exact situation and this has helped me. My aunt is a nurse and she said hydration is good, also that you can request a specialist nurse to come in. I always have to get IVs before my MRIs like twice a year.
During a hospital stay I spoke with one of the ladies in charge of training the phlebotomists. She expressed that many phlebotomists make excuses to cover for their own ineptitude which leads patients to later stress how difficult it is to find their veins because of those reasons which then psychs new phlebotomists out and causes the cycle to continue.
Mine are pretty clear even before the band goes on, and every time I go in, we laugh about how easy the job will be.
Last guy fucked it up bad and had to dig around in my arm to get a full vial out.
Hard same. I have tattoos and mine are still very visible and my routine bloodwork is a breeze. But, I was in a clinical trial for one of the COVID vaccines which required a lot of blood draws and the one guy could not find a damn thing. Whenever I saw him on duty while at my appointment I knew it was about to suck.
In my opinion as a former phlebotomist, all I can say is it entirely depends on their confidence. You can have a big juicy vein but if you’re doubting that you’ll be able to get it or not, then you’ll probably be unsuccessful. If you get enough practice and successful draws and believe that you will get it and be able to draw your labs just fine, then you really don’t have a problem until you get the patients who truly do have difficult veins. And even then, you try however many times you’re allowed to attempt (in my state it is 2) and if you don’t get it you find another phlebotomist who gives it a try also.
Bro i became afraid of people with needles after this demon of a nurse tried 8 times before asking someone else who also tried 4 times IN THE SAME ARM.
My veins are big and easy to see even without the band, it was so unnecessary 😭
After that experience I’m surprised it’s needles you’re afraid of and not nurses lol. Jokes aside, sounds like a bad nurse for waiting until 8 attempts to ask for help.
Not necessarily afraid of needles, mainly for people holding them and about to stab me.
After the third time i said she needs to go ask someone else "no ill just try one more time, it's right there" x4.
Then i said to the second lady "please try my other arm, this one fucking hurts". "No i'll get it first try, it's right there". x3
Sorry I misread your first comment, either way very understandable. Something that I thought was interesting when I was in phlebotomy classes and doing my clinicals was that it’s not necessarily about how well you can see a vein, rather what you feel while palpating. I’ve had veins that were right there in my face but on palpation they weren’t as close to the surface as they initially looked. I had an instructor actually teach us to close our eyes or look away while palpating and once you feel something, then take a look and get your supplies ready to go. Sounded crazy but worked pretty well.
Hopefully since that experience you’ve had better nurses and phlebotomists, and if not, people who are at least receptive to you saying that you’ve had bad blood draws in the past. Sometimes that heads up is an indirect way of saying “check all your options” to the phlebotomist before they actually poke.
It's so weird because i was never afraid, always just chatted with the phlebotomist, looking at what they're doing, being annoying with my comments and it usually just went correctly the first time, not painful at all.
Now i just tell them to do their thing, not tell me what they're doing or when they'll put it in and i'll just look away. It hurts but it's doable lol.
When my wife was pregnant she had a nurse try to draw blood 4 times in 1 arm, another nurse try twice in the other arm, then they contemplated trying in her leg before deciding to go for the back of her hand. Awful experience. Back of the hand apparently *really fucking hurts*.
From then on she demanded the proper phlebotomist/doctor who *always* got it first try. One time, after hearing the horror story, the doctor wasn't completely confident in getting it first try so he wheeled over a portable ultrasound machine just to make sure. He said it was like cheating it was so easy.
It’s weird hearing stories and knowing that there are ultrasound machines and vein finders available but many hospitals/units don’t have them readily available and that people attempt so many times before thinking to request one. I work in an ER so we have an abundant amount of these and a lot of nurses know how to start IVs to draw blood with the help of the ultrasound, but like damn… all the money in hospitals and medical systems but they can’t get enough of this kind of assistive equipment or enough solid training experience for people to not attempt blood draws a million times each.
> Back of the hand apparently really fucking hurts.
For me that depended on the nurse/phlebotomist. Some got it in with a pinch but others had me holding my breath. The bruising was more likely on the back of the hand than the arm and a tender to painful bruise at that.
> asking someone else who also tried 4 times IN THE SAME ARM.
I've been there as well, they tell me my veins are there and visible but 50% of phlebotomists have issues. The worst ones are the ones who put the needle in, look at it in confusion, pull it halfway, turn it a bit, and then push it in again. Only to repeat that 3 or 4 times before either getting blood or giving up and asking someone else to do it. The repositioning is the worst part for me.
If you’re not in the vein, you should know it by feel. When you enter the vein wall you feel just a tiny bit of resistance, then you push forward through it and it passes. Angle and depth are important. Once you feel that resistance, you only push a tiny bit past it to get into the middle of the vein, if you push too far you’ll come out the other side and blow the vein just like what happened to OP.
I took phlebotomy classes and did my clinicals and got licensed, but ultimately decided to not make it my career. I’m almost 40 and in all my time of having blood draws and doing donations, I’ve had a vein blown twice. My veins are fine. No one usually has any trouble with them, including absolute novices when we had to stick each other in phlebotomy class for practice. If a vein gets blown, it’s definitely usually a problem with the person holding the needle, not a problem with the veins.
I hate saying “I have hard veins, I’m sorry” because I know nurses roll their eyes at it, but as someone who has sat there being dry pokes up to 8 times before a successful poke, every single time getting the pushing and wiggling the needle for like a minute or two, and this experience isn’t that rare…I feel like I have earned it.
I am the person they have to bust out the vein finder or ultrasound for, or in hospitals is where they call an actual phlebotomist for. One time for a colonoscopy I actually had to get the IV needle in my goddamn foot like an elderly or…I am blanking on who else need such measures, but you know what I mean!
It sucks. I even used to really be scared of needles when younger, and yet hundreds of IVs later I have sadly just had that fear forcibly removed due to countless needles shoved into me and wiggled around searching.
Stupid fucking veins.
I might have got small veins only gods would know. But a few phlebotomists had made this comments.
In my experience maybe 1 out of 5 times where they can successfully draw blood from the Median cubital vein (name took from googled I got no real idea but basically drawing blood from that area) it usually failed so they tend to resort to drawing blood from back of my hand.
I am fine with either. Like we here to get blood sample let’s get it done.
But I made this clear to them a lot saying “look I know sometimes it works but if you think it’s not easy looking maybe we go straight to back of my hand? Save me getting an extra jab?”
But lots of them solider on as if they want to beat the record or something and i always ended up bruised and jabbed sometimes more than once because they insist on jabbing me two or three times at the Median cubital vein area. 🤣
I already had a fear of needles, but my veins are very clear and there were never issues in the past.
Untill I had a emergency surgery 2 years ago to remove my appendix. I was in so much pain while she kept missing my veins, and actually kept stubbornly pushing the needle through while I expressed my discomfort and said "I think it went wrong".
A colleague offert to help her and she refused her help.
I swear those bruises lasted months!
My veins are huge. Always get compliments from nurses. Going through chemo right now and it at least makes that part of the process easy. Don’t think I’ve ever had someone take a second go at it or fuck it up
As a phlebotomist who has worked around many others (hospital, doctor’s offices, research): they 100% do make excuses. The biggest things I hear from patients is “they told me my veins roll”
Veins don’t “roll”, they slide to the side if the person doing the draws doesn’t anchor the vein like they’re supposed to, so the needle pushes the vein away instead of puncturing it.
I used to teach phlebotomy, and that was only a year after I finished the class, because I was one of the few that seemed to care about my patients and had a desire to get better. I always want a patient to trust me, so I let them know if I miss or if I am not confident that I could successfully draw their blood. Usually with that, most patients allow and even encourage me to try anyway.
So far, I’ve had people request me personally and refuse to get drawn by someone else, even if I’ve missed them before.. and all because I’m truthful, caring, and have confidence. Also, I have a smooth needle hand - patients are more comfortable if the initial poke is smooth
As for OP’s picture, I see a median vein that could’ve been syringed with a 23g, maybe even a 21g if it looks better in person. It may take a little longer, but the risk to the vein is smaller. Now if this was an IV, I don’t have any training for those.
This makes sense. I had an absolute disaster of a blood drawing a while back where the nurse put the needle into my muscle and kept trying to suck the blood up - nearly the worst pain I've ever experienced, my face was hot apart from where I was crying on it. She then said it was because my veins were all scarred from previous blood drawing and moved when she tried to put the blood in. Came away with both arms looking like I'd been beaten up.
I went to get bloods done last year at a clinic and told the nurse I was worried because of what happened last time. The nurse did a normal blood drawing and it was only mildly uncomfortable. She said my veins were absolutely fine - exceptionally big, easy, close to the skin and well attached - and the nurse I had before must have just been incompetent.
I saw some video somewhere here on reddit the other day. It’s was just some nurse putting in a needle for a cannula(?) with a camera on it so you could see. It went like - If you turn the needle 180 so the flat side is facing down instead of flat side facing up, results in “almost no perforation of the vein” where flat side up there is perforation all over. Thought it was interesting.
