Advice for blood test tips - scared!

[pirateparker]

Am having a blood test today and am terrified (due to bad experiences when severely ill 18 months ago). My veins are small and kept ‘collapsing’ and they struggled to get any blood repeatedly. Ended up using an ankle which was awful. Any tips to help stay calm, let the blood flow, not pass out etc. Will be on my own at a private clinic.

Could you say more about your bad experience?

Drink lots of water so you're well hydrated. Would you be able to take headphones and listen to something calming? That helped my teen when she was scared of a blood test.

Start drinking lots of water now, it puffs up your veins.

During the test try doing something simple to distract yourself. Like tapping the fingers on your other hand. Keep concentrating on it all the
Way through. Even say tap tap tap out loud if you need to. The nurse won’t mind 😆

I would suggest trying to distract yourself by focusing on something else so that you stay relaxed. At the dentist I close my eyes and focus on my breathing, think about how my diaphragm is moving, feel the air passing in and out through my nose, count as I breathe in and out. I think about how my stomach muscles are relaxed and how that is helping me to breathe steadily and deeply. Before they take the blood do some positive relaxation, tense your hands and feet and then arms and legs then relax them, to get rid of the tension that has built up in the waiting room.

Drink lots of water.
Tell them about your bad experience

Also it will be a lot better than when you were severely ill - your veins were bad because you were severely ill, when you aren't, they will be a lot better. It's much easier taking blood from a healthy person.

Start counting backwards from 100 in your head

It will be ok. Drink plenty of water and do some exercise to warm up before you go in or run your arm under warm water if possible.

Thank you so much. It’s this afternoon so will practise the ideas today! I’ve been working myself up about it.

Tell the nurse straight up that you are difficult to draw blood from. I am too and they appreciate the 'heads up' about it and will have several crafty ways of luring your veins to cooperate with minimal stress to you.

I have to have regular bloood test monitoring & my veins are forever collapsing. I always mention it If it’s a phlebotomist who doesn’t know me.

Blood not bloood. And good luck

How did it go?

@CanIHaveAPenguinPlease I read 'bloood' in Dracula's voice 🤣

Try and keep yourself warm as well. My veins are always easier to find if I've had a jumper on.

I know it’s probably too late but ask them for a smaller needle, I think it’s called a butterfly needle? My veins are very small as well. I had to go to hospital a few years ago and they used me for a pincushion. After 4 attempts I told them No More. It wasn’t anything they really needed blood for. The person trying to take it said to the head nurse, ‘she said no more’, the nurse then asked how many times they tried and after telling her the nurse said ‘I agree - stop!’

Not read the thread as I find talking about blood tests too traumatic

My tips are to drink loads of water, look away and use Emla cream. Won't feel a thing. I can manage fine now and I had an awful experience when younger that meant I refused to have any for years. IVF meant I had to find a way to cope and honestly not feeling it and looking away works for me.

It went ok. Blood flowed very slowly, I counted back to 69 then got confused as went very faint. I pee’d 4 times on the journey there so well hydrated! It’s quite sore now and rather purple but at least it’s done. Start of IVF so best get used to it!
Thanks all.

I always count backwards (or sometimes forwards in a foreign language) or do times tables at the dentist - it really does help

I have shite veins to the extent that when I was severely dehydrated my veins crashed and they needed to get a specialist in to come and insert the cannula. I also managed to rip the flaming thing out whilst trying to get to the toilet so had to go through the razzmatazz of getting my arm and wrist tourniqued countless times to find another vein. That time the nurse bandaged it to my hand to stop me from doing the same thing. I needed a blood sample doing a few years ago at the hospital. 20 mins wangling the needle in my arm and not even a tiny droplet came out. In the end they had to get a butterfly needle and use that in the vein near my thumb. Another hospital stay required another drip. This time my veins hasn't crashed but I was dehydrated again. They decided there and then to put a child's cannula in to my arm instead. My miscarriage last year ended up with me in hospital. No veins again. Although in all fairness it was freezing I was freezing and I had the air con blasting over the top of me. After many tries they finally found a tiny little vein. 8 vials of blood later it was finally getting to point of barely coming out. Thankfully that cannula they were able to connect into the tube from that before giving me pain relief. I do however have one HCA at my Drs who can without fail find a vein and get blood within seconds. He does sometimes need to jiggle to needle a few times if I need more than 2-3 vials taking. Good luck with your IVF journey OP