I went to the doctor’s office on Friday and had some blood drawn for tests. When she stuck the needle in (3rd time’s the charm!) she hit a nerve. I felt an electric tingle all the way down my arm that ended at my wrist. I complained, and her response was, “Yeah, that happens sometimes!” :eek: OK, after almost passing out (combination of lack of food, stuffy room, and possibly that pain), I paid and went on my merry way. Today is Tuesday (duh) and the pain hasn’t gone away. When I move my arm a certain way, there’s tingly pain. I think the damage was to my radial nerve, if the Internet diagrams were accurate.
I did a little research and saw that 1) only two states actually have any standards for phlebotomists (California and Louisiana), 2) it’s quite common for inexperienced techs to do some damage when drawing blood, and 3) the damage can potentially worsen over time. Right now, it’s just some discomfort, and I find myself holding my arm a certain way to keep it from hurting.
I called the doctor’s office today and explained the problem. The girl who answered the phone gave me the advice, “Put some ice on it.” Hm, I think I’d rather hear from a nurse, first. So that’s what I’m waiting on.
That’s the last time I let them stick me in my left arm. If I have to learn to write with my right hand, I’m gonna be pissed.
Hopefully it will quit hurting soon. I know how that feels because I had a nurse do that once. I was in the hospital having a baby and a ‘nurse in training’ was going to set up an IV for me. She stuck me three times and broke a different vein all 3 times she stuck me…and she hit a nerve in my left arm!! It hurt bad. After the 3rd time I told her she wasn’t touching me again and the other nurse ended up putting the IV in my leg because that woman broke all the good veins in my arms!! I had bruises on my arms from the broken veins and my arm hurt for over a week!
The nurse called back. She was more worried that because I was originally in because I was having strange heart palpitations (fluttering every so often), that the problem might be related to that. She explained that I would have bruising or a knot, neither of which I had.
She asked the nurse who drew my blood for more information, and that nurse mentioned that my veins are really small, and that they had to use a too-big needle (they were out of butterfly needles), so it might really be the nerve damage. So the nurse conceded that it could be the nerve damage after all. I explained that if it was something wrong with my heart, it was odd that it happened the very second she stuck the needle in, and that it only hurts when I move my arm certain ways.
I suspect that there’s not much they can do other than suggest pain relievers.
Do you not have Laboratory Technologists where you live? I was a Registered Medical Technologist for a couple of years, and let me assure you, what happened is NOT the normal standard for phlebotomy. In Canada, the people drawing your blood are almost always RTs, and they are trained very specifically for drawing blood (two years in school, back when I was one). Nurses and doctors are trained for IVs, but lab techs are trained for phlebotomy, and take blood from dozens of people every day.
Damn, nerve damage from a needle stick? Should not happen, and wouldn’t have happened on my watch. If you do have small, hard-to-find veins, Deadly, try not to have your blood drawn by anybody but a specialist (i.e. lab tech). They are the most experienced with difficult draws.