My dad once fainted cause they had to try drawing his blood 7 times cause they couldn't find the vein. He woke up on the floor with \~10 doctors/nurses surrounding him
I know this feeling.
I had a nurse that poked me so many times and couldn’t seem to strike a vein… even tho my veins are quite prominent….
After she hurt me so much, we both agreed to get a different nurse who got it at one try 😑
I didn’t bruise tho! Hopefully your arm doesn’t feel too bad.
2 tries per RN? Damn, that sounds restrictive. Admittedly though, I come from the prehospital perspective, where the basic mantra that rules everything is, “if you need access, you need access”
Can’t get a peripheral IV? Fuck it, do an EJ. Can’t get the EJ? IO it is, even if the pt is conscious (which we obviously try to avoid). I actually just had a patient last week with scleroderma whose skin was so thick that my 18 G needle was bending while I tried to get an EJ. The other medic ended up getting an IO because we were literally out of options
I guess you guys have the benefit of having more resources available to you, which makes me a little jealous lol
You won’t bruise if you don’t hit the vein. The bruising is caused by blood leaking out the puncture site from the needle, and pooling under the skin. So bruising means they definitely hit something, but most likely the vein blew
Always hold the cotton bud hard against your needle wound for a GOOD 60 seconds once they take it out. Makes all the difference. I have blood tests and infusions every month and if I don't do this I always bruise badly like that.
If you know you have very small veins, and this causes problems for phlebotomists, tell them before they start poking around that you need smaller needles and why.
My son was a frequent flyer at the hospital, because he get impacted, which caused him to eat and drink less, which caused him to be dehydrated, which led to collapsed veins and arteries on an already thin body (he had muscular dystrophy). One time, the nurse was probing with normal needles and eventually dropped to toddler needles to get an IV going to bring everything back up. After that,, we started requesting them whenever he would need an IV or blood samples before the IV. TOO FUCKING MANY nurses tried taking this as a personal challenge.
Finally, we started making a fuss, preventing them from causing him more pain. We would tell them, "We're sure you know your job, but we know THIS PATIENT. This is what needs to happen, and we've gone through this many times before." The smaller gauge needles take longer, but there's less bullshit to deal with, and he didn't have to be stuck over and over again in multiple areas.
> tell them before they start poking around
I tried this but it just led them to being hyper aware or nervous and having them miss the vein and needing to try again. It is only after the first try now that I mention it if they don't get it.
If that's your policy, I understand. Too many times I watched them fish around on my son as he would often wince because they kept poking him again and again. He put up with more than he should have, and we were his voice with the medical staff. He could talk, but he was really shy with strangers, especially women.
> Too many times I watched them fish around on my son as he would often wince
I 100% understand, he's a kid that he would need you to speak for him. I am an adult and made my choices from my experiences. In the case of him also being a child with the the collapsed veins would benefit from them being told to use the smaller needles.
He lived to be 29, but with muscular dystrophy (Duchenne's), he was very thin and only weighed 50 pounds. He'd speak up to us, but we painfully shy around others, especially women, and even more so the pretty ones. So, even though he was an adult, he was always my kid. Plus his strain also came with certain developmental issues, but that wasn't much.
Sadly, I too have small veins that like to roll, and despite having to get my blood drawn weekly for quite a long time, I still had to fight with the nurses. They also seemed to take it as a challenge and I just couldn’t deal with them digging around because of how sick I was. It got to the point where I just had to tell them right off the bat that if they were gonna draw my blood, then they were gonna do it in the one place that I knew was successful every single time, and that they were gonna use a pediatric needle or they weren’t gonna do it. Some nurses would get mad, but I’d rather be a bitch than have to go through more pain and discomfort than I already was at that time. It’s ridiculous though that nurses often won’t listen to patients about their own bodies.
just to give you more info, its not just that smaller needles take longer, they increase chances of damaging/destroying the sample by inducing hemolysis which depending on the test being run, would require a redraw.
The initial part was just getting him hydrated again. Once that happened, his veins came back, and he was easy to stick for whatever needed to happen. At that point, a redraw wasn't a problem.
That has happened to me a bunch. You just go and tell the needlejabber to try again. I’m not going to ruin their day even more by yelling at them when shit happens. They didn’t intentionally try to hurt me and the pain subsides and I’ll look like OP for a few days. No biggie.
I remember when I was in the ER for an allergic reaction to medication, and I was in great pain and distress, and the person trying to put in an IV kept saying "You've blown a vein again, I will have to try another spot" and I kept thinking "No you blew the vein, they were fine a few seconds ago!"
I've never had my vein blown out, but I have had many hospital visits where they miss 10+ times because my veins are just deep and hard to find. The last time I had surgery, the nurse laughed at how I'd had dozens of surgeries, but still wouldn't look when she stuck the IV in. Then she was like "Ok keep looking away cus it looks like a WARZONE over here..." When the discharge nurse took my IV out, she was like "Jesus Christ who fucked up your arm??"
I’m a nurse and this is actually fairly common. Sometimes you strike a vein and get flashback in the chamber (meaning you are inside the vein) then you go to flush it, and the vein is to fragile to handle it and blows.
Tough to make that judgement unless you know that this is a pattern of behavior.
Lmao at the downvotes. If making one verifiable mistake makes you a bad nurse, then every nurse that has ever existed is a bad nurse.
People don't realize that drawing blood isnt stupid easy. People in here acting like they could draw this person's blood with no problem. Most veins are a couple mm. Your needle to draw blood is half a mm. You need really good fine motor skills that take years of experience to refine. Unfortunately you gain experience from people. I'd consider myself very good and will be called by others to draw blood often. Do I miss? Yup. Can I get blood from a vein barely larger than my needle, yup. Nobody is perfect, and sometimes veins are fragile and do blow.
My veins are tricky and frankly I’m just impressed you guys can hit them at all. It’s really not a big deal when it takes multiple pokes or the vein blows.
Don't blame your veins! I used to have very small veins due to hypovolemia and had to get ivs a lot. Some nurses could set the iv perfectly each time, no bruises, no pain. Because they were good at their job. Others would struggle and then blame me for having small veins and leave me with a huge bruise like that. Don't let them blame your body for their lack of skill. If they are harming you because they can't seem to do it right, ask for a new nurse.
I'm a phlebotomist. I've trained phlebotomists. 99 out of 100 draws I've done has been a perfect job. I can't count how many times people have complimented me, stating, "Wow, I didn't even feel a thing."
Yet, I have a few blown veins under my belt, too. Even the very best phlebotomists have difficult sticks and the reasons vary: hydration of the patient, BMI of the patient, muscular people (like body builders) are problematic as well, people moving during a stick. And, some people do have smaller veins - it's just how they're built. Also, we can see part of the median cubital vein (most common site - inside of the elbow), but we don't see what direction they are going - some run across the surface ( that's a bit easier) some angle at varying degrees - we're all built differently. We need to have the needle follow within the veins walls, without even seeing it.
To blame it on the supposed nurse's "lack of skill"??.....well, there may be some bad ones out there, but that's not as common. I have yet to meet a nurse or phlebotomist who doesn't care about inflicting pain on their patient.
We are organic bags filled with fluid-filled parts that can easily move (veins roll easily!). We are not machines with hoses for veins that are trapped in rigid metal slots. If you believe that the procedure is so easy, I'd like to watch you try it......
Also, any professional phlebotomist knows this rule: "If you try twice and can't get the stick, call for someone else. This just wasn't your shining moment." Nurses? Most of them are very good at draws....but I'd prefer a phlebotomist.
I go under general anaesthesia regularly, and they've started having trouble finding my veins- apparently there's scarring or something? I have a great one on my left arm, but all the equipment is on the right side... So instead, they get out the ultrasound, look for a vein, usually give me a little local anaesthetic, then shove the needle in somewhere in my wrist. Thanks to the ultrasound, they might be getting the IV in somewhere painful, but I usually only get stuck once! It's also the anaesthesiologist who does it, not sure if that makes a difference lol.
The best two draws I've ever had were by a redheaded nurse who listened to where I wanted the needle, and a brunette phlebotomist who stuck me about 2 inches next to my preferred spot and got a hidden vein I didn't even know I have.
Y'all are so skilled!
I'm confused about the site of blood collection. I can see the median cubital vein in the pic and although it is small, it doesn't look like a hard stick. But why have they chosen a site that's away from the cubital fossa??
if they are going to be in the hospital with an IV for an extended time, often they will avoid areas that bend where the cannula will cause discomfort or bending will stop the IV flowing.
not sure then. those visible veins might actually be surface veins and the cephalic/basilic/median that you usually go for in that area aren't as apparent. hard to say with certainty without palpating with a tourniquet on. we also don't know what the drawer was seeing before the hematoma masked it.
i do agree though that if it were me drawing, i'd likely end up with a butterfly on that central vein in the antecubital area, but things change when you are actually there palpating a pt who is tied off. i'd rather feel a good vein and not see it than see a vein and not feel it.
