Drawing blood issue.

[mrlab]

They have a hard time drawing my blood when doing studies. How can I make it easier for them to draw my blood. They sometimes have to stick my a couple of times to get the blood. Very painful. Help please!!

[ac]

What's your BMI? People on the higher end often have trouble with blood draws because the techs can't see the vein very well. Can't hit what you can't see. If you're not on the high BMI range you may just need to drink more water. The more water you drink, the more "plump" your veins gets. 

[mike]

Yeah my veins have gotten harder to hit as I have gotten older and a bit, eh, flabbier.

[mrlab]

Yes it very hard for the tech to find it. I normally drink a gallon of water a day during study, and it's still hard for them.

[ac]

I'm not sure if there's a short-term fix. You may want to try losing weight and lifting weights when you're between studies. May take months but should help. 

[Deleted]

You could just have small veins.

[smiling4areason]

To be honest, the difference between a good phlebotomist, a decent phlebotomist and then someone in training IS NIGHT AND DAY.

If you have been missed, abused and blamed, then had someone else take over and hit you like they can do it with their eye closed, you know what I mean.

The "phlebotomist" (I'm using that term loosely in this case) who miss and say things like, "your veins rolled" or "you must have scar tissue" are 9/10 times NEVER going to become good at drawing blood, until they stop blaming you and figure out why they are REALLY missing.  In fact, if they miss and start saying anything that starts with "you"...it's not gonna go good. The ones who miss and panic and start shoving the need clear into your arm, or turning it 90*...they need to stop breath and realize they they didn't miss it by a mile, it only requires minor adjustments. It's not fishing, it's re-positioning. A good phlebotomist does even need to see your veins, they can feel your vein, they're not shooting in the dark, hoping to hit, they can feel it, like braille.

Most clinics require no real skill for them to put a needle in their hand, in fact many clinics, all you have to do is be enrolled in a class and they'll allow them to "train" on us. I swear, some, all they have to do is show an interest and they'll give them needle.

Doing a couple 100 Blood Draw studies, to close together, with unskilled people sticking you, can ruin a vein. Don't be quick to jump into every study, if you get FKD up, to make $5000, but loose your arm from months or more...think long term. Better to do a short, $2500 at a clinic with skilled employees.

Very few people are that hard to hit, it just requires skill.

PS. I understand that most people feel awful when they miss. Most people working at the clinics are great people, kind and we're a "team". Understand, they panic when they miss, because they have soing in another person body and they feel like sh*t when they hurt us, but that only rides so far. If they make excuses, they need to just stop. If they care enough, they'll find what they're doing wrong, not blame you. Everyone misses from time to time, it's how they handle it that makes them get better or not.

I also understand, people need to train at some point, but if they are gonna let them train on us, they need good teachers, who are hard on them. As soon as the teacher, trying to be kind, makes an excuses for them, about why they missed, then that student gets it in their head that "veins rolling" is why they missed and it's becomes a crutch. It sucks and they don't get good because of it. Teachers gotta say, ok, you missed, take a breath, stay calm, feel the vein, genitally re-position...there you go, good job  

[idoitforthepong]

I'm guessing that a lot of the darker skinned subjects have more trouble when getting stuck since it's harder to see the vein. But instead of going the route of Michael Jackson I would recommend some light weight lifting to bulge the veins a bit. No need to go to muscle mag extremes were you can see your veins from down the hall, just enough to get some results but not elevate your CPKs.