Ouch!

[topazrat]

I went for my free B12 jab from the surgery yesterday. The nurse that did it botched a blood test a few months back, leaving me with a lot of bruising. OK, so what can she do wrong this time, I thought? She put the needle into my arm and the pain was horrendous - I've not had a jab that hurt that much since the Doc injected steroids into my shoulder joint! Anyway, I got home, looked at the damage and she has injected right at the top of my shoulder, the area that nurses are told to steer away from because there is a danger of injecting into the joint capsule! I've got a rather sore arm and shoulder this morning, so its possible that my shoulder joint is swimming in B12. Let's just hope that it doesn't cause a problem. I'm dreading the next jab or blood test if it is the same nurse, I think I'm going to have to say that I don't want to see her again.

[Cherylclaire Forum Support]

Ouch !

Would definitely ask for another nurse.

Directed B12 injections are used for joint pain, I've heard, so your shoulder should (eventually) benefit - but hope not to the detriment of the rest of you !

Better luck next time ?

[Nackapan]

I too had to avoid one nurse.The pain was awful.

The bruising and soreness bad.

I have her s second chance. Managed to relax.

Asked hef to take her time.

Awful again.

I told her it was bad and really shouldn't hurt that much .

I'd had over 70at that time so would know!

Avoid that nurse at all costs .

Do mention it to whoever does it correctly next time.

That nurse needs more training.

[topazrat in reply to Nackapan]

Yes, I will certainly mention it next time. I've had hundreds of B12 jabs with no problem and the first time this nurse does one, it goes pear shaped! I'm a nurse myself, so as soon as I saw where she had injected, I knew she'd done it in the wrong place.

[charks]

Do you think she's punishing you for making her 'waste' her time giving you an 'unnecessary' injection.

[topazrat in reply to charks]

😂Maybe, but I think it more likely that she needs to go back to school, because she obviously slept through blood and injection training.

[FlipperTD]

Scientist, not medic.

Poor soul!

Taking blood samples is relatively straightforward, but some folks never get it right. Badly taken and badly handled samples are really not worth testing much of the time, as haemolysis [rupture of some of the red cells] is enough to invalidate the results. If the potassium is being measured, it'll be wrong. It will be 'high' to 'very high', and the same goes for folate, as red cells are rich in folate and potassium, for example. It's always important to press on the site for longer than you'd think too, expecially if you've encountered a butcher. As for the shoulder, I hope you recover quickly.

Needles are so sharp, you should never feel them going in. The 'slow, cautious' approach when jabbing the needle in isn't ideal either.

Psychology is important. The person on the blunt end of the needle saying 'this is going to hurt a bit' is ensuring that it does, whereas saying as little as possible and maintaining a professional approach can often get through the entire procedure without the patient knowing.

Better luck next time.

[Technoid in reply to FlipperTD]

ThanksFlipperTD. very interesting, apart from the pain and discomfort of a badly handled injection I did not realize there could also be test problems with the sample as result. Good tip!

[topazrat in reply to Technoid]

It certainly does cause test problems. I had a call back after a botched blood test saying my potassium level was 17 and that it needed redoing urgently. My reply was wouldn't I be dead if it was really 17? Erm, yes, probably, was the answer. I booked a routine appointment, made sure the nurse did the job properly and hey presto, normal potassium levels!

[FlipperTD in reply to Technoid]

It's remarkable [but not surprising] that we spend £ millions on analytical equipment but don't consider the front end; garbage in, garbage out. Of course, the folks making the decisions on the analytical equipment have little connection with the poor souls at the sharp end, and after numerous conversations with folks who take the samples, it's obvious that they've been trained by folks who don't know the finer details either.

Observations are:

1. If whoever is taking the blood doesn't get straight into the vein, then the sample is likely to be rubbish.

2. If they take an anticoagulated sample [EDTA] first then there's likelihood that the chemistry results might be compromised.

3. If they take the EDTA sample later in the process then the platelets might be compromised.

4. If the sample isn't mixed gently on retrieval then the results might be compromised.

5. If the person uses anything much smaller than a 21g needle then there's every likelihood that the sample quality will be compromised.

No, there's no ideal sampling technique, but fingerpricks are, regrettably, even worse.

So, whenever we get recalled for a repeat test because 'something's wrong with your blood results' then consider that the most likely cause is operator error.

[Sleepybunny]

Perhaps you could take a photo of the damage.

I hope the next injection is less painful.

[Hidden]

I feel for you. I used to go to the surgery once every two to three months for my B12 injection (I have PA). I used to dread it as the (same) nurse hurt me so much. She just jabbed in in and pressed hard on the syringe so it all went it very quickly whilst saying ‘ this is one of the most painful injections there is, so I don’t envy you’. It was a horrible experience. I sometimes delayed it just because it hurt so much. However, when Covid came, I ordered everything so I could SI, as I couldn’t get to the surgery. Been SI for an about 3 years now and it is NOT painful whatsoever. Because I do it slowly!! She was obviously in too much of a bloody rush or she enjoyed seeing me in pain. I eventually told the surgery I wouldn’t be going back there because of this.

I definitely find going slower is far more pain free.

If you don’t want to consider SI, I would ask for another nurse (explaining why, as it’s likely she’s hurting others too?) or ask for that one to be adequately trained to carry out this simple procedure!!

Good luck. Hope it gets sorted.

[topazrat in reply to Hidden]

I SI weekly but go to the surgery for my three monthly one. I agree, when I do my own jabs, it doesn't hurt much if at all.