I thought they made that up. What do I know? Or, what do YOU know?

hi dearest Ambie I pity you with these experiences. Got to say amazingly I never had problems with that. I was premature and had to stay in hospital for about 3 months after I was born and they made a loooot of blood tests. My mother told me they finally had to take the blood from the heel.... But later on when I needed blood tests and also when I started donating blood I was always told I have such good veins that its no problem, in fact to my amazement they called them practice veins...... made me chuckle.

Hi AmbiePam, I've had to have quite a few blood tests over the last couple of years. My conclusion is, some of the nurses are good at it and some aren't, whether they're male or female. I have "rolling veins" which I never heard of before but sometimes they just can't get hold of them. Some girls give up and go get another nurse. I also have one good arm (which I thought) and one bad arm. The one time I went to the emergency ward, this male nurse came in to take my blood. He took his time, and actually said my "bad arm" was not bad. He found 3 small veins which he could have taken blood from. He had not one bit of problem, and I never even knew he took the blood. That's how good he was. Scar tissue must be harder and I feel sorry for you. I hope they never have to go get blood from your neck, that sounds awful.

sometimes they have problems finding a vein in either arm for me, other times it goes very easy. Well, a doctor told me to stop smoking once, because I had chronic bronchitis at the time, I told him I didn't smoke and he didn't believe me, the jerk. Then I just had to tell him off. Told him I didn't need to make up stories.

I've recently retired from being a Biomedical Scientist, and one of the perks of the job (the only one) is getting a free blood test although to get it I had to let trainee phlebotimists take the blood (it's not all that fun), because most of them couldn't find a vein at all. I don't like needles and can't stand the sight of blood (Guess I was in the wrong job). Most doctors and nurses no longer have much experience in blood taking - trained phlebotimists are usually much better no as that is their full time job.

yes that is quite scarey. last time i was in the hospital they could not find a vein to put an iv into for a long while. they could not use my left arm they said because id had cancer on that side? and they tried all over my right, leaving bruises all up and down. finally they used my hand as i have a big vein in my right hand. not so fun though when i do so much right handed and was there 6 days with it in.

I am the biggest baby in the world when it comes to having blood drawn. You would think that I am 5 years old. There really is a huge difference in people that draw blood though. They may go in the same place but there are people that just plain hurt you. I hate that. I usually believe what people tell me unless they have given me a reason not to. I would have a tough time believing something too though if I had heard that and then later it changed..now it changed again. Maybe that good arm depends on who is poking it too.

My goodness Ambie that is not good I have to have my Blood taken every Year unless there is a problem then they have to take it there and then but it is not good that your Arm has given up like that What will they do now I have in the past thought a few times they used something as an Excuse but that was when I had the awful Doctor and she was using it as an excuse

That is great I am glad the nurse found a vein.

Yeah, wow. What an ordeal. I am so sorry for you. But at least you taught us all something! I haven't had that kind of trouble, but the veins in my arms just don't seem to "show" well enough. One arm is a little better than the other, but still... they struggle when they take blood. Sure does hurt!

hi ambiepam oh my g in the neck I would have been really scared glad they used you leg instead.wow.I am just now wrestling with the idea of going for one lousy blood test which w ill cost me transportation cost of five dollars and forty cents or waiting as I also have a doctors appt Wednesday this wed. and cost of five dollars and forty cents too. o r just going to the doctor, asking for a whole new blood work and then getting it done next week instead. I feel too pressured neither the bloodwork or the drs appt cost, its just the access bus cost . plus using up half the week when I have some things I want to do. oh well I will figure it out. I have them switch arms and some cannot do it without sticking me twice and yet one can always get it in just a few seconds, they also say I have scar tissue but I do not see any and I am not blind lol lol I really don't think its scar tissue but who am I to say. just stick me once please.

Wow you poor thing! I have difficult arms also.. but have never had them need to go to my leg or neck or anything. At worst they go down to my wrist and find a vein, but that's only happened a couple of times. My story has nothing to do with anything medical.. I once dated a guy, and I thought everything he told me was a lie. When I met him he didn't drive, but he told me he actually had 2 cars. He said he won a car off the radio, but couldn't afford the taxes to drive it off the lot, so he sold it and bought a different car, which he got into an accident with a week later and it's been at the shop ever since. He then told me the shop did $5,000 worth of work on the car without his authorization, and he couldn't afford to pay it and was fighting it. Sounds like a bunch of baloney, right? That's what I thought too.. but it all turned out to be true! As a matter of fact, the shop that had fixed his car ended up turning around and selling HIS car without his permission! So they ended up having to pay him the difference after what he owed them for the work. He got $1,500 out of the deal. That doesn't mean he was an honest person. He told me a lot of lies actually, but I had a hard time deciding what to believe and what not to believe because something that sounded totally made up turned out to be true. So when I found girl's phone numbers in his wallet with hearts next to their names and he said they were just good friends (that I'd never met) I found it hard not to believe him. I guess that was stupid of me.. but hey, I'm not with him anymore and that's all that really matters.

It happens if you constantly use one arm. I have scar tissue in my left inside elbow. The tech ends up using a butterfly on my hand to get blood. Once they did it on my thumb.

I don't have very good veins for getting blood either. So, the couple of good ones are getting scarred too. Sometimes it goes easier than other. Luckily I don't have to get blood taken very often. Take care.