My mom was a Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA) and sometimes got called in to start IV’s in patients with bad veins
I"ve always been a difficult stick. Especially now after a lifetime of blood tests and IV’s.
I had surgery in August. I had three IV’s fail in the hospital. The first was inserted in Pre-Op. Stuck me 4 times before they went into the back of my wrist. Hurt like hell.
It lasted three days before my wrist got inflamed and swollen. The next IV went into the crook of my arm. Lasted 4 days. My own damn fault that it failed. I was sitting a bag on my table. Almost dropped it and reached too far to catch. Pulled the IV.
Next I insisted on them using a Ultrasound to find a good vein. It lasted a couple days.
Next ultrasound and another IV. Failed 6 hours later. I’m pretty sure it was positioned incorrectly. But obviously the hospital won’t admit it. (The technician said the nurse might have to adjust it by backing it out)
Finally got a PICC line and relief. I’m still using it at home.
Are we just doomed to misery in our senior years? They draw blood from the back of my hand. It’s the most reliable location.
Do veins ever heal and recover?
There’s really no excuse for sticking patients multiple times. Ultrasound takes away the guessing. But hospitals make patients beg for it. Then it’s an hour or two wait.
My hospital had a infusion team. It was disbanded and the floor nurses start IV’s.
I’ve been getting a blood draw every 3 months for ~15 years, plus a few extras here and there. Prior to that it was more like annually. There’s no evidence my veins are any less good now at age 66 than they were when I was 20.
It helps to be lean, so the veins are close to the surface and visually obvious. It also helps to by highly, highly hydrated so you blood volume is at its max.
IANA medical anybody, but … if you’re really that bad a stick, perhaps try looking into getting a port like the chemo patients use. My late wife had one for her last ~7 years and it greatly facilitated lots more medical events than just a chemo infusion.
I’ve donated over 80 pints of blood now, almost exclusively from my right arm. They never seem to have trouble getting a needle in and establishing blood flow on the first try.
I have worn out a couple of veins from phlebotomies with the big needles. Sometimes the phlebotomists are clumsy though. Also had many small blood draws for testing, can’t really tell the effect on my veins because they use the same veins used for the big needles. Don’t know if the veins will ever heal but most surface scar tissue shrinks away over time. Can barely find the scars from my younger days.
Yeah that’s definitely it. I’m a hard stick. My arm vein is very deep. I give blood every 8 weeks and it’s only ever a problem if I’m not seriously hydrating the day before. If I slack on that hydration, they can’t get my vein at all (not for lack of trying, ouch).
My wife has that problem. She wants to donate blood and platelets but they can’t find good enough veins. Easy to find the veins, her skin is nearly transparent, but even after hydration they seemed too small to use the big needles, and they didn’t want to even try the platelets because they need two veins.
It’s possible to do single-needle platelets - I’ve done it once or twice - but the process really beats your vein up, once with me they weren’t able to finish the final return because my vein was giving too much backpressure.
Anyhow, back to the OP question. I give platelets about twice a month, two sticks (almost) every time, and my results are very different depending upon which arm is stuck.
My left arm has an “Old Faithful” vein - large, close to the surface, on the outside of the crook of the arm. I think it’s been missed once in decades of giving (also, one time a military physical kept trying to find my middle vein, eventually they gave up).
The right arm, though… veins are less prominent, deeper, some have inconvenient turns at the wrong places. Getting my return needle started is an adventure. Occasionally it will go wrong because of scar tissue in the vein - they’ve taken to switching off between elbow and wrist sticks which seems to alleviate the issue.
I’m mid-50s, though, and I expect healing will go slower as I age. But in my experience, veins do recover from fairly frequent needle sticks.
I used to donate platelets on a regular basis. After a while it started getting harder and harder to get a good stick, and I was advised to stop donating for a while to “give mt veins a rest”. At some point I started just donating blood occasionally, and usually didn’t have much trouble. However, the insides of both elbows, especially my left, have numerous little pits from all the skin piercings.
Due to my persistent anemia I can no longer donate blood, but now I’m always having to have blood drawn for tests, and periodically have to have iron infusions (in fact, I’m scheduled for one in a few weeks). Sometimes I have no problems getting stuck, but every so often my veins refuse to cooperate; I’ve joked a few times about how they run away screaming when they sense a nearby needle,
I suspect (no actual medical knowledge) that veins with injuries (like a needle pulled out unintentionally) can develop scar tissue that might make future sticks at that point difficult.
