Blood draw
Posted , 2 users are following.
I'm 70 years old , male in the U.S. Over the past 12 months they've had trouble drawing blood. Never happened before . The nurses say I have small veins and they roll. Sometimes the blood will start and then stop. They use butterfly needs but still have the same problem. I drink about 12 12 oz glasses of water a day. I'm fairly active. Yard work , fishing and stuff like that. Does anyone have any ideas why this would happen. Seems like my veins have shrunk. Would appreciate any ideas on this. I'm out of them. Already tried most remedies. Thank you for any responses.
1 like, 3 replies
sweetmelissa Portacrean
Posted
I also have very small veins. I am a 36 year old female. My veins have always been small and they need to use the butterfly needle on me also. When they finally get into a vein.. it draws very slow and sometimes stops altogether also. I was told that this is because of the small veins and then when they put the needle into your vein it causes a suction to pull the blood out, but as it does this... it also suctions the vein closed even smaller, hence why it draws so slow or stops drawing blood. I would imagine that as you get older, it is common to have your veins your shrink. Some people just naturally have smaller veins also. Your doing good with drinking water, as that will help enlarge your veins and plump them up. It also helps to be warm when you go for your blood work. I like to carry hand warmers before I go for blood work, so I'm nice and toasty warm because this will also open your veins up more. Best wishes!
Portacrean sweetmelissa
Posted
Thank you sooo much for your reply. That's exactly what the nurse said this morning. Been told so many things from so many " professionals " just not sure who to believe anymore. The veins in my arm were great until this year. Just couldn't figure out why all of a sudden they just started hiding. Thanks again for your reply.
sweetmelissa Portacrean
Posted