To be surprised people find cannulas painful

[User4647]

I’ve had Loads and they had one be painful. I’m surprised that most other people find them painful.

DS2 later developed asthma and has had several cannulas during hospital stays.
He didn't find them too painful to insert, but on one occasion when he had one in each arm he refused to move his arms at all and I had to feed him (he was about 3 or 4 at the time)
Turned out he thought the metal needle was still in his arm, so the nurse had to show him the bit that gets left in the arm is just a flexible tube and not able to hurt him.

Do you have a brain?

I had a blood sample taken the other week. Normally I'm fine with this but on this particular occasion it hurt like hell. The nurse explained that our blood vessels have tiny muscles lining them (or something like that) and in some situations, especially when people are nervous, the muscles in the veins / vessels contract in a kind of self protection thing which is why some people find it particularly painful whereas others don't. So there is a medical reason for this. I may have explained it badly but this is what she told me!

YABU

I am generally not fussed at all about needles, medical procedures etc and find most of then easy, but there have been several occassions where I've been cannulated and it has been very painful. Other times I've barely felt it. It entirely depends on the individual incident.

This is such a weird thing to start a post about!!
I could come on and say I can’t believe people don’t like Brussels sprouts, or why do some people stay in bed I’ll with a bad cold when I still go to work but I have the mental awareness to realise people have difference experiences and different tolerances etc

Bizarre comment.
I didn't find labour particularly painful or difficult but it doesn't prevent me from being able to understand that other women's experiences are different.

Well, aren't you lucky.

I had so many when i was being treated for cancer that it ended up taking the nurses over an hour and half to get them fitted each time. It has to be said that the sensation of the needle being moved inside my veins before it finally took sticks in my mind more than the chemo, through which I was bald, neutropenic and hospitalised for weeks over a period of 6 months.

I’ve once had a bruise so big and so deep you would think I had actually been attacked by something, not just a needle put in my arm, it was like something out of a movie- the pain the next day!!! I wanted to cut my arm off.

Well bully for you ...and your point is?

I'm not sure unreasonable is the right word. I was thinking something like stupid might be a better fit.

I hate them. It can take over an hour to insert one and have had them in my feet, back of knee and base of thumb. A blood test has to be done at the hospital for the same reason. Finding a good vein (is that the right spelling?) is literally painstaking! Think yourself lucky and grow up enough to realise everyone is different, and that includes how and what they respond to when having needles inserted into bits of their body that shouldn't be having needles in.

🥇

I'm honestly so glad to read this thread. I thought I was the only person who hated them and everyone else couldn't feel them.
I have nothing but problems with them.

I had many procedures during my last pregnancy trying to keep the baby in longer and the only thing I hated were the cannulas. Every time I have one I end up crying and begging for them to be removed as they hurt so much.

Does it surprise you that people's bodies are different? Despite being young and fit my veins are small to tough to take blood or get a cannula in. I also bruise very easily so am left with a sore very bruised hand with a cannula that usually tries to come out and bleed everywhere. But sure, just because yours are fine I probably just imagined it.

so?

Your a weirdo OP

I have great veins and I find them agonising.

Every time I stretch my fingers/move they hurt like a bastard.

Last time I needed one I convinced them to put into my upper arm. I am very skinny without much flesh but that was much better than in the hand.

You're surprised that something which causes bruising like this is painful? Really? Are you a bit dim?

Everyone is different! I don't mind needles or cannulas but catheters I fucking hate!

Well done you and your far superior veins. Big round of applause. 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
Sometimes I find them sore, other times not. Sometimes my hand shows no sign, other times I’ve been left black and blue.
On removal I’ve had them literally spring a leak, blood flying everywhere, other times not a single drip of blood.
Never mind every person being different, different people have different experiences each time.

@User4647

I’ve had Loads and they had one be painful. I’m surprised that most other people find them painful.

Are you also surprised that water is wet?

OP, are you very fat? That might be why you aren't bothered by cannulas.

I have small veins so practitioners always struggle to draw blood, the one time I had a cannula they actually placed it in my hand! It was so bloody uncomfortable

I've had ones that I've barely felt, but also had ones that have been awfully painful and needed multiple attempts.
Seems to be a mixture of being worse when dehydrated so harder to find the vein (so likely people with veins that aren't as close to the surface might find it more painful too) and also how skilled the person doing it is.