For Those Of You That Get Iv's Often

[lieze]

Do your veins get sore?

I had two venipunctures and then two IV's and I'm getting paranoid that my veins are sore.

I don't know if it's actually my veins that hurt I seem to be holding my arms tight and clenching,

The while iron thing brought my anxiety out of the closet and my mind just goes wild like when

I had my sick feelings this time after my iron it seemed worse this time although I'm not sure it was. I think I was so worried about living through it I was just happy it was over the first time,

And didn't remember how bad I felt.

I also don't know if it's just the aftermath of my

anxiety that I'm experiencing rather than a side effect of the iron.

My anxiety does cause me to feel physically ill.

I guess I have to add I am already fearful of the

iron and think it's probably not in my best interest to read all the negatives about it

Oh the thoughts I was having when I felt so

horrible was they must have given me a bad batch. My anxiety has had that affect on me making me feel ill

It has had that affect since I was a child just didn't cause the horrible weakness shortness of breath or heart issues. My heart would race but it didn't affect me the same

[sandymbme]

Oh Lieze, I am so very sorry that all of this is so horribly frightening for you. I am lifting you up in prayer, and hoping that knowing someone cares can help you to feel a tiny bit less frightened. I had a terrible time with venipunctures. I have terrible veins, they are very, very small. They roll, they collapse, they hide. Naturally, my most essential therapy is my IV hydration! A picc line was a horrible option for me, for a variety of reasons, but if you are only going to be doing the iron treatments for a short time, that may be a good option for you. I started out getting IV saline three times a week. We would access me on Mondays and Fridays. As it always took a minimum of 2-3 attempts at 2-3 locations to access my veins, we would leave the IV accessed from Monday to Wednesday, and would have left it in longer if we could have more than 72 hours. (Which is the longest you can leave a standard venipuncture.) Towards the end, my veins were so absolutely destroyed we would be trying, in desperation, to access my feet. As I have never responded as well to any other therapy, we finally made the decision that I needed a port/cath. Because a port is a central line, it is not a decision to be made lightly. Having said that, I would not trade it for the world! I get accessed once a week, and only have to get stuck once. They can use my port for everything from IV fluids to blood draws. And because I have a Power Port (which is a specific brand/model) they can even use it for CT scan's with IV contrast.

So if this is going to be a long term course of therapy, I think that given your anxiety, it is worth discussing your options with your doctor. Both picc lines and ports carry a higher risk for septic infection, though, which is a potentially life-threatening infection. So most doctors will only consider picc lines for short term ongoing treatments, and it must be pretty long term therapy for a port. Personally, I can't imagine life without mine. The rare occasions I do have to have a venipuncture, I am painfully reminded of just how bad my veins are. They have healed a bit, with time, but they are still mightily uncooperative. I have also had to increase my IV fluids to pretty much daily, between my celiac disease and my POTS I have a really hard time getting and staying sufficiently hydrated, and I have severe hypotension with the fluids, without I can't even function.

In any case, when having your treatments, try to take calm, long soothing breaths inward and out. Picture your medication "beating up" your illness. Try to focus on how much better it can make you feel, rather than how uncomfortable and anxious you are. For the record, venipucture can irritate your veins, some medications much more than others. So you are not imaging things. But your anxiety is without question making things harder for you. If you have anti-axiety meds, I would certainly take it before treatment as long as your doctor has no objection. Breathing and relaxation techniques, as well as positive imaging, will help your anxiety as well. I hope this helps!

Sandy

[lieze]

Thank you so much Sandy,

I came away from that last treatment just a mess basically.

The first one they gave over 2 hours-this time they sped it up to 1 hour.

I was so uncomfortable but the nurses just act very irritated with me and I cannot help it that I have these issues.

I will get no mercy from them because they are oncology nurses and they are going to see me as a wimp sitting next to people taking chemo.

It's so weird because the people taking their chemo are so relaxed-talking about going out to lunch after.

I go home and feel so sick and think they must be experiencing 10x what I am...this is a bizarre situation. I'm not sure what I am to learn from this.

I asked myself okay don't think about the $ cause it's $345 out of pocket for each treatment but if I had to do this for the rest of my life would I?

Well obviously the answer is yes....I feel bad just for a day or two and then I have several good days til it's time for another....

I sure dread the treatments though...

My veins or "whatever" that was are not hurting any more thank goodness!

I did finally take the bandage off my right arm and I had a nice bruise.