Just got back from the doctor's

Ughh I just got back from my annual exam a little while ago. When they were taking my blood they had to poke me twice. Once in my left arm, and then the tube wasn't filling up very fast so this took like 10 minutes total. The other place she poked me was in my wrist and I've never been poked there before. Ouchie..hurts a little more than the arm in my opinion, but she got more blood out of that one since it was slightly bigger. Supposedly that's where IVs go when you get them, except when I had one I had it in my hand before when I had my wisdom teeth out. And then to top it all off I got a flu shot after the blood ordeal. I just LOVE needles!! (sarcastically) I wish I had larger easier to find veins sometimes though. That's not the first time I've had to get jabbed twice with a needle. It probably won't be the last.

How odd, I tell them left arm and never have anyone argue. The only time they go for the right is if the IV is already running in the left or if the left has been stuck too many times already. It's bad when they start eying up other veins because they've already stuck both arms 3-4 times each...

Fuzzles - Do you have low blood pressure or are you possibly dehydrated a bit? Most people think they drink enough but some of us need to drink a lot more and not just when we feel thirsty. For example, I may not feel thirsty in 4-5 hours time on some days but if I don't drink I'll get a headache and my blood pressure will get worse - then again I do have low blood volume as well.

The other possibility is just that you have thicker than normal blood. A few things can cause this and it can be hereditary (luckily I didn't inherit that from my mom, too ).

oww

I had a nurse do that to me when I went into labor with my 2nd born, but it was an IV. That sucker HURT.... Plus the idiot put it on the arm where they had the ( not sure what this is ) thing that squeezes your arm, lets go slowly to count your heart rate? Yeah.. that thing.. ALL on the same arm after stabbing me twice with that needle. Every time that thing squeezed I wanted to shove some ones head through the wall...


I feel for ya

Hmm not sure if my blood pressure is too too low, but this morning it was 120/70 which is pretty normal. That's what it normally is when I get it taken. I've never had a blood drawing take so long though. Usually its like a minute or two and then they're done. They were thinking it was because I was cold and my blood was cooler so it wasn't moving as fast. It was literally drip by drip into the tube though. The nurse taking my blood said that they can also slice open your finger to get it out (OUCH!) but she said she doesn't like to do that. I'm not sure that I would want that done to me either!

MommysMeows - That's called a blood pressure cuff. I've never had that affect how an IV feels, aside from the time on the tilt table when I woke up and the heavy blood pressure cuff cord had hung up on the IV (luckily the IV was just precautionary and not running anything). I was a bit annoyed that the doctor didn't think "Hmm, that might be painful", but then I ran into the wall twice while being lead from the room and he never looked back to see if I was ok, either.


Fuzzles - 120/70 at the doctor's office might suggest it's a little lower at home - after all, when stressed mine comes out at 100/60 sitting every time, but at home it can be ridiculously low. ...I'm not sure that slicing your finger would have been very sanitary. It wouldn't hurt for you to drink more water , though.
What where they testing for? Hoping for good results?

Ugh, dont you hate that? I had to get my blood taken when I had a severe pain in my side - they wanted to rule out appendicitis by drawing blood for a WBC count.

The girl came in and stabbed me four times in the arm. She kept repeatedly sticking it in the inside of my elbow, then she stuck me wayyy outside my elbow on the side of my arm! I'm like you are NOT going to find a vein way out there. She finally did find one, but it ended up bleeding for a few hours afterward - the first time I've ever had that much trouble having blood taken!

When I had my first Dr. apt. after I found out I was prego they needed to take blood to run tests blah blah blah I totally understand, but I HATE needleds and the lady poked me like 3 times in one arm before she gave up and tried the other arm. She poked me twice in that arm and then finally found a vain. She took SIX viles of blood, I thought I was going to pass out.

^Just 6? Try having 15 or more taken.

These people sound like they need to go back through training... Are any of you reporting this?

Originally Posted by strange_wings

^Just 6? Try having 15 or more taken.

These people sound like they need to go back through training... Are any of you reporting this?

Click to expand...

No thanks 6 was enough for me!

Reporting her never even crossed my mind. I was just so happy for it to be done and over with I wanted to get out of there ASAP! Thats a really good idea though!

^ Of course. If you had to wait at the grocery store because the person bagging your groceries didn't know how to bag the eggs and ended up breaking half of them in the process people would complain. It's wasting your time and money, medical care is no different. It is your time and money. (at least in the US, though elsewhere it's still your tax money)

I have to do labs every two or three months and have learned a few things.

One is you need to be nice to the person who is going to poke you with sharp things. Some don't like taking suggestions from their victims. And some are just much better than others.

There is one girl at the lab that is so good you never know that you have been stuck. I have been lucky to get her a few times.

Then there are others who just can't get it right. I still have a bruise from last week.

Fuzzles - 120/70 at the doctor's office might suggest it's a little lower at home - after all, when stressed mine comes out at 100/60 sitting every time, but at home it can be ridiculously low. ...I'm not sure that slicing your finger would have been very sanitary. It wouldn't hurt for you to drink more water , though.
What where they testing for? Hoping for good results?[/quote]

I was just getting blood taken for my annual exam thing today. Stuff like cholesterol and I think for thyroid as well, just to see if everything is the way it should be. My hand is a little swollen now where they stuck me earlier. I didn't notice it or it hurting until I moved some laundry from the washer into the dryer a little while ago.

One time I had a lady taking my blood that was talking to I guess it was her daughter who was standing in the doorway while she was trying to stick me. Needless to say she missed the vein and had to then stick me in my right arm. I was the only person there at the time, she could've waited to provide good customer service to me and then talk to whoever that girl was that was talking to her. That time it was for allergy tests.

Oh, and I always ask for a butterfly needle every time I go. It's smaller. The doctor today said that potassium levels sometimes come back higher with that kind of needle though, but I don't care if it can get them over and done with me quicker.

My Mom has extremely hard to find veins and this fact almost killed her when she had my brother. She hemorrhaged after he came out and all of the nurses were trying to find an artery to transfuse some more blood. She was blacking out and had some pretty surreal dreams as they panicked over her.

He was her last, but her doctors are a lot more careful with her now. If she has to have surgery they start early on the vein finding procedure.