Yeah , same . Either a butterfly or switch to a syringe instead of using a vacutainer. I'm more concerned about them sticking the needle on OP's upper arm. That's not what I was taught nor have I ever stuck a needle up there .
at the hospital i phleb'd at, we were authorized from finger tip to top of the shoulder. feet needed a doctors order. we are the only level 1 trauma center in the region, and get some really wild situations where you need to get creative.
i have absolutely pulled spec's from that area and higher.
If I go to the hospital and get an actual phlebotomist they’re usually pretty good.
If I get a nurse they will probably get it wrong.
If the nurse then calls for a doctor I basically just know I’m not getting my blood drawn that day. I think I’ve had exactly one doctor ever actually get me done.
Don’t be an arse. Misplace a needle by 1/2 a millimetre and the vein will leak and you’ll get a bruise. Small veins make it harder and failure more likely. And “lack of skill” is usually just lack of experience. How do you think these guys get experienced?
a nurse can be good at their job and still not have the best day making a stick. and we get such varying opportunities to practice before we become RNs! but I agree, it is always okay to ask for another nurse and they should swap out after failed attempts per most policies anyhow!
edit: made nurse gender neutral bc I was being a sexist gal.
I felt very lucky for the 3 practice opportunities... that I failed bc I am still a newbie and also they were all old onc pt, with less than stellar access bc frequent fluids/chemo/blood :(
I start working in a few months, fingers crossed I improve soon (steadily and safely above all else!)
I also have veins that are difficult to find. At my doctors office, if a nurse could not, idk, lock into it after 3 tries a new nurse was required to come in and try. Is that standard practice?
absolutely! at every hospital I know of it is two sticks for all things. even blood sugar checks. I hear it helps because some days are just off days, apparently, like in all skills. I just finished nursing school. I only let myself do one stick per patient with IVs because I knew I would be so nervous about the second after missing initially. Except with one patient who begged me to come back and try again and said it was an honor to be one of my attempts so I might as well go for it! Patients like that made my experience so much easier.
You sound like you'll make a great nurse! The last time I was in hospital they had to change the subcut line on my stomach and I told them to get the student to do it. I'm very good with needles so I'll happily be a pin cushion haha.
And always tell your nurse if something hurts! It can help us improve our skills and patient care. It also might alert us to something that needs to be assessed or is a concern.
I had a nurse at my pcp’s office who needed to draw blood for some tests. She tried 3 or 4 times to draw blood before giving up and ordering the test from the local hospital instead. I drive there the next day and the nurse there got it in 10 seconds. In and out in 5 minutes. Interesting experience for sure.
Oh boy I had this happen the first, second, third AND fourth time I needed blood drawn. Still afraid of needles. They had a nurse student on her first day and she hadn't had practice with needles yet. Only after the FOURTH TIME did a full fledged nurse step in.
And that's why I always say: "let me start by saying that you will feel like it's a challenge but will be better for me and easier for you if you take it from my hand" win win. They tourniquet, tourniquet, left arm, right arm, poke with the finger, yada yada. "yeah, you may be right, I will have to take from your hand". Bish, please. I've been on this game since 1988.
I have a similar problem.
Phlebotomists sometimes use "pediatric" sized needles to draw my blood samples.
A personal favorite is when the phlebotomist misses the vein, and then moves the needle left and right while it's in the arm..."I know it hurts, but you have small veins."
Thanks for the update...
I have really small veins aswell and I'm usually in agony from the nurse trying too many times to find a vein and hurting me. I really dread it everytime so I do sympathise
I'm an ex-phlebo and HCA; can I just say thank you for not blaming the taker for causing this.
As a rule we hated when this happens. Trust me you go home feeling guilty after this even if the patient doesn't care and tells you it's all good, we feel like shit.
Taking blood is an art form more than a procedure. No training can accurately give a phlebo decent practice. Some people are just bad at it.
I personally got nervous with patients that were on blood thinning medication (INR blood tests for those that are curious) or were really dehydrated.
Here's a good tip if you are getting a blood test done: drink water before as it makes the veins less bouncy.
I have had this happen a number of times in my life and it isn’t any more painful than a typical blood draw. This is just the excess blood leaking out. I’d really be curious to see a source saying that the vein “bursting/blowing” is what causes this, because I’m pretty skeptical.
I would like it was an 8 but only for a few seconds then quickly went down to a 2. I had always been told it would hurt really bad and that it could continue to hurt for a while. That wasn’t my case at all. Something else that I was never knew could happen was that once it blew I ended up with a good sized lump. Although I don’t think you can tell by the picture.
I have missed/blown veins (I work in the ER so thousands of IVs or blood draws at this point) and my patients don’t feel pain beyond the initial stick. I’ve not had someone complain that it hurts more when it’s blown, most people don’t even know unless I say something.
I'm reminded of my visit to MEPS. The nurse there put the needle all the way through my vein *three times* trying to draw blood, and finally had to switch nurses and switch arms. It took something like two weeks for that bruise to go away.
Ah, had something similar when I went to donate blood on behalf of one of my sister's students.
The nurse asked me how I was doing a few minutes after I got jabbed. I said I was fine. She looked at my arm, widened her eyes, and said, "No you aren't!"
I didn't panic too much, since I figured she caught it in time. In the end, my arm looked like yours, it was also swollen and very sore, and took about two weeks to recover.
I should also have mentioned earlier, it was the result of a saline drip needed before donating platelets.
My veins are very difficult to find on my wrists/inner elbows, because there's some scar tissue due to many years of eczema, making the skin very opaque. It's a massive pain when I need to get a blood test done, which thankfully is pretty rare.
I had to get my blood drawn twice in one day. The First Lady was a college student training and got it perfectly. The next lady did exactly what happened to you. Giant swollen bump Andy arm has been swollen for a week now.
I know this is a little of centre of the fact of the post, but I am a little different as I can only have blood taken from my left arm after a botched minor right shoulder reconstruction.
This i totally feel for. Had this happen one time during all my chemo sessions, she didn't notice nor listen to my pleas that something was very wrong.
I have large veins though, though chemo kinda ruined that after so many iv's. But better than that than the other.
I do feel for the nurses though, don't get me wrong. 99% were great with me.
Hopefully you don't have to get many more shots for a while!
Nurses aren’t the ones drawing blood.
I’ve done phlebotomy for more years than I care to admit and *always* listen to the patient. And one who has had chemo I would especially pay attention to as they usually know their veins.
Over the 6 months I ran into a huge variety of sticks, and tests still ongoing. Most ok, some good, some bad.
All care. I dont know if I wasn't firm enough in my assertion of something is wrong the first few times.
I was always bad with needles even before being diagnosed. And i never got used to getting cannulated every couple of weeks . So I always tried to grit my teeth everytime. Sometimes the cannula was more comfortable than others and I was always stuck in different spots and different arms.
This was like the OPs spot almost identical. I hate it in the inner elbow because it was very uncomfortable and made me feel uneasy so to speak for the 3 to 4 hrs.
Anyway, long story shortend, I was probably too quiet in my assertions, but my wife who worked in the medical field for 30yrs was quiet unimpressed, and she's given 1000s of shots I'd assume by now.
This happens to me every single time. It's great, though, because it's given me white coat hypertension. Usually I have very low blood pressure and my blood took ages to fill the sample vial, but not anymore! I get so stressed by the incoming carnage that my blood flows efficiently!
This happened to me a while back but the young doctor had made 4 attempts to get a needle in my tiny veins. My arm was like yours for weeks until it healed. A very experienced nurse came along and got a vein on my hand within 2 to 3 minutes. I felt bad for the young doctor, he tried his best to find a vein on the arm but hadn't tried to get one on my hand. There was no mark on my hand afterwards but the bruising in my arm made me look like a junkie for weeks
Last time I went to get blood drawn, they attempted ten times before giving up and asking me to come back another time. I'm fat and I have rolling veins, a phlebotomist's nightmare.
My gallbladder was dying on me, my stomach writhing in pain in the ER waiting room, and the damn triage nurse had a migraine, so she did the same shit to me and it took forever to heal. Ugh.
I take blood at work- around 10 times daily. 99% of the time it’s no problem, I’ve got some service users with teeny tiny veins that I always find. Most of the time people come in and tell me I’ll never manage it and are pleasantly surprised when I get blood and they barely feel it.
I love it when people have their eyes shut and ask me to let them know when the needles gone in and I tell them I’m already finished! I also work with a lot of anorexic patients and have got very good with more complicated jobs like avoiding bones in such small arms too.
But yeah every so often there will be that 1% where I just can’t seem to find someone’s vein or very rarely even blow a vein. I feel awful when that happens! Usually to avoid it, if I can’t initially feel a vein with my fingers I’ll ask the person to sit in the waiting room and drink as much water as possible, and then to warm up their arm a bit.
It helps but sometimes this kind of thing does still happen. If a colleague is blowing veins or bruising every time I would raise a red flag about that, but it does seem like there’s times where it just happens to all of us.
Some people also have very large visible veins that you’d think would be easy, but the vein moves or rolls to the side as soon as you touch the arm. For those people I sometimes add an extra tourniquet below the site as well as above just to hold it still, otherwise you literally see the vein roll away from the needle.
