My poor veins are so scarred up

Ok so I have a high pain tolerance, and do not mind needles or IV's by any means, but mother of pearl this is getting old. I have literally had hundreds of needle sticks since September, and the frequency is not lessening. Every time I have to get an IV, which is often unforunately these days the nurse (who never misses) has to poke me atleast 3 times to find a vein. Before this I have to sit with hot packs and hot blankets around both my arms for about 20 minutes just so they can see a vein, and still it takes forever. Today at my Remicade infusion it took 2 hours, and 6 nurses, and 5 pokes to finally find a vein. The head nurse had to come in and say that she was going go order a picc line because all the veins they could see where scarred up, and every other one is teeny and pretty much pathetic. The guy nurse asked if he could maybe check my feet for veins...WHAT?! EEK! So in the middle of ordering a picc line just for remicade one of the nurses finally got a tiny little vein the middle of my back forearm, and it hurt like heck and left a nice bruise. It burned the whole time, and they had to keep heat on the site to keep the vein open. This seems like a bit too much effort for a blood draw or IV if you ask me. The nurses all asked me if my doc had talked to me about a portacath because it was definitely time to get one if not just consider it. So they sent a letter to my GI saying that a portacath is needed to access a vein, and to chat about it with me.

Has anyone else had this issue, and how has the GI reacted to this request. I have known many people with a port (not for crohns) and at this point I am all for it.  My poor arms are bruised, and have track marks, which pretty much makes me look like an addict. Good times!

 

I have not had a portacath they talked about it last summer for tpn since my veins to are crap , I have heard good thing about them I think its got to be better than being poked so many times and you would be able to get hooked right up to the remicade and save alot of time.

I've not had much of a problem recently, but it was awful last summer when I was in the hospital.  I was in such bad shape that my veins kept collapsing.  Both arms were covered in bruises for weeks afterward.  After three days they decided to but in a cetral line.  It was wonderful!  It had two ports, so they could keep me on IV and draw blood without further sticks.  If the relief of a portacath is anything like the central line, I say go for it! 

If you are physically able to, a little excercise should fix your problem very easily, it will allow your veins to be fuller, thicker and as a result much easier to find when it comes to blood tests. I wish everyone was a lucky as i have been with Crohns and being able to continue my fitness regime, the nurses love me since they can take my blood with their eyes closed since my veins are so thick, although a couple of the nurses annoy me because i think they get in the habit of going deep and numerous times some of them have gone WAY to far in (its pretty bad when you can actually feel they have gone to far and then get that lovely feeling of having the needle slowly pulled back out untill they get back to the spot they should have stopped at in the first place, this obvisouly leads to instant bruising, i rate the nurse based on the bruise, about 60% do their job and leave me with no bruising, 30% leave a little mark, and 10% are WAY to aggressive with the needle and leave huge bruises the size of my fist on me, grrrr)

Hi crohnie8, yep I've had the same problem. The did do a central line on me at my last hospital visit. There has been talk of a porta cath
but, I;m not so keen. I've heard lots of not so good stuff about them.

This vein stuff does seem par for the course...

Crohnie..... i would highly recommend the port. I was the same way. 3 Years ago while in the hosp. for 36 days, my veins finally became totally useless. Not even a pic line would last more than 4-5 days....and they are supposed to be good for at least a month. They put the port in and I have only had one problem in all that time. Yeah you have to go every 6-8 weeks to have it flushed but hey, one stick and it's over. I would suggest you do what I did when it comes to that and go to the oncology dept. where they do it all day every day........ they never miss. And other ppl that know.... thats a long needle to stick straight in you more than one time. They will even freeze the area first if you want. I don't personally need that, but for those that are less tolerate of pain, may.

The problem I spoke of was that I got a real bad lung infection and it traveled to the port..... that was bad I have to admit. I had to go to the hospital everyday for 2 weeks for IV antibiotic. But luckily it was handled and I didn't lose the port. If that does happen and you have to take the port out, it's another surgery to remove it and then agian later to replace it, if they choose to. I personally would let them, it has been a God send for me and my poor veins. I am scarred up enough from needles and surgery and knew that without it nothing would change.

This is my opinion of course and you must do what you and you doctors think is best, but now you know that there are good results for such a step.

Best Wishs and Good luck,
Angie

I have the same issue. I had a port o cath put in during a hospital stay last year and it was a god send. Not only do you not have to be poked a million times, the medication does not burn going in and you can not feel it when they draw blood. So its pressure on your chest for a moment when the needle goes in, nothing close to the pain you are dealing with now. I wish you luck whatever your decision might be