Popped vein(s) f***ing sucks (rant)

[Darein]

Yeah, I think I can now say for sure that this old guy with shaky hands did in fact pop my vein while drawing my blood for a test. I figure it must be true since the resulting bruise seems to have just kept growing the last few days since the shot, and you certainly can't see any vein there anymore.

I don't have a CLUE as to why anybody could POSSIBLY mess up drawing MY blood, when you consider I've got really pale complexion with huge, healthy, bulging blue veins (in stark contrast to my pasty-white skin) in my arm. Or at least I HAD a nice, healthy, bulging blue vein in my arm before this guy completely ruined it.

My hand was all numb and tingly shortly after and I can't help but think some part of my hand died through the ordeal, not to mention how I will miss my poor vein (assuming it won't just grow back, which somehow seems to be the correct assumption, since I haven't found a reliable source anywhere on that).

I suppose the only way you can fuck up my veins during a shot... is when you have shaky hands and/or have no idea what the fuck you are doing. I mean, if he was cold and shaking, he could've just waited until he warmed up before drawing my blood, no-brainer there. If the shaking was because he's old, well maybe he should just retire. I don't know, LOL, but please don't fuck me up for the sake of a non-essential test.

I feel kind of bad too for blaming him since he was a volunteer and I was asking for his help, but I think I'd rather have paid for it full price out of my own pocket than get my vein popped XD

I'm usually okay with shots, I mean yeah you expect it to sting a bit and stuff, but this shot actually scared me. I mean first there's the shaky hands, a bit scary but I figure most professionals can work around that. Then when it was in my arm he started shaking it around and I swear he goes pushing it further in before he takes it out. And I don't mean in the direction the vein goes, but like into/through the other side of the vein. Bastard.

I wanted to be like "DUDE WTF STOP YOU'RE FREAKING STABBING ME" because (bear with the analogy) it was like somebody had a knife up to my chest before realizing I'm not the enemy, they finally decide not to end my life, but "accidentally" let it slip into my heart anyway as I struggle to breathe and can't find the words to say "YOU FUCKING TRAITOR" XD

It was just unavoidable the moment it happened, and it felt so wrong ("RAPE!"), but what could I do it was too late to fix the damage (though I wasn't really sure it was actually damaged at that point anyway).

I know it's bad in at least some way but I want to say if you can't volunteer right, don't volunteer at all! (No offense to medical workers/volunteers, I'm sure it's usually hard and thankless work, but put yourself in my shoes here. BE MORE CAREFUL damn it! Seriously! If it were your arm, or your child's arm, would you go popping one of their biggest and best veins? I HOPE NOT.)

Anyway, has anyone had a similar experience and did their vein(s) ever grow back or heal? Does the body make new veins to make up for the missing ones, or does it just kind of give up, or make extra micro-veins off the still-good veins instead? Will I ever see my (subjectively) "beautiful" vein make a return, or what?

I realize it's nothing near as serious as say... actually losing an arm (since I'm pretty sure my arm will survive somehow, what with all the other veins), but as I said in the title it's a rant, so just take it as it is.

 

[Rankin]

Call the doctor who ordered the test in the first place. Ask him. I assume you can feel your hand now, given the length of that rant.

 

[benhuda]

How can your vein get popped dont they poke a hole in it with the needle no matter what?

 

[Darein]

How can your vein get popped dont they poke a hole in it with the needle no matter what?

I know my rant is long but if you read it, I think he went through BOTH sides of my vein. It's harder for the vein to recover from that.

I mentioned it to my brother who is in medical school, he said it was probably a "collapsed" vein, but supposedly those hurt a lot. Mine just made me feel "weird" and "numb" in my arm & hand. The bruise is hurting a little, but not a lot. I've read different terms like "burst" vein, "popped" vein, "collapsed" vein, whatever. As far as I'm concerned it's probably the same thing.

I say "popped" since, unlike with a normal shot, it won't just bounce back. It's effectively like someone "popped" the blood tube in my arm. e.g. You pop a balloon and it can't be re-filled, it just leaks.

Call the doctor who ordered the test in the first place. Ask him. I assume you can feel your hand now, given the length of that rant.

You're right I should try that, I think I will later today. I could still feel my hand the whole time, but it was like "part" of it went numb. Yes it feels mostly better now, but seems to have poorer circulation, like I noticed when I slept. (makes sense, really)

I realize this isn't a huge issue to most people. But it's the first time I can recall that someone fucked up a shot on me this bad.

 

[Darein]

So, I managed to have a doctor look at it. A bit of a jump from a phone call, but even better in terms of accuracy. He said it's fine and already healed (which means I was just being stupidly paranoid).

If you were curious, your body heals veins that really do collapse/pop, even in the event your vein is pierced on both sides. The more damage, the longer it takes, but it does heal. (It is usually quite painful, and there is a clot that forms from the blood that spills. Eventually the clot starts clearing as the vein heals.)

I also asked him if a vein can't heal, if other veins are made to make up for it. It sounded like a yes to me, but I'm not totally sure. I know he did said your blood flows through your other veins when one is blocked / collapsed until that vein can heal.

A test you can do to see if your vein is flowing is feeling for the vein, if you can feel it and it feels like there could be blood in it, put some pressure on it (upstream) to stall the flow to the spot and feel again. If it feels limp it's because you blocked the flow that was just going through it (meaning it's fine).

Oh yeah, also don't call a "blood draw" a "shot" around doctors. He obviously knew the difference and was quick to point it out, LOL (I did too, I was just using the wrong word XD)

I thought I should post all this in case anyone else has any similar problems, so they know they aren't going to lose their vein. (Just keep in mind that a poor draw/shot could turn out to be uncomfortably painful until it heals.)