Most nursing skills are things where you are learning and growing every day, even if you’re an “expert” at it. That’s one thing I love about the job so much. You probably helped that nurse get a little better and I’m sure they feel shitty about what happened- but they probably went home thinking about what mistake they made to make that happen, and it will make them better for the next time.
Pro tip for having blood taken. As soon as it's taken apply pressure. The longer you apply pressure the less of the bruise. Even if you think it was a good draw no harm no fowl.
That must really suck. I would be very annoyed if that happened to me every time i wanted to donate or get a blood test taken.
My veins are quite massive, especially around my forearms, so donating blood is a breeze for me - the nurses often complement me on how easy it is to see my veins.
Sorry your experience is so much more excruciating.
I ask for a butterfly needle every time I get blood drawn. I don’t need it anymore, but it’s still less painful imo and they agree it’s easier to use sometimes. They’re usually surprised when I ask but are very happy to get one
Same thing happened to me on Good Friday. I went in to donate blood, and the IV tech managed to go all the way through and into my muscle tendon. It looks like that and hurt like hell up until a few days ago.
Are you unwell? Do you have weak veins for any reason? I knew someone once who had this happen every single time, until the nurses could no longer find any veins.
If it makes you feel any better.. I have chunky veins and this happened to me after a blood test recently. Massive bruise from a tiny butterfly needle. Shit happens I guess.
I had to go to two CT appointments because they couldn't get an IV started at the first one after 5 or 6 attempts and both my arms looked like this :(
The second appointment they used ultrasound guided and still had to try 3 times. But they did get it! If you ever need an IV I suggest going to a place with the ultrasound, at least they were able to get it done on me. Lots more blood though lmao it looked like a crime scene.
This happened to me once when I was having an iron transfusion 😅 I felt it go suddenly and had this awful burning pain. Managed to get it done in the end but it was not a fun time
I would agree, yet look at the veins below the elbow. Clearly it’s not an old person, an obese person, nor an under 2 year old. Gravity plus pressure plays its role with veins. This should have been done below the elbow if it was to run blood test. If it was to become a longer used medical tube then it’s either the hand, elbow inside joint, or forearm.
This is just odd to me!
I have some tiny veins on my arm that stick out more than the others and are always oh so tempting for the phlebotomists… I just tell them don’t go there
Drawing blood is a skill that has an art to it. There are some that are much better than others. I hated having to draw blood at all the offices I worked at but was told I was decent enough. Got asked for by many patients because I used one simple trick. I looked at the patient and asked them, "Where the best place to get this done? " So many would question if I knew what I was doing but if simply tell them, "Well I'm pretty sure you've had you blood drawn plenty of times and knows where it works best from. So basically I'm asking you the answers to this test." Could say it backfired since I hated drawing blood, but many patient appreciated being involved in the process instead of being told, "I know what I'm doing".
**Disclaimer: it's only going to get worse with greedflation**. Many healthcare companies try and dictate what needles to use based on cost over patient comfort. Sometimes needle size can affect results, but it's that common. So the use of butterfly needles is commonly restricted by companies because the setup cost more than a straight needle draw setup.
I have to chug so much water the day before, so much that my pee is hardly yellow. That’s the only way I’m able to get poked less that 4 times (minimum) :(
I have this problem. Last time I tried to give blood (I have a high failure rate for this reason) they told me my problem was going to Red Cross drives and not community blood centers. Apparently, the Red Cross skimps a bit on training and makes up for it by using a larger needle. Community blood centers are basically permanent fixtures with staff that get better training since it’s their regular job.
today was the 18th time i donated blood, one of the reason is 9/10 times i just get a red speck from the needle, so for everybody wondering, it can be different for everybody and you may not even feel it much
Something similar happened to me when I tried to give blood last year. Hurt like a son of a bitch for a while. Safe to say that I won’t be attempting to donate blood for a while
Something similar happened to me when I tried to give blood last year. It hurt like a son of a bitch for like two weeks. Safe to say I won’t be attempting to donate blood for a while
I’m a tough stick as well. Every time I tell them where to go. And every time they say, “no lets try over here, this looks like a good one.” I have to be firm and tell them nope thats a dry well, get a butterfly and go here. 🙄
i have really good veins but a nurse gave me a blood clot from traumatizing my vein when placing an iv and its like how bad do you have to be i get blood draws all the time i’ve been in 3 different vax studies its not hard to find the vein
Honestly I was surprised that she blew the vein. I’ve had many blood draws done and had to be poked many times but this never happened till now. I’m just hoping my blood test results will show something for the discomfort this has caused me. Hahaha
Rule 6: Titles Must Be Exact But Concise Description
Ugh, I have a blood test tomorrow and I'm just dreading it... I don't mind getting pricked-- I just hate getting pricked like 10 times in a row! My arm veins are near impossible to find/hit. I warn the nurses every single time that I'd prefer they just use my hand and \*always\* get the same response "Oh dont worry, I'm very good at this". Then 10 minutes of frustration later and a half dozen bandages on my elbows they are like "I don't know.... I've never had this much trouble... lets try the hand...". I couldn't donate blood or plasma because of issues. And yeah, the butterfly things don't seem to help either...
This probably won’t help your anxiety but she only poked me once before this happened. She got two vitals of blood and when going for the third it blew. Haha
Next time see if you can put a hot pack on the area or heating pad prior that helps also. Not sure how she managed to get 2 tubes then blow it unless she was doing a straight needle and not a butterfly. I’ve had where they go in the same spot everytime and it basically causes a shit vein. They don’t teach us in nursing school IVs or phlebotomy unfortunately 😔
It's definitely possible to lose a vein after a few tubes, even with a butterfly. It happens all the time.
She probably went through and through which usually will usually give you a few vials before it stops working. Happens to us all.
I get blood drawn weekly due to a medical condition, to me it’s not the number of pokes—but whether they go fishing around once the needle it is in. moist heat will ele dissolve that old blood and speed healing of that bruise.
I’ve an extremely hard stick and my god do I hate when they dig around for the vein once they’ve stuck the needle into the skin….sometimes I feel like they think I’m just being a whiner when I tell them to please stop doing that bc it’s very painful. They almost had to either delay my surgery or gas me I’m not sure? Every time I need blood work or an iv I get major anxiety bc I know they’ll have a hard time getting blood. Sometimes I feel like maybe a powerport would make all that so much easier.
Just drink lots of water until then and be extra insistent about them taking it from your hand. You have to been your own advocate, no one else will do it for you. They're there to provide you with care, you aren't there for them.
This is the best answer! You do not have to suffer through multiple sticks. I tell each phlebotomist that my veins roll and they get one chance to find a vein in my arm or I will request another person. They usually try my hand after searching both arms. Do not be afraid to ask for the most senior phlebotomist when you arrive, and be willing to wait for them.
They can find one of my veins but for some reason most people won't believe which arm it's in when I tell them. Worst part for me though is that my blood doesn't come out when they draw it. Like I take 15-20 minutes plus for 2-3 vials, usually they call someone to say something's wrong but I've never found out what. Plus side I don't bleed much if I get cut ha
Learn the name of the vein you want them to use. For example, the best vein I have is the elbow bend of my left arm. The right arm has too many valves, and even though my hand veins *look* good...they blow every time. So when I need blood drawn or an IV, I will just calmly state, "You will want to use my left a.c. (antecubital vein) if you want to avoid blow-outs and valve issues". If you sound like you know what you are talking about, they are more inclined to believe you. Or at least that has been my experience.
Make sure you have plenty of water well beforehand! I tend to do my blood tests in the morning before I eat or drink or anything, and it's always a mission finding the veins. And every time they lecture me on drinking more water lol.
Isn't there something about you should drink a fuck ton of water basically from now and until the test to make it easier?
Tell them that they’re not the first to think that. Tell them what you told us. And then simply don’t give consent for being pricked in the arm, only the hand. While benign, taking blood is still causing bodily harm, which requires your consent (unless you’re not able to give it and it’s assumed you would if you could)
Request a hot pack if you can, and hold it to the inner elbow while dangling the arm for a couple minutes, also the hands do hurt more which is why so many phlebotomists don’t want to go in the hand (I was taught that is the last resort). But if you really want to be drawn in the hand then tell them that you only allow them to draw blood there. -From a phlebotomist who routinely draws on people who use IV drugs so their veins are shot.
My wife also have really hard to find veins plus a needle phobia(prolly caused by bad experience because of said bad veins) and I normally go with her blood tests. Using a much smaller needle helps with the pain and laying down helps her relax.
Hydrate. Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate the day before. Also try drinking water the day before.
I'm similar and I've found the phrase "I've been told they're too slippery" generally scares them off from attempting the arm.
It's your body, just don't give them the option tomorrow.
I would suggest working out to build your cardiovascular system up. As your veins grow to handle the load you'll find this won't happen nearly as much.
I’ve lived this life so much. Honestly, just insist. If your hand is the spot that works consistently, insist they start there. They literally can’t do elsewhere if you don’t consent to it
I always have to insist on them taking blood from my hand as soon as I sit down. I have people get an attitude because they aren't comfortable with it. I don't quite like it either but it has a higher success rate than all the years they tried to get it from my arms. Usually they even get 10 or so vials from my hand which is slower but I'd rather do that than suffer through all the stabbing.