The phlebotomist’s skill and willingness to admit defeat in trying to find a vein in their preferred place makes a huge difference. When getting blood tests I always mention that I am a difficult stick and that they can always find a useful vein in the back of my hand. Some of them take in this information and act accordingly (they ask to look at the elbow to make sure, then they use the hand), others view it as a challenge and insist on trying the elbow with a needle. I had one of these try three times then give up and ask someone else to try, someone who listened and used my hand.
Once when I was having a colonoscopy (when you can’t hydrate) the nurse must have stuck me five times for the IV before the doctor took over and found a vein in my ankle on the first try. The next time, I told them this story, and the nurse let my arm hang down for a minute and was able to get a good stick in my hand on the first try.
Another for this. Although younger, I’ve had a couple of times I ended up in a clinic with a severe cold and was so dehydrated that they had to stick me a TON because of it.
And yeah, I’m working on losing weight, which is another contributing factor. For me, the last time they stuck me for a blood draw, they did it from the top of my hands, because I have prominent veins there - something I don’t know if is practical for pulling more than enough to sample for some tests.
Anecdote over - apparently, the web abounds with sites that talk about vein scarring, generally split between horror stories about bad NA/RN/MDs screwing it up (aside, I find my NA/RN does a lot better job due to practice than the MDs!) and others where it’s inevitable due to the sheer number of testing they do because of chronic conditions.
But a brief search didn’t turn up any from sites that I’d consider worth linking in FQ.
Same here; I just need to make sure I drink enough water so the lab tech has an easier time finding a vein. Forgot once, quite a few years ago, and they had to use the back of a hand. I still have a tiny, keeloid-like thing there.
I’ve donated blood 165 times and I alternate my left and right arm to even things out. I’ve never have trouble with a draw, but the phlebotomist mentions they have to go through scar tissue to get to the vein. I don’t normally get super-hydrated, but I’m lean which probably helps them locate a good vein in my arm. My veins seem to recover after a few months.
My ex-wife has extremely small veins and has always been a difficult draw. They have to use a smaller needle and often resort to taking blood from the back of her hand.
I think people’s anatomy differ, and that makes is harder for some people to have blood drawn than others. Maybe your just one of the unlucky ones. BTW, I’ve never heard of using ultrasound to find a vein, so I learned something today.
I’m a hard stick. If you ask me my veins look big and fat but in actuality they are apparently tiny wizened up veins.
That’s why, when they suggested a port at the oncologist, I leapt at the idea. It is SUCH a relief to sit down in the infusion chair and know they’ll get me hooked up in no time. Sterilize, cold spray, insert needle. Done! Same with a blood draw.
Back in the bad old days of selling plasma to get my next meal, the last time I did that was when, after removing the blood and having the fluid pumped back in, they pump a bunch of it under the skin instead of into the vein. Since I was used to donating I just took a nap for the second part and didn’t realize what they had done until it was a bit too late. Massive bruising and pain in that arm for quite a while, and I quit going after that.
I used to donate blood exclusively from my left arm. Eventually they told me they were having a difficult time with the vein — the phrase they used was that it was ‘bouncing off’ — and they asked whether I only ever donated from that arm, and I told them what I just told you.
And so they asked if they could instead draw my latest blood donation from my right arm, and I reluctantly agreed; and, after maybe three donations from there, I started alternating; and, all these gallons later, it hasn’t been a problem again (he said, as if damn near asking for trouble).
I’m an easy stick always. My husband has always, even before chronic medical issues, is a very difficult stick. I’m not lean, Hubster used to be way overweight and now we’re working on getting him to gain weight. His veins look good, but often roll and sink. I think a lot depends on genetics and individual physiology.
I used to sell plasma, not exactly finanial need, but the little cash was nice. For some reason they didn’t want my plasma. First they said I had some weird thing that my doctor said was nothing to worry about. I don’t remember what it was, but my doctor explained it at the time, and I agreed. Then the plasma place said I had COPD. I do not. I had never been tested at the time, so I don’t know where they got that idea. I got tested and I don’t have. Finally they insisted I had chronic bronchitis. I don’t have that either. I have asthma which is not a barrier to donating. They banned me for life so I gave up. It really pissed me off. They never had an issue sticking me either.
I get stuck every 3 months. The only time I run into a problem is when the phlebotomist is new. I usually always go to the same location, and the regular guy is phenomenal.
