to let u know in the UK we have a blood transfusion service. i went along this afternoon and they would not put a needle in the BPI arm at all, unfortunatley they would not take my blood because of the iron level, typical!
take care
love
anna<
Blood pressure/needle stick
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Re: Blood pressure/needle stick
That's the reason I'm on the board tonight. I want to be getting tattooed on my bpi arm soon and remember hearing something about no needles. My non bpi arm is "sleeved" with tattoos and I've been holding off on my bpi arm. Anyone out there with tats on the bpi side?
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admin
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Re: Blood pressure/needle stick
HI all,
My son has L OBPI and kidney failure. He's 7 and has been poked and prodded all his life weekly to now monthly. When he was an infant the phlebotomist regularly had success doing his blood draws in the affected arm. I'm more leary now because he's older so some muscles may be more deteriorated but if Necessary some day we'll have to try. Maybe no other choices. I've heard a foot stick, on the top of the foot works really well and is less painful. Anyone tried this? I know they put an IV there once for Josh. I know it sounds yucky, I agree.
Oh, and we dont use EMLA anymore becuase it takes an hour to take affect. We use Ela-Max Plus which is a topical lidocaine (skin anesthetic) and takes 15-30 minutes to take effect. He says labs dont hurt at all.
As for the circulation if you havent visited a circulation specialist (cant think of what this dr type is called) you might consider it. Josh visited this type of doctor due to my extreme concerns over intense color changes and temperature changs in his lower arm and especially hand. Note this was worse after his 2ndary surgery. At times it was dark red and even purple in color, i honestly thought it was dying or something. Very scary.
Anyway, the doc checked circulation and it was Fine. Amazing. Instead, he said it was the parasympathetic nervous system, or the bodies fight or flight system, that was out of whack. In other words, arm/hand didnt know how to respond to heat/cold changes. This is due to his nerve injury. It doesnt take extreme changes either to make it have color changes. It gets mostly red now and not the extreme colors. So, this may make a difference for him some day in his blood draws, etc.
We've never done BP checks in his arm, no need to.
Beth B. mom to Josh age 7
My son has L OBPI and kidney failure. He's 7 and has been poked and prodded all his life weekly to now monthly. When he was an infant the phlebotomist regularly had success doing his blood draws in the affected arm. I'm more leary now because he's older so some muscles may be more deteriorated but if Necessary some day we'll have to try. Maybe no other choices. I've heard a foot stick, on the top of the foot works really well and is less painful. Anyone tried this? I know they put an IV there once for Josh. I know it sounds yucky, I agree.
Oh, and we dont use EMLA anymore becuase it takes an hour to take affect. We use Ela-Max Plus which is a topical lidocaine (skin anesthetic) and takes 15-30 minutes to take effect. He says labs dont hurt at all.
As for the circulation if you havent visited a circulation specialist (cant think of what this dr type is called) you might consider it. Josh visited this type of doctor due to my extreme concerns over intense color changes and temperature changs in his lower arm and especially hand. Note this was worse after his 2ndary surgery. At times it was dark red and even purple in color, i honestly thought it was dying or something. Very scary.
Anyway, the doc checked circulation and it was Fine. Amazing. Instead, he said it was the parasympathetic nervous system, or the bodies fight or flight system, that was out of whack. In other words, arm/hand didnt know how to respond to heat/cold changes. This is due to his nerve injury. It doesnt take extreme changes either to make it have color changes. It gets mostly red now and not the extreme colors. So, this may make a difference for him some day in his blood draws, etc.
We've never done BP checks in his arm, no need to.
Beth B. mom to Josh age 7