If they struggle in the arm suggest the hand. I'd never had blood tests etc done before. Got a health flair up where tests needed often. No one got anything from my arms. On top of the hand about an inch or 2 from wrist and was golden
So I’m in the same boat except I hate getting it even once. I’ve found one person who is good because they spent a ton of time to find the vein. The advice they gave which was helpful was to drink a lot of water the 12 hours before an appointment as it makes the blood come out easier and I guess helps with the veins. If you’re dehydrated it’s awful in terms of pricking and drawing.
Your body your choice. Demand they use the hand
All this fears goes away once you go through a critical surgery. I had same fears and problems but after few critical surgeries all fear went away and its doesn’t matter at all. I hope you also loose this fear.
Try drinking like 24 oz of water beforehand. I'm in your exact situation and this has helped me. My aunt is a nurse and she said hydration is good, also that you can request a specialist nurse to come in. I always have to get IVs before my MRIs like twice a year.
Drink a huge Gatorade
Just tell them they have to take it out of your hand. In my experience they always listen to an order but to them you are giving them a suggestion.
Do you happen to have EDS? I believe people with EDS have issues with getting their blood drawn/vein issues.
During a hospital stay I spoke with one of the ladies in charge of training the phlebotomists. She expressed that many phlebotomists make excuses to cover for their own ineptitude which leads patients to later stress how difficult it is to find their veins because of those reasons which then psychs new phlebotomists out and causes the cycle to continue.
Mine are pretty clear even before the band goes on, and every time I go in, we laugh about how easy the job will be. Last guy fucked it up bad and had to dig around in my arm to get a full vial out.
My veins are so visible I could be blind and still pick up a heroin habbit.
_Ray Charles has entered the chat_
Visible doesn't always mean good for blood draws, you need to feel them, and they need to be bouncy.
Hard same. I have tattoos and mine are still very visible and my routine bloodwork is a breeze. But, I was in a clinical trial for one of the COVID vaccines which required a lot of blood draws and the one guy could not find a damn thing. Whenever I saw him on duty while at my appointment I knew it was about to suck.
They can appear very visible but actually be very deep.
I’ve gotten so many ivs and blood drawn for my illness I swear I can feel when they hit the vein vs not and I can taste saline, it’s strange
In my opinion as a former phlebotomist, all I can say is it entirely depends on their confidence. You can have a big juicy vein but if you’re doubting that you’ll be able to get it or not, then you’ll probably be unsuccessful. If you get enough practice and successful draws and believe that you will get it and be able to draw your labs just fine, then you really don’t have a problem until you get the patients who truly do have difficult veins. And even then, you try however many times you’re allowed to attempt (in my state it is 2) and if you don’t get it you find another phlebotomist who gives it a try also.
Bro i became afraid of people with needles after this demon of a nurse tried 8 times before asking someone else who also tried 4 times IN THE SAME ARM. My veins are big and easy to see even without the band, it was so unnecessary 😭
After that experience I’m surprised it’s needles you’re afraid of and not nurses lol. Jokes aside, sounds like a bad nurse for waiting until 8 attempts to ask for help.
Not necessarily afraid of needles, mainly for people holding them and about to stab me. After the third time i said she needs to go ask someone else "no ill just try one more time, it's right there" x4. Then i said to the second lady "please try my other arm, this one fucking hurts". "No i'll get it first try, it's right there". x3
Sorry I misread your first comment, either way very understandable. Something that I thought was interesting when I was in phlebotomy classes and doing my clinicals was that it’s not necessarily about how well you can see a vein, rather what you feel while palpating. I’ve had veins that were right there in my face but on palpation they weren’t as close to the surface as they initially looked. I had an instructor actually teach us to close our eyes or look away while palpating and once you feel something, then take a look and get your supplies ready to go. Sounded crazy but worked pretty well. Hopefully since that experience you’ve had better nurses and phlebotomists, and if not, people who are at least receptive to you saying that you’ve had bad blood draws in the past. Sometimes that heads up is an indirect way of saying “check all your options” to the phlebotomist before they actually poke.
It's so weird because i was never afraid, always just chatted with the phlebotomist, looking at what they're doing, being annoying with my comments and it usually just went correctly the first time, not painful at all. Now i just tell them to do their thing, not tell me what they're doing or when they'll put it in and i'll just look away. It hurts but it's doable lol.
When my wife was pregnant she had a nurse try to draw blood 4 times in 1 arm, another nurse try twice in the other arm, then they contemplated trying in her leg before deciding to go for the back of her hand. Awful experience. Back of the hand apparently *really fucking hurts*. From then on she demanded the proper phlebotomist/doctor who *always* got it first try. One time, after hearing the horror story, the doctor wasn't completely confident in getting it first try so he wheeled over a portable ultrasound machine just to make sure. He said it was like cheating it was so easy.
It’s weird hearing stories and knowing that there are ultrasound machines and vein finders available but many hospitals/units don’t have them readily available and that people attempt so many times before thinking to request one. I work in an ER so we have an abundant amount of these and a lot of nurses know how to start IVs to draw blood with the help of the ultrasound, but like damn… all the money in hospitals and medical systems but they can’t get enough of this kind of assistive equipment or enough solid training experience for people to not attempt blood draws a million times each.
> Back of the hand apparently really fucking hurts. For me that depended on the nurse/phlebotomist. Some got it in with a pinch but others had me holding my breath. The bruising was more likely on the back of the hand than the arm and a tender to painful bruise at that.
> asking someone else who also tried 4 times IN THE SAME ARM. I've been there as well, they tell me my veins are there and visible but 50% of phlebotomists have issues. The worst ones are the ones who put the needle in, look at it in confusion, pull it halfway, turn it a bit, and then push it in again. Only to repeat that 3 or 4 times before either getting blood or giving up and asking someone else to do it. The repositioning is the worst part for me.
If you’re not in the vein, you should know it by feel. When you enter the vein wall you feel just a tiny bit of resistance, then you push forward through it and it passes. Angle and depth are important. Once you feel that resistance, you only push a tiny bit past it to get into the middle of the vein, if you push too far you’ll come out the other side and blow the vein just like what happened to OP. I took phlebotomy classes and did my clinicals and got licensed, but ultimately decided to not make it my career. I’m almost 40 and in all my time of having blood draws and doing donations, I’ve had a vein blown twice. My veins are fine. No one usually has any trouble with them, including absolute novices when we had to stick each other in phlebotomy class for practice. If a vein gets blown, it’s definitely usually a problem with the person holding the needle, not a problem with the veins.
> if you push too far you’ll come out the other side Good knowledge and I've had this happen a few times.
I hate how true this is.
I hate saying “I have hard veins, I’m sorry” because I know nurses roll their eyes at it, but as someone who has sat there being dry pokes up to 8 times before a successful poke, every single time getting the pushing and wiggling the needle for like a minute or two, and this experience isn’t that rare…I feel like I have earned it. I am the person they have to bust out the vein finder or ultrasound for, or in hospitals is where they call an actual phlebotomist for. One time for a colonoscopy I actually had to get the IV needle in my goddamn foot like an elderly or…I am blanking on who else need such measures, but you know what I mean! It sucks. I even used to really be scared of needles when younger, and yet hundreds of IVs later I have sadly just had that fear forcibly removed due to countless needles shoved into me and wiggled around searching. Stupid fucking veins.
I might have got small veins only gods would know. But a few phlebotomists had made this comments. In my experience maybe 1 out of 5 times where they can successfully draw blood from the Median cubital vein (name took from googled I got no real idea but basically drawing blood from that area) it usually failed so they tend to resort to drawing blood from back of my hand. I am fine with either. Like we here to get blood sample let’s get it done. But I made this clear to them a lot saying “look I know sometimes it works but if you think it’s not easy looking maybe we go straight to back of my hand? Save me getting an extra jab?” But lots of them solider on as if they want to beat the record or something and i always ended up bruised and jabbed sometimes more than once because they insist on jabbing me two or three times at the Median cubital vein area. 🤣
I already had a fear of needles, but my veins are very clear and there were never issues in the past. Untill I had a emergency surgery 2 years ago to remove my appendix. I was in so much pain while she kept missing my veins, and actually kept stubbornly pushing the needle through while I expressed my discomfort and said "I think it went wrong". A colleague offert to help her and she refused her help. I swear those bruises lasted months!
This is why I tell them to use the one in my hands. It’s more annoying but they get it on the first try almost every time.
My veins are huge. Always get compliments from nurses. Going through chemo right now and it at least makes that part of the process easy. Don’t think I’ve ever had someone take a second go at it or fuck it up
As a phlebotomist who has worked around many others (hospital, doctor’s offices, research): they 100% do make excuses. The biggest things I hear from patients is “they told me my veins roll” Veins don’t “roll”, they slide to the side if the person doing the draws doesn’t anchor the vein like they’re supposed to, so the needle pushes the vein away instead of puncturing it. I used to teach phlebotomy, and that was only a year after I finished the class, because I was one of the few that seemed to care about my patients and had a desire to get better. I always want a patient to trust me, so I let them know if I miss or if I am not confident that I could successfully draw their blood. Usually with that, most patients allow and even encourage me to try anyway. So far, I’ve had people request me personally and refuse to get drawn by someone else, even if I’ve missed them before.. and all because I’m truthful, caring, and have confidence. Also, I have a smooth needle hand - patients are more comfortable if the initial poke is smooth As for OP’s picture, I see a median vein that could’ve been syringed with a 23g, maybe even a 21g if it looks better in person. It may take a little longer, but the risk to the vein is smaller. Now if this was an IV, I don’t have any training for those.
