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Hardening of veins

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Posted 10/5/2013 2:50 PM (GMT 0)
Has anybody else had the problem of your veins hardening/slightly sore right below an IV insertion? I was in the hospital for a total of 17 days and I have had IVs in 5 different spots, hand, side of arm, wrist, forearm and elbow. They were "pushing" some of my medication through the IV and after a couple days the pain from the push made it feel like my vein was going to explode. They would then have to move the IV to another location. I eventually told them no more pushes, because I felt it was ruining my veins. Well, the last 2 spots they put the IV in, there were no pushes and it was fine for the 4 days, until they said they have to move it to prevent infection. I noticed about a week after I got out that right below the insertion point, the vein is hard. Right above is normal and then maybe 6 inches below it feels normal. Would like a little feedback from anyone who has experienced this. I did a little research and read other people's stories saying they took aspirin, others got something from their doctor, some just waited it out (5-6 weeks) and others said putting heat on it and rubbing it.  Thanks.
Posted 10/5/2013 4:21 PM (GMT 0)
I'm a newly retired RN and I can tell you many medications are lethal to veins. Most do well if given a free flowing IV, not given push. If given push ask them to go slow and flush the vein well with saline. There are many antibiotics, anesthesia meds and others that come in an IV bag that can cause vein problems. I've seen some docs use lidocaine to numb the vein but that has consequenses, too.

Lasix when given too quickly really hardens the vein and when given in large does causes mostly short term hearing deficits. Potassium is a stinker and must be given slowly inan IV bag never push.

Make sure the alcohol had completely dried or ask them to use a clean gauze to wipe it up.from alcohol being dragged through the tissues with the needle feels nasty. I wish I ad more answers for you.
Posted 10/5/2013 4:28 PM (GMT 0)
When I was on IV Vancomycin, I had to have a fresh IV daily. It's one of the ones that just ruins the vein. Your sore and hardened areas should clear slowly; sometimes applying warm compresses will speed this up.
Posted 10/5/2013 5:59 PM (GMT 0)
ledaebel - There were pushing 2 medications and the one that would hurt was the dilaudid. I was getting pushes every 3-4 hours. The first few would be fine, but after about a day, I could feel the pain starting. I finally just told them to stop even though it worked so well for my pain. They would go very slowly, but even that would cause pain and it would increase each time. I'll remember that advice if I end up back there and they want to push anything. Thank you.

Judy2 - I am going to start trying the warm compresses today. Thanks.
Posted 10/5/2013 7:08 PM (GMT 0)
It's completely normal. The IV meds are very caustic to veins and thus form scar tissue. I was getting IV Cipro and IV Flagyl in the Hospital- I was there 5 days and had 4-5IVs because they kept going bad.
When they burned terribly, esp during Cipro- we slowed the rate down and I would wear an ice pack on my IV site.
However, I've been out almost a month and I still have some of the bruising and hardened veins from where they were.
Posted 10/5/2013 8:18 PM (GMT 0)
Ok, glad to know it is pretty normal. I'll just give it some time, along with some heat.
Posted 10/5/2013 10:38 PM (GMT 0)
I have some pretty messy photos. Apparently lifting weights all your life increase the number of valves and even though my arms are vascular the nurses constantly run into valves and jab around too long then move on then get really upset and it finally works when they grab someone else to take a try.

That is temporary however twice I have had the vein clot below pain reliever injections. One was for the angiogram through the leg to run the cable through upper body down arm and examine trouble there in an artery. Pretty big entry point in femoral artery but it was just fine. However the vein in the arm for the pain reliever and other drugs pre-surgery was clotted more than an inch like the time before, this time it clotted all the way to the elbow and once off prednisone it cleared right up.

Avoiding prednisone. Tackling this flare up with resumption of RS diet and lots of fiber. Thought about Uceris but too busy to deal with it and the flare seems to have lost its initial momentum and reversing course slowly. Started with Apriso and started hard, faster than ever. Two strikes for Apriso so not doing 5-ASAs anymore.
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