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Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Bruises and pain after having blood drawn?

Yesterday evening my family doctor needed a sample of my blood. I'm usually ok with this (sometimes I get bruises) but this time I felt lot of pain right afterwards. I couldn't even use my hand to drive home! And I wasn't able to 'stretch' my arm because it was hurting too much. I felt pain in the night (no bruises yet) and applied some ice on it. This morning I noticed a red bruise around the place he took the blood. I still feel pain if I try to stretch my arm (I keep it slightly bended).
This afternoon I noticed some more bruising about 1 centimeter away from the original bruise, in a longish shape - looks like many red dots.
Is this dangerous? What did go wrong? I don't remember ever having a pain like this from having blood drawn.
Answer:
This is NOT normal after a blood draw. I used to be a Phlebotomist and usually when there is that much discomfort after a blood draw it is because the professional drawing the blood went too deep and then backed it up.Bruising indicates that your vein was punctured in a way that is not normal.
Are you allergic to the tape that they put on your arm afterward by chance? Many people are and have an allergic rash.
Definitely show your arm to your doctor as soon as possible so they can document the incident in your chart. Ice helps with the bruising.
I'm no doctor, but he might have nicked a muscle of tendon, I suggest you call your doctors for more information.

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