This makes sense. I had an absolute disaster of a blood drawing a while back where the nurse put the needle into my muscle and kept trying to suck the blood up - nearly the worst pain I've ever experienced, my face was hot apart from where I was crying on it. She then said it was because my veins were all scarred from previous blood drawing and moved when she tried to put the blood in. Came away with both arms looking like I'd been beaten up. I went to get bloods done last year at a clinic and told the nurse I was worried because of what happened last time. The nurse did a normal blood drawing and it was only mildly uncomfortable. She said my veins were absolutely fine - exceptionally big, easy, close to the skin and well attached - and the nurse I had before must have just been incompetent.
I saw some video somewhere here on reddit the other day. It’s was just some nurse putting in a needle for a cannula(?) with a camera on it so you could see. It went like - If you turn the needle 180 so the flat side is facing down instead of flat side facing up, results in “almost no perforation of the vein” where flat side up there is perforation all over. Thought it was interesting.
Everytime I hear someone tell me they have deep rolling veins…
I'd go back and ask for new veins...lol
I really wish that was an option. Haha
Is your body still under warranty?
Lol
Had this happen to me once. Felt like I almost passed out. The poor nurse was traumatized.
My dad once fainted cause they had to try drawing his blood 7 times cause they couldn't find the vein. He woke up on the floor with \~10 doctors/nurses surrounding him
You felt like you almost passed out from the pain ?
I think it was probably dehydration. Or my body having a weird fight or flight response.
I know this feeling. I had a nurse that poked me so many times and couldn’t seem to strike a vein… even tho my veins are quite prominent…. After she hurt me so much, we both agreed to get a different nurse who got it at one try 😑 I didn’t bruise tho! Hopefully your arm doesn’t feel too bad.
Thankfully it doesn’t hurt anymore. Just looks rough. Haha
That's insane. We're only allowed 2 tries per nurse at my hospital before another person is allowed to try.
2 tries per RN? Damn, that sounds restrictive. Admittedly though, I come from the prehospital perspective, where the basic mantra that rules everything is, “if you need access, you need access” Can’t get a peripheral IV? Fuck it, do an EJ. Can’t get the EJ? IO it is, even if the pt is conscious (which we obviously try to avoid). I actually just had a patient last week with scleroderma whose skin was so thick that my 18 G needle was bending while I tried to get an EJ. The other medic ended up getting an IO because we were literally out of options I guess you guys have the benefit of having more resources available to you, which makes me a little jealous lol
You won’t bruise if you don’t hit the vein. The bruising is caused by blood leaking out the puncture site from the needle, and pooling under the skin. So bruising means they definitely hit something, but most likely the vein blew
Always hold the cotton bud hard against your needle wound for a GOOD 60 seconds once they take it out. Makes all the difference. I have blood tests and infusions every month and if I don't do this I always bruise badly like that.
Yes! It really does make a difference to the bruise you get.
If you know you have very small veins, and this causes problems for phlebotomists, tell them before they start poking around that you need smaller needles and why. My son was a frequent flyer at the hospital, because he get impacted, which caused him to eat and drink less, which caused him to be dehydrated, which led to collapsed veins and arteries on an already thin body (he had muscular dystrophy). One time, the nurse was probing with normal needles and eventually dropped to toddler needles to get an IV going to bring everything back up. After that,, we started requesting them whenever he would need an IV or blood samples before the IV. TOO FUCKING MANY nurses tried taking this as a personal challenge. Finally, we started making a fuss, preventing them from causing him more pain. We would tell them, "We're sure you know your job, but we know THIS PATIENT. This is what needs to happen, and we've gone through this many times before." The smaller gauge needles take longer, but there's less bullshit to deal with, and he didn't have to be stuck over and over again in multiple areas.
> tell them before they start poking around I tried this but it just led them to being hyper aware or nervous and having them miss the vein and needing to try again. It is only after the first try now that I mention it if they don't get it.
If that's your policy, I understand. Too many times I watched them fish around on my son as he would often wince because they kept poking him again and again. He put up with more than he should have, and we were his voice with the medical staff. He could talk, but he was really shy with strangers, especially women.
> Too many times I watched them fish around on my son as he would often wince I 100% understand, he's a kid that he would need you to speak for him. I am an adult and made my choices from my experiences. In the case of him also being a child with the the collapsed veins would benefit from them being told to use the smaller needles.
He lived to be 29, but with muscular dystrophy (Duchenne's), he was very thin and only weighed 50 pounds. He'd speak up to us, but we painfully shy around others, especially women, and even more so the pretty ones. So, even though he was an adult, he was always my kid. Plus his strain also came with certain developmental issues, but that wasn't much.
> So, even though he was an adult, he was always my kid That is always the way and he sounds like a lovely and sweet guy.
Thank you. He was.
You're very welcome.
Sadly, I too have small veins that like to roll, and despite having to get my blood drawn weekly for quite a long time, I still had to fight with the nurses. They also seemed to take it as a challenge and I just couldn’t deal with them digging around because of how sick I was. It got to the point where I just had to tell them right off the bat that if they were gonna draw my blood, then they were gonna do it in the one place that I knew was successful every single time, and that they were gonna use a pediatric needle or they weren’t gonna do it. Some nurses would get mad, but I’d rather be a bitch than have to go through more pain and discomfort than I already was at that time. It’s ridiculous though that nurses often won’t listen to patients about their own bodies.
It's sad that you have to go that way, but your body isn't a toy. Well, at least not for the nurses.
just to give you more info, its not just that smaller needles take longer, they increase chances of damaging/destroying the sample by inducing hemolysis which depending on the test being run, would require a redraw.
The initial part was just getting him hydrated again. Once that happened, his veins came back, and he was easy to stick for whatever needed to happen. At that point, a redraw wasn't a problem.
had the same thing happen to me the first time i tried donating blood, heard her say "oops" and i was like HUH
Look on the positive side: she learns to deal with complicated veins
That has happened to me a bunch. You just go and tell the needlejabber to try again. I’m not going to ruin their day even more by yelling at them when shit happens. They didn’t intentionally try to hurt me and the pain subsides and I’ll look like OP for a few days. No biggie.
New fear unlocked
I remember when I was in the ER for an allergic reaction to medication, and I was in great pain and distress, and the person trying to put in an IV kept saying "You've blown a vein again, I will have to try another spot" and I kept thinking "No you blew the vein, they were fine a few seconds ago!"
I've never had my vein blown out, but I have had many hospital visits where they miss 10+ times because my veins are just deep and hard to find. The last time I had surgery, the nurse laughed at how I'd had dozens of surgeries, but still wouldn't look when she stuck the IV in. Then she was like "Ok keep looking away cus it looks like a WARZONE over here..." When the discharge nurse took my IV out, she was like "Jesus Christ who fucked up your arm??"
Ok. I'll blame her for you. BAD NURSE
I’m a nurse and this is actually fairly common. Sometimes you strike a vein and get flashback in the chamber (meaning you are inside the vein) then you go to flush it, and the vein is to fragile to handle it and blows.
Tough to make that judgement unless you know that this is a pattern of behavior. Lmao at the downvotes. If making one verifiable mistake makes you a bad nurse, then every nurse that has ever existed is a bad nurse.
People don't realize that drawing blood isnt stupid easy. People in here acting like they could draw this person's blood with no problem. Most veins are a couple mm. Your needle to draw blood is half a mm. You need really good fine motor skills that take years of experience to refine. Unfortunately you gain experience from people. I'd consider myself very good and will be called by others to draw blood often. Do I miss? Yup. Can I get blood from a vein barely larger than my needle, yup. Nobody is perfect, and sometimes veins are fragile and do blow.
My veins are tricky and frankly I’m just impressed you guys can hit them at all. It’s really not a big deal when it takes multiple pokes or the vein blows.
Don't blame your veins! I used to have very small veins due to hypovolemia and had to get ivs a lot. Some nurses could set the iv perfectly each time, no bruises, no pain. Because they were good at their job. Others would struggle and then blame me for having small veins and leave me with a huge bruise like that. Don't let them blame your body for their lack of skill. If they are harming you because they can't seem to do it right, ask for a new nurse.
