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Posted 8/1/2016 12:15 AM (GMT 0)
Any suggestions for why sometimes needle sticks are INCREDIBLY painful some days but not others? Other than general inflammation and the fact that the nurse literally misses the nerves sometimes (she's THAT good)...

-p
Posted 8/1/2016 12:18 AM (GMT 0)
I know hydration play a huge part in a "good stick." I watched my daughter drink tons of water the night before getting draws or chemo.

I often wonder about the needle sizes. I always want them to use the size on me that they use for a baby. Granted, it would probably take all day for the vial to fill up. LOL
Posted 8/1/2016 12:25 AM (GMT 0)
For me - it's the lab tech taking the sample.

I have my favorites and they don't hurt at all.

There's one lab tech who lets it dangle sometimes...and it sort of pulls...
I have large easy veins to access and the same lab tech has trouble with it...and I ended up with a big bruise one time...

I cancel my appt. and walk out if I see she's there.
Posted 8/1/2016 12:27 AM (GMT 0)
I often get the butterfly needle (which is the small one) and it doesn't take long at all to fill the vials. I normally have no less than 3 vials to fill when doing regular bloodwork.
Posted 8/1/2016 3:03 AM (GMT 0)
HA! Good for you, Girlie. Yes, some nurses suck at it. The phlebotomist at LabCorp here is a magician. She can get 11 vials out of me when no one else can even get the IV in right - so they start moving it around - digging for a vein....sigh...

And my main nurse is VERY good at it and when she accesses my port which his a HUGE needle and also has to stick another needle in me to draw blood because the port won't draw, I can barely feel it. But last week was one of those times when it was so painful I yelled out and cried my eyes out. With a stinking little butterfly needle (it is the smallest one they have). So there has to be something making me so sensitive.

I've lived with severe TMJ pain my whole life - grew up with it so I am generally pretty pain-tolerant. After a car accident I once had an ER doc stitch up my forehead w/out any anesthetic because I was in a hurry. LOL So I'm embarrassed when having my blood drawn reduces me to tears!

I'm DEFINITELY dehydrated which causes all kinds of issues and I didn't think about that causing this too. I will just end to be more vigilant about that.

Thanks for the ideas!

-p
Posted 8/1/2016 6:28 AM (GMT 0)
They gave me emla creme at the nice clinic ...it take 15 min to work and idk if clorahexdine cleans it all so i stopped ..it pales to a bee sting but some days i feel like nerves are fried from bart so everthing hurts more even commercials on tv or the radio...

Hey pirouette. ..i was looking for something to switch to at next llmd for toxo and lyme n bart ,i just read that vanco doesnt work on gram negative and bart is gram neg ...any ideas ? Maybe clindamycin
Posted 8/1/2016 3:00 PM (GMT 0)
Needles and IV's are usually horrid for me. My veins twist and fold, and so instead of one stick (if they don't get it right) will end up being anywhere from 3 - 5 holes in my veins.

My last doc used only the butterfly needles and I never had an issue with them. Rarely even bruised - and I'm pretty white, so bruising shows up easy on me.

But, anyone that comes at me with a needle otherwise, I insist that they get only ONE chance to get it right. If they don't they MUST REMOVE the needle and go get someone else that can always start an IV on people and babies - even if I have to be the one to remove the needle - which I have done one time. The tech said "just one more try", I said, nope! and removed the needle.

The reason I'm such a pain about even this? Many times I'm left with a massive, bleeding mess under my skin. One time it was as big as a lemon - and it was on the back of my hand! I had had surgery, and I was under the anesthesia still when something happened to my IV and they had to move it to my hand. Okay, no problem, but they really buggered up my vein and I was the one who had to deal with it.

So, I'm really picky about who gets to draw blood from me. I live in this body and I'm not their learning tool or practice dummy!!!
Posted 8/2/2016 11:48 PM (GMT 0)
I hear ya, T.

You can usually tell if a technician at the labs are inexperienced and I intentionally intimidate them and they eventually run and find someone else. I learned my lesson about speaking up early on - my ND was trying to draw labs and had one of the assistants or nurse students or it could have been the sandwich delivery girl for all I know - try to draw labs. By her 7th stick the ND came into the room wondering what was taking so long. For the 8th stick they decided to draw from my foot. I didn't know any better at the time but this is incredibly dangerous (more prone to clotting).

I'm perpetually bruised LOL.

But I also have a stain on my forearm because of bleeding from a blood draw. I'm on a lot of blood thinner (heparin and all these herbs) but still - a stain? really? Now, whenever the nurses go searching and searching for a "good" vein I point out all these bruises. They get embarrassed (most nurses are quite caring) but I mention how the other nurses beat me up and that gives them a good chuckle.

Then they tell me about how hard it is to do blood draws on babies so that shuts me up. I always tell myself it could be worse.

-p
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