blood sample

[no-blood]

I have a 'blood-sucking!' problem ... recently the lobotomist has had difficulty extracting blood from my arm ... wobbly veins!! ... no subcutaneous fat!! ... resulting in an extremely painful process (when done yesterday) for cholesterol test ... can anyone advise please?

[bantam12]

Have they tried using a butterfly needle ? usually works.

[no-blood in reply to bantam12]

yes ... but no luck!!

[sandybrown]

My wife used to collect blood for testing at the hospital and she used to talk about difficult times.

A good, experienced and caring nurse can find the area to collect blood for tests.

[Loving-life]

Hello i have had numerous blood tests over the years and since having a HA my veins play hide and seek for some reason. As sandybrown says a good experienced nurse will extract without pain. An austrailian nurse once put a pillow under my arm and this relaxed my arm, by far the easiest blood test to date. You could try that. Hope you find a solution soon.

[stevejb1810]

Drink lots of water before you have your bloods done. Do as little exercise as possible beforehand. Try to relax. A good phlebotomist will always find a good enough vein, but you need to do your bit too

[Gordon99]

I have difficulty giving blood too. I agree with the advice given by stevejb1810 as this worked for me. In hospital I often had to wait for a phlebotomists to come on duty after a few failed attempts by doctors and nurses.

[Salihyuksel67]

I done my colestrol test last week always I go same nurse and not problem at all but this time I get different nurse and she couldn't get blood test.she tried 3 times and really hurt me luckily my other nurse come back and done test for me. Try different nurse you believe me experience nurse different. Good luck.

[Karenpr]

Our GP nurse tells us to drink plenty of water before the test to rehydrate and uses children’s needles. But as everyone else says a good “blood sucker” will always find the vein and not hurt or bruise you.

[Inamoment]

I have a lot of blood tests and am referred to as 'the difficult bleeder' by the hospital blood test dept. Drinking lots doesn't seem to work but making sure my arm is warm does. Having a bath is ideal, or dunking my arm in hot water for a few minutes and then keeping it warm. Staff ability varies too, there is a lovely lady at st richards who could get blood out of anything

[Hidden]

There’s a funny side to everything - your spell checker seems to have written lobotomist instead of phlebotomist! Hope Hannibal Lecter hasn’t been employed by the NHS!! Haha

Seriously, hope your problems can be overcome without too much pincushion effect

[Oreganway]

Think you mean phlebotomist.? Anyhow. Just relax about it next time you have a blood test. Tension doesn’t help the procedure. Hope this helps

[FeetheBookworm]

I have one good vein on my right arm that they always go for. Having my had a radical mastectomy 14yrs ago they don’t go in on the LH side except in an emergency. When I was having chemo treatment by the 5th and 6th times all my veins had given up and they had to go for my wrist - which had also shrunk and virtually disappeared. So painful and the bruises afterwards - honestly I looked like my whole arm had been in a fight with Mike Tyson and lost!

So after all that the quarterly blood checks are a piece of cake, even when they are filling 4/5 of those little vials!

[Manhattan1]

unfortunately was admittrd to my local hospital early Sunday morning due to kidney stones... arghhh!!.. lovely male Polish nurse had 4 goes to insert a canula to collect blood and insert morphine.. eventually a doc was successful but once he had the needle in.. it still took a lot of jiggling about until he could actually draw blood.. said my veins had shut down.. always wondered what actually causes that.. is it because of the pain?

[Jo_africa]

I also have this problem. Dehydration plays a big part so drink as much water as you can beforehand....

[PhilGM]

Never used to have difficulties having blood taken but since my bypass some nurses have trouble but as everyone has said they hand over to someone else known for their expertise who are immediately successful!