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Well, I wasn't really electrocuted.  I had a blood test today and something unique happened.  My veins are not always easy to find, but the phlebotomist seemed to know what she was doing. Sure enough she found a good vein (I couldn't see it, but she could feel it) on the inside of my elbow joint.

 

She stuck the needle in (seemingly a bit quicker than normal) and sure enough, she found the vein but the INSTANT she stuck the needle in I felt like I had been electrocuted in my right middle finger!  I yelled, jerked back and the needle came out and blood splattered a bit.  I think I scared her as much as it SHOCKED me!

 

Now, needless to say, do you know how many times I've had needles stuck in my arm over the past four years with 6+ surgeries and innumerable blood tests and procedures?  I am not a wimp -- but this was a first!  (She then chose my preferred, Option B, vein in the back of my hand.)

 

Has anyone had this happen or does anyone know why?  Did she hit a nerve, jam it in a bit too hard or somthing else?

 

Holy cow did that SHOCK me!

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Never had that happen, although I have at times noticed different levels of pain from being stuck with needles.  The ones that hurt me the most were the IV needles that were stuck in my hand.

 

On Friday I am getting my thyroid biopsied and I will have a needle jammed into my neck.  So I will have to see how that compares.

 

Was the phlebotomist sprayed with your blood splatter?

Last edited by CTBarrister

Yeah, likely a nerve. 

 

And FWIW, I've been a nurse for 21 years and 99% of the time, in my experience, patients HATE hand blood draws.  They hurt more than median cubital sticks.  However, *I* generally stick where I know I'll get the best chance to hit a vein on the first stick. However, I work in the ICU and do part time at our cancer center: 2 places where people have the most difficult veins to start with (due to harsh treatments or just being super ill or getting stuck all the time).

 

 

I am laying odds that the next time you have blood drawn you will have to be told, at least once, to stop fidgeting.

 

Unless you are going to the same facility and they remember you, you should probably share this experience with them and possibly they will avoid sticking you in the same area.

 

A lot of people don't like talking to or communicating with technicians, thinking they will become distracted from the task at hand. But I believe the more communication there is, the better, for them and for you.  I ask a lot of questions and discuss whatever issues I have had with the procedure that is being attempted.  When I went for my very first cardiological stress test, I asked the technician if anyone had ever dropped on the treadmill from a heart attack or some cardiac event.  She confirmed that it had happened, and that is why there was an ambulance in the parking lot behind the facility.  A lot of people don't want to know the possible downside or risks with any particular procedure.  I believe that information is power, and lack of information = lack of power.  Of course, this particular event was likely unforeseeable and sort of a freak occurrence that probably will not happen again.

Last edited by CTBarrister

Yup, had it happen a few years ago when a tech hit a nerve while trying to give me an IV. At least the tech with you only got a few blood splatters! I hit mine -- no lie.  To be fair, I am really hard to stick, they hadn't warned me I needed an IV so I was really nervous (making my veins go into hiding even more than usual), and they had already stuck me unsuccessfully twice. When he hit that nerve it was exactly like being electrocuted. There was absolutely no thought process whatsoever; despite the two nurses holding me down I swung my other arm immediately and connected with the tech's cheek.

 

Thankfully he was moving away to get rid of the needle so I did not actually hit him too hard... 

 

For about 18 months after that I had numbness and tingling off and on extending from the injury site (just above my wrist) down through my thumb. No fun.

 

Let's hope it doesn't happen to you again!

 

Gin

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