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Difficulties with blood draws
Whenever I get my blood drawn, the phlebotomist has to use a vein in my hand. I sit a lot and because of that I don’t have very good blood flow throughout my body. I used to have good veins in my elbow but they’ve become difficult to use for blood draws over the years of having many tests done. To avoid being stabbed with a needle multiple times only to have no blood come out, I let them draw blood from my wrist instead. The veins in my wrist are much healthier although, sometimes, a more skilled phlebotomist must be the one to do the job.
Do you have good or bad blood circulation? Is it easy for the phlebotomist to collect blood from you? Where’s the weirdest place you been stabbed by a phlebotomist?
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2 Replies
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I have had many, many blood draws in my lifetime. But recently, maybe because of muscle loss, it is harder to find my veins. Usually what I do now is just tell them it might be easier to draw from the veins is in my hand. It saves us time and missed attempts.
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I never even considered muscle loss to have an effect on the veins. That’s so interesting! It makes total sense. When I was younger I used to have pretty good veins but as time has gone it’s been harder for phlebotomists to find them. I would’ve never thought about muscle loss being a contributing factor!
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