(No I'm not commenting on any vampire movies or TV shows. Not that they are popular around here or anything. ha... yes they are. )
I've recently been having a bit of trouble with my veins when I get blood work done. They seem to collapse or do something tricky. I'm pretty ok with having them pricked again or done again on the other arm, but it does hurt, and it does get wearying when it happens repeatedly.
You may already know this... Here are a couple tips I've learnt if you have disobedient veins like mine at the moment:
- Drink lots of water before you get to the clinic. Simple but it works. (This is especially relevant for fertility treatment stuff cos' we often have to do our blood tests first thing in the morning, we're already slightly dehydrated from sleeping all night, and I can forget to drink when I am rushing out the door.)
- Bring a heated wheatbag or hot water bottle or something that you can press on the inside of your elbow to heat it up when you are waiting for your turn. It warms up your veins and somehow helps it to 'pop' up. This worked beautifully for me today. Yuss.
Any other tips?
2 comments:
i saw this post earlier this week on google reader on my phone and forgot to comment til now, but i SO would have appreciated your comments when we were going through all our clomid cycles...the first time i went in, i didn't drink water and the nurse totally yelled me because she couldn't find a vein. so mean.
it *is* funny that this post comes at a time when vampire stuff is ridiculously popular. go team edward. :)
oh no so sorry you got yelled at. that is terrible! yeah the nurses can be a bit tricky to deal with. and you feel a bit like you are at their mercy cos they are the professionals and have the needle power!
haha. yeah i'm in between teams at the mo. i haven't read the books but have seen the movies. hehe.
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