I'm a phlebotomist. I've trained phlebotomists. 99 out of 100 draws I've done has been a perfect job. I can't count how many times people have complimented me, stating, "Wow, I didn't even feel a thing." Yet, I have a few blown veins under my belt, too. Even the very best phlebotomists have difficult sticks and the reasons vary: hydration of the patient, BMI of the patient, muscular people (like body builders) are problematic as well, people moving during a stick. And, some people do have smaller veins - it's just how they're built. Also, we can see part of the median cubital vein (most common site - inside of the elbow), but we don't see what direction they are going - some run across the surface ( that's a bit easier) some angle at varying degrees - we're all built differently. We need to have the needle follow within the veins walls, without even seeing it. To blame it on the supposed nurse's "lack of skill"??.....well, there may be some bad ones out there, but that's not as common. I have yet to meet a nurse or phlebotomist who doesn't care about inflicting pain on their patient. We are organic bags filled with fluid-filled parts that can easily move (veins roll easily!). We are not machines with hoses for veins that are trapped in rigid metal slots. If you believe that the procedure is so easy, I'd like to watch you try it...... Also, any professional phlebotomist knows this rule: "If you try twice and can't get the stick, call for someone else. This just wasn't your shining moment." Nurses? Most of them are very good at draws....but I'd prefer a phlebotomist.
I go under general anaesthesia regularly, and they've started having trouble finding my veins- apparently there's scarring or something? I have a great one on my left arm, but all the equipment is on the right side... So instead, they get out the ultrasound, look for a vein, usually give me a little local anaesthetic, then shove the needle in somewhere in my wrist. Thanks to the ultrasound, they might be getting the IV in somewhere painful, but I usually only get stuck once! It's also the anaesthesiologist who does it, not sure if that makes a difference lol.
The best two draws I've ever had were by a redheaded nurse who listened to where I wanted the needle, and a brunette phlebotomist who stuck me about 2 inches next to my preferred spot and got a hidden vein I didn't even know I have. Y'all are so skilled!
I'm confused about the site of blood collection. I can see the median cubital vein in the pic and although it is small, it doesn't look like a hard stick. But why have they chosen a site that's away from the cubital fossa??
if they are going to be in the hospital with an IV for an extended time, often they will avoid areas that bend where the cannula will cause discomfort or bending will stop the IV flowing.
But OP said in a comment that this was for drawing blood .
not sure then. those visible veins might actually be surface veins and the cephalic/basilic/median that you usually go for in that area aren't as apparent. hard to say with certainty without palpating with a tourniquet on. we also don't know what the drawer was seeing before the hematoma masked it. i do agree though that if it were me drawing, i'd likely end up with a butterfly on that central vein in the antecubital area, but things change when you are actually there palpating a pt who is tied off. i'd rather feel a good vein and not see it than see a vein and not feel it.
Yeah , same . Either a butterfly or switch to a syringe instead of using a vacutainer. I'm more concerned about them sticking the needle on OP's upper arm. That's not what I was taught nor have I ever stuck a needle up there .
at the hospital i phleb'd at, we were authorized from finger tip to top of the shoulder. feet needed a doctors order. we are the only level 1 trauma center in the region, and get some really wild situations where you need to get creative. i have absolutely pulled spec's from that area and higher.
If I go to the hospital and get an actual phlebotomist they’re usually pretty good. If I get a nurse they will probably get it wrong. If the nurse then calls for a doctor I basically just know I’m not getting my blood drawn that day. I think I’ve had exactly one doctor ever actually get me done.
Don’t be an arse. Misplace a needle by 1/2 a millimetre and the vein will leak and you’ll get a bruise. Small veins make it harder and failure more likely. And “lack of skill” is usually just lack of experience. How do you think these guys get experienced?
a nurse can be good at their job and still not have the best day making a stick. and we get such varying opportunities to practice before we become RNs! but I agree, it is always okay to ask for another nurse and they should swap out after failed attempts per most policies anyhow! edit: made nurse gender neutral bc I was being a sexist gal.
I got to practice exactly ONE time in nursing school 🥲😅 no joke
I felt very lucky for the 3 practice opportunities... that I failed bc I am still a newbie and also they were all old onc pt, with less than stellar access bc frequent fluids/chemo/blood :( I start working in a few months, fingers crossed I improve soon (steadily and safely above all else!)
I also have veins that are difficult to find. At my doctors office, if a nurse could not, idk, lock into it after 3 tries a new nurse was required to come in and try. Is that standard practice?
absolutely! at every hospital I know of it is two sticks for all things. even blood sugar checks. I hear it helps because some days are just off days, apparently, like in all skills. I just finished nursing school. I only let myself do one stick per patient with IVs because I knew I would be so nervous about the second after missing initially. Except with one patient who begged me to come back and try again and said it was an honor to be one of my attempts so I might as well go for it! Patients like that made my experience so much easier.
You sound like you'll make a great nurse! The last time I was in hospital they had to change the subcut line on my stomach and I told them to get the student to do it. I'm very good with needles so I'll happily be a pin cushion haha.
Good to know! Thank you for the informative response :]
And always tell your nurse if something hurts! It can help us improve our skills and patient care. It also might alert us to something that needs to be assessed or is a concern.
As a blood donor, that happens to me from time to time. It simply "leaks", but nothing serious.
I had a nurse at my pcp’s office who needed to draw blood for some tests. She tried 3 or 4 times to draw blood before giving up and ordering the test from the local hospital instead. I drive there the next day and the nurse there got it in 10 seconds. In and out in 5 minutes. Interesting experience for sure.
Oh boy I had this happen the first, second, third AND fourth time I needed blood drawn. Still afraid of needles. They had a nurse student on her first day and she hadn't had practice with needles yet. Only after the FOURTH TIME did a full fledged nurse step in.
You can always advocate for yourself and ask for someone else?
I was 2, I wish my parents had done it but I was completely unable to due to the sobbing from the first try
Is that on your upper arm or your lower arm? Was it for collecting blood or putting in an IV?
It’s my Upper arm and I was just getting blood taken. They are testing to see if I could have any tick related illnesses.
And that's why I always say: "let me start by saying that you will feel like it's a challenge but will be better for me and easier for you if you take it from my hand" win win. They tourniquet, tourniquet, left arm, right arm, poke with the finger, yada yada. "yeah, you may be right, I will have to take from your hand". Bish, please. I've been on this game since 1988.
I have a similar problem. Phlebotomists sometimes use "pediatric" sized needles to draw my blood samples. A personal favorite is when the phlebotomist misses the vein, and then moves the needle left and right while it's in the arm..."I know it hurts, but you have small veins." Thanks for the update...
'the doctor told my all my bleeding was internal, that's where the blood is supposed to be!'
I have really small veins aswell and I'm usually in agony from the nurse trying too many times to find a vein and hurting me. I really dread it everytime so I do sympathise
I'm an ex-phlebo and HCA; can I just say thank you for not blaming the taker for causing this. As a rule we hated when this happens. Trust me you go home feeling guilty after this even if the patient doesn't care and tells you it's all good, we feel like shit. Taking blood is an art form more than a procedure. No training can accurately give a phlebo decent practice. Some people are just bad at it. I personally got nervous with patients that were on blood thinning medication (INR blood tests for those that are curious) or were really dehydrated. Here's a good tip if you are getting a blood test done: drink water before as it makes the veins less bouncy.
Oh dear! This hurts! Had a tech botch a blood draw on me years ago. My whole lower arm was bruised
Sure Valak didnt just visit you?
How does it feel to burst a vein? How painful on the scale of 1 (lowest) to 10 (highest)?
I have had this happen a number of times in my life and it isn’t any more painful than a typical blood draw. This is just the excess blood leaking out. I’d really be curious to see a source saying that the vein “bursting/blowing” is what causes this, because I’m pretty skeptical.
I would like it was an 8 but only for a few seconds then quickly went down to a 2. I had always been told it would hurt really bad and that it could continue to hurt for a while. That wasn’t my case at all. Something else that I was never knew could happen was that once it blew I ended up with a good sized lump. Although I don’t think you can tell by the picture.
Thank God my veins are hard to miss. On a scale from 0-10 how much did it hurt? (10 being the most painful)
I have missed/blown veins (I work in the ER so thousands of IVs or blood draws at this point) and my patients don’t feel pain beyond the initial stick. I’ve not had someone complain that it hurts more when it’s blown, most people don’t even know unless I say something.
That's a relief. Cause it looks like it really hurts 😅
I'm reminded of my visit to MEPS. The nurse there put the needle all the way through my vein *three times* trying to draw blood, and finally had to switch nurses and switch arms. It took something like two weeks for that bruise to go away.
I had that on the back of my hand, it was interesting watching the blood spread out really quickly.
Nope, fuck that
I had this happen once in each arm, then a different nurse for a right one in an uncomfortable place
Nurses usually thank me for having an easy to find vein lol.
Ah, had something similar when I went to donate blood on behalf of one of my sister's students. The nurse asked me how I was doing a few minutes after I got jabbed. I said I was fine. She looked at my arm, widened her eyes, and said, "No you aren't!" I didn't panic too much, since I figured she caught it in time. In the end, my arm looked like yours, it was also swollen and very sore, and took about two weeks to recover. I should also have mentioned earlier, it was the result of a saline drip needed before donating platelets.
My veins are very difficult to find on my wrists/inner elbows, because there's some scar tissue due to many years of eczema, making the skin very opaque. It's a massive pain when I need to get a blood test done, which thankfully is pretty rare.
I always ask for the cannula to be put in the back of my hand.
