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Having trouble with blood draws due to vein issues is a common frustration for people with lupus. Some helpful tips to make blood draws easier include:
- Drinking plenty of water before your appointment to increase blood volume and make veins easier to find
- Letting the person drawing blood know about your vein difficulties Show Full Answer
But, yes of course, our unsolicited advice is not always welcome......
@A MyLupusTeam Member...I 100% get it. I had to have multiple nurses and drs try, 6 pokes and after a couple tries my anxiety gets the best of me and I start to sweat and get nauseous. I try hard to tell them the right way to hit my veins but they do notvalways listen. They want the easiest and most accessible vein. The rulevof phlebotomy is to start low in the hands and go up. If they start higher they can't go low later so that is why they end up going after more veins and both arms. It is not something ya can speed thru or short cut.
@A MyLupusTeam Member
Your experience sounds identical to mine whenever I have a hospital visit. We even have the same “best” arm. And you are so right…they don’t listen. The nurse at my rheumatologist’s office does a perfect stick every single time. I try to lead the hospital nurses in the direction that she takes and they seem a bit annoyed and end up sticking me several times and calling in several different nurses before figuring it out. By then I’m the one who’s annoyed 🙄 (Lol). I haven’t banned them from the left arm yet but I may need to in order to avoid at least some of the puncture wounds. I always find your posts enlightening. I pray you have a great week. 🤗
@A MyLupusTeam Member Exactly! In the past it has mostly been futile to blindly poke around in most of my veins. I provide the advice to just get an anesthesiologist from the start who could fetch an ultrasound machine while he's at it.
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