Blood Testing

[gamer404]

I went to the doctor today and she said I could possibly be hypoglycemic (low blood sugar). She ordered me like 5 blood tests. Has anyone had experience with these? Do they hurt or anything? I'm kinda scared.

[vskid]

They stab a needle into your arm and draw blood. I hate it, but it isn't too bad. Hope that you're like me and have easy to stab veins, then they only have to poke once. But, with so many tests, they might have to draw multiple samples (but I can't remember if they leave the needle and just swap the blood canister things).
Just don't worry about it, the pain isn't as much as you think and it dulls really quickly after the initial stab. Focus on breathing and not hyperventilating or anything.

[Tibia]

It's usually just a very small poke, then you don't feel anything more. I get way too worked up about it, and the waiting is far worse than the actual poke.

With multiple tests, they'll leave the needle in and just swap canisters. You don't even feel it when they do that. I tend to have very hard to find veins, so I get stabbed a lot. If they can't find it in your elbow, they may try to take it from your hand. This is a bit more painful than the elbow. Most hospitals nowadays have a 3-poke limit. If the tech can't get it in three pokes, they have to let someone else try.

If you really have a problem with needles like I do, ask them to use the "butterfly" needle. It's usually used on infants and small children. The needle itself is a lot smaller, and can be hidden in the tech's hand so you don't see it. There's a hose connecting it to the actual test tube. Being a smaller needle, you really do feel it less, too.

And don't look. Look somewhere else or close your eyes. It'll all be over in just a few minutes.

[jjhammerstein]

I heard that starting tomorrow they're going to just cut off your little finger and catch the blood in a bucket.

[Kurt_]

Ahh good old blood tests. I nearly fainted in the hallway after one. I hadn't eaten that morning beforehand. Keep your energy reserves up!

But like was said, for multiple tests this is what happens:

1) They get a big rubber band (or strand. Ask to keep it!) and tie your arm.
2) They rub some alcohol on you with a cotton swab
3) They take a relatively large needle (about 1mm in diameter), and put it in your arm. The needle is attached to an empty canister.
4) They put a vial in the canister and blood flows out.
5) They take the vial out and put in another.
6) Repeat 4 and 5 until finished.
7) They untie the band.
The put a cotton swab and band-aid over the hole, and tell you to keep pressure on it. I usually just chuck it once outside of the room, but keep pressure on it until you're out, or you'll get a nasty puke-coloured bruise. (Well, assuming you're as white and sun-deprived as I am).

And you're done! The worst part for me by far is the swapping of the vial. With one hand holding the canister, there's no way they can make a perfect switch, since the vials 'snap' in place. So the needle jiggles in your arm a little bit. It's not too bad though, don't worry. Just be ready and you'll be fine.

[palmertech]

One time, I went to get blood drawn for a test. The nurse had another one watching over her, and she was obviously in training. She poked my left arm, apparently missed the vien, tried again, missed again. Then, the senior nurse took it from her and got it fist try in my other arm. My left one hurt for quite a while.

Probably not an encouraging story, but you can learn something from it: Make sure that the nurse poking at you with a sharp metal object has done it a few times before.

But yeah, if everything goes normally, they are not bad at all. Oh, and don't clench your muscles; relax them as much as you can. It hurts a lot less.

[bicostp]

Bleh.

I had to have blood tests done once. They had to drug me up and give me these things that were like Novocaine Icy-Hot patches. (They had to do something like 6 vials, and had to take from each arm.) All I can remember is still hiding my head under my jacket through the whole thing, and the needle shaking every time they switched vials.

I hate shots. Really, REALLY hate them. Curse trypanophobia.

[gamer404]

One test is a 2 hour one where they take my blood, I drink some nasty sugar stuff, wait awhile, take my blood, etc. over the course of 2 hours. The doctor said they will just take a big(like 2 tbs, so not very big) sample the first time to do the other tests.

[Rekarp]

Its nothing compared to giving blood. Which I encourage everyone to do

[eurddrue]

trypanophobia.

?

the lady couldn't get my mom's vein for like 10 trys my mom fainted

[Triton]

i HATEEEEE blood tests, and with good reason too. when i was in highschool i got ITP which is a blood disorder involving low blood platlet counts. went to my family doctor first and he told me to go to the hospital for blood tests. went to the hospital and got blood drawn from my elbow like normal then went with dad to get his eyeglasses fixed at the optometrist downstairs and after a while i noticed that i had a HUGE blood blister type thing (hematoma, about a third the size of a baseball) where they drew blood went back upstairs and they put pressure on it to make it go down and then they had my dad drive me to a different hospital in desmoines because their blood test came back as my platelet level being below the threshold they can measure! several hours later i got the whole ordeal sorted out and put on meds to fix it and got a week out of school just in case

but for the next few months following the treatment i had to get FREQUENT blood tests, mostly drawn out of my hand because i was freaked out by the hematoma thing (i had a huge bruise there for nearly 2 months afterwards) probably 20-30 times over the next 3-4 months, it sucked.

[DJ711]

Last year I took 30 blood tests in the course of 5 months. They thought I had cancer, anyway it turned out to be abnormally low platelets (Thank god I don't though). Blood tests suck but they're quick. Just be glad you guys didn't have a IV, that inject you with a long needle and pump chemicals into you and you can't move that arm for around 7 hours so you're stuck there doing nothing!

[vskid]

trypanophobia.

?

Wikipedia, dude, all the cool kids are doing it.

I was thinking of "donating" plasma for some extra cash when I turn 18, but now that I've thought about it, I'm not so sure I want to. If only they could just slash, cuts hurt less than stabs (to me at least). And no, I don't cut myself.

Now that the forums are telling me DJ711 just posted, I remember getting my wisdom teeth out. They put an IV in my right arm in the vein that went over my bicep. A week or two later, the IV'd vein was hard, so they think I had some kind of reaction with the IV. It went away after a month or so, but I'm pretty sure the vein disappeared too, I haven't seen it since.

[nevermind1534]

Last year I took 30 blood tests in the course of 5 months. They thought I had cancer, anyway it turned out to be abnormally low platelets (Thank god I don't though). Blood tests suck but they're quick. Just be glad you guys didn't have a IV, that inject you with a long needle and pump chemicals into you and you can't move that arm for around 7 hours so you're stuck there doing nothing!

I've had blood drawn and an IV. Neither was too bad, in my opinion. The worst part of the IV was taking it out, when the tape had to be pulled off. That adhesive's strong!

[DJ711]

Last year I took 30 blood tests in the course of 5 months. They thought I had cancer, anyway it turned out to be abnormally low platelets (Thank god I don't though). Blood tests suck but they're quick. Just be glad you guys didn't have a IV, that inject you with a long needle and pump chemicals into you and you can't move that arm for around 7 hours so you're stuck there doing nothing!

I've had blood drawn and an IV. Neither was too bad, in my opinion. The worst part of the IV was taking it out, when the tape had to be pulled off. That adhesive's strong!

No, the worst was the doctor who pulled the needle out slowly