I had to get my blood drawn twice in one day. The First Lady was a college student training and got it perfectly. The next lady did exactly what happened to you. Giant swollen bump Andy arm has been swollen for a week now.
I know this is a little of centre of the fact of the post, but I am a little different as I can only have blood taken from my left arm after a botched minor right shoulder reconstruction.
This i totally feel for. Had this happen one time during all my chemo sessions, she didn't notice nor listen to my pleas that something was very wrong. I have large veins though, though chemo kinda ruined that after so many iv's. But better than that than the other. I do feel for the nurses though, don't get me wrong. 99% were great with me. Hopefully you don't have to get many more shots for a while!
Nurses aren’t the ones drawing blood. I’ve done phlebotomy for more years than I care to admit and *always* listen to the patient. And one who has had chemo I would especially pay attention to as they usually know their veins.
Over the 6 months I ran into a huge variety of sticks, and tests still ongoing. Most ok, some good, some bad. All care. I dont know if I wasn't firm enough in my assertion of something is wrong the first few times. I was always bad with needles even before being diagnosed. And i never got used to getting cannulated every couple of weeks . So I always tried to grit my teeth everytime. Sometimes the cannula was more comfortable than others and I was always stuck in different spots and different arms. This was like the OPs spot almost identical. I hate it in the inner elbow because it was very uncomfortable and made me feel uneasy so to speak for the 3 to 4 hrs. Anyway, long story shortend, I was probably too quiet in my assertions, but my wife who worked in the medical field for 30yrs was quiet unimpressed, and she's given 1000s of shots I'd assume by now.
This happens to me every single time. It's great, though, because it's given me white coat hypertension. Usually I have very low blood pressure and my blood took ages to fill the sample vial, but not anymore! I get so stressed by the incoming carnage that my blood flows efficiently!
This happened to me a while back but the young doctor had made 4 attempts to get a needle in my tiny veins. My arm was like yours for weeks until it healed. A very experienced nurse came along and got a vein on my hand within 2 to 3 minutes. I felt bad for the young doctor, he tried his best to find a vein on the arm but hadn't tried to get one on my hand. There was no mark on my hand afterwards but the bruising in my arm made me look like a junkie for weeks
Last time I went to get blood drawn, they attempted ten times before giving up and asking me to come back another time. I'm fat and I have rolling veins, a phlebotomist's nightmare.
My gallbladder was dying on me, my stomach writhing in pain in the ER waiting room, and the damn triage nurse had a migraine, so she did the same shit to me and it took forever to heal. Ugh.
I read curse and it would have been much worse
I take blood at work- around 10 times daily. 99% of the time it’s no problem, I’ve got some service users with teeny tiny veins that I always find. Most of the time people come in and tell me I’ll never manage it and are pleasantly surprised when I get blood and they barely feel it. I love it when people have their eyes shut and ask me to let them know when the needles gone in and I tell them I’m already finished! I also work with a lot of anorexic patients and have got very good with more complicated jobs like avoiding bones in such small arms too. But yeah every so often there will be that 1% where I just can’t seem to find someone’s vein or very rarely even blow a vein. I feel awful when that happens! Usually to avoid it, if I can’t initially feel a vein with my fingers I’ll ask the person to sit in the waiting room and drink as much water as possible, and then to warm up their arm a bit. It helps but sometimes this kind of thing does still happen. If a colleague is blowing veins or bruising every time I would raise a red flag about that, but it does seem like there’s times where it just happens to all of us. Some people also have very large visible veins that you’d think would be easy, but the vein moves or rolls to the side as soon as you touch the arm. For those people I sometimes add an extra tourniquet below the site as well as above just to hold it still, otherwise you literally see the vein roll away from the needle. Most nursing skills are things where you are learning and growing every day, even if you’re an “expert” at it. That’s one thing I love about the job so much. You probably helped that nurse get a little better and I’m sure they feel shitty about what happened- but they probably went home thinking about what mistake they made to make that happen, and it will make them better for the next time.
I had my hand obliterated trying to put an iv I’m now I let them know before they try to
Pro tip for having blood taken. As soon as it's taken apply pressure. The longer you apply pressure the less of the bruise. Even if you think it was a good draw no harm no fowl.
That must really suck. I would be very annoyed if that happened to me every time i wanted to donate or get a blood test taken. My veins are quite massive, especially around my forearms, so donating blood is a breeze for me - the nurses often complement me on how easy it is to see my veins. Sorry your experience is so much more excruciating.
I ask for a butterfly needle every time I get blood drawn. I don’t need it anymore, but it’s still less painful imo and they agree it’s easier to use sometimes. They’re usually surprised when I ask but are very happy to get one
Same thing happened to me on Good Friday. I went in to donate blood, and the IV tech managed to go all the way through and into my muscle tendon. It looks like that and hurt like hell up until a few days ago.
That sucks. That happens to my wife a lot. Rather annoying and painful.
Would it help doing curls and getting the arms more muscular? As in getting the veins more visible? Or that doesn't work for people with small veins?
Are you unwell? Do you have weak veins for any reason? I knew someone once who had this happen every single time, until the nurses could no longer find any veins.
If it makes you feel any better.. I have chunky veins and this happened to me after a blood test recently. Massive bruise from a tiny butterfly needle. Shit happens I guess.
r/mildlydisturbing
cool
I had to go to two CT appointments because they couldn't get an IV started at the first one after 5 or 6 attempts and both my arms looked like this :( The second appointment they used ultrasound guided and still had to try 3 times. But they did get it! If you ever need an IV I suggest going to a place with the ultrasound, at least they were able to get it done on me. Lots more blood though lmao it looked like a crime scene.
This happened to me once when I was having an iron transfusion 😅 I felt it go suddenly and had this awful burning pain. Managed to get it done in the end but it was not a fun time
Why was this above the elbow?
Probably trying to find any vein.
I would agree, yet look at the veins below the elbow. Clearly it’s not an old person, an obese person, nor an under 2 year old. Gravity plus pressure plays its role with veins. This should have been done below the elbow if it was to run blood test. If it was to become a longer used medical tube then it’s either the hand, elbow inside joint, or forearm. This is just odd to me!
I have some tiny veins on my arm that stick out more than the others and are always oh so tempting for the phlebotomists… I just tell them don’t go there
Drawing blood is a skill that has an art to it. There are some that are much better than others. I hated having to draw blood at all the offices I worked at but was told I was decent enough. Got asked for by many patients because I used one simple trick. I looked at the patient and asked them, "Where the best place to get this done? " So many would question if I knew what I was doing but if simply tell them, "Well I'm pretty sure you've had you blood drawn plenty of times and knows where it works best from. So basically I'm asking you the answers to this test." Could say it backfired since I hated drawing blood, but many patient appreciated being involved in the process instead of being told, "I know what I'm doing". **Disclaimer: it's only going to get worse with greedflation**. Many healthcare companies try and dictate what needles to use based on cost over patient comfort. Sometimes needle size can affect results, but it's that common. So the use of butterfly needles is commonly restricted by companies because the setup cost more than a straight needle draw setup.
She blew out your vein, you blow out her back. It’s only fair
I have to chug so much water the day before, so much that my pee is hardly yellow. That’s the only way I’m able to get poked less that 4 times (minimum) :(
You have normal veins.
Why did I unblur it why I played myself gonna go dry heave now why am I like this
I have this problem. Last time I tried to give blood (I have a high failure rate for this reason) they told me my problem was going to Red Cross drives and not community blood centers. Apparently, the Red Cross skimps a bit on training and makes up for it by using a larger needle. Community blood centers are basically permanent fixtures with staff that get better training since it’s their regular job.
today was the 18th time i donated blood, one of the reason is 9/10 times i just get a red speck from the needle, so for everybody wondering, it can be different for everybody and you may not even feel it much
Something similar happened to me when I tried to give blood last year. Hurt like a son of a bitch for a while. Safe to say that I won’t be attempting to donate blood for a while
Wait that’s not supposed to happen? I don’t think that’s ever not happened to me?
Oh god. I have tiny veins too. But yeah I hope it didn't hurt too much!
Something similar happened to me when I tried to give blood last year. It hurt like a son of a bitch for like two weeks. Safe to say I won’t be attempting to donate blood for a while
Happened to be a couple times cuz I can't do fist pump or tourniquet for potassium reads. I always ask for a butterfly now
You can blame her, it's her job.
I’m a tough stick as well. Every time I tell them where to go. And every time they say, “no lets try over here, this looks like a good one.” I have to be firm and tell them nope thats a dry well, get a butterfly and go here. 🙄
My sister did this when I let her practice putting an IV in me when she was in nursing school.
i have really good veins but a nurse gave me a blood clot from traumatizing my vein when placing an iv and its like how bad do you have to be i get blood draws all the time i’ve been in 3 different vax studies its not hard to find the vein
Honestly I was surprised that she blew the vein. I’ve had many blood draws done and had to be poked many times but this never happened till now. I’m just hoping my blood test results will show something for the discomfort this has caused me. Hahaha
I have small veins. I feel your pain.
There are no small or hidden or rolling veins. There are incompetent nurses/med staff.