Do you stick your own needles?

[Bear]

Well, when I first started cannulating myself at the unit, Amber, they had the longer cannulas, that would reach my hand.
But when that box ran out* they didn't get any more, despite ordering them....also ordered for me at home, but never came.
*I had the last of that box at home, so used them until they ran out. THen on a visit in one day Ann said, "Have a look at this bloke" and
the guy in the private room was doing his with the clamps. Basically, we use the clamp to extend our fistula arm hand. Clamp
on the little flange behind the screw-off cap; use the free hand to turn the clamp around backwards in the fistula hand.
Same coming off. Hold them with the clamp, while you take off the tapes, then pull them out when you have the swab
& alco-wipe ready. How come you can reach upper arm cannulas _without_ a clamp - you got Go-go Gadget arms???   

[Black]

... a mozzie bite. ...

I'm sorry, I have to know, what's a "Mozzie"?

[susie q]

Ooooh, I know what a mozzie is.....  It's an English Mosquito.... Lol.. 

[fireguy]

if you can ,do own needles. At least you are in control.The first one is a little nerve wrecking but after that not too bad. Been doing my own for over three years

[Panda_9]

PMSL dont you have mozzies where you are Black?  They are pesky little buzzing things that bite you and suck your blood 
Bear...I am guessing I can reach the cannulas because I have shorter arms than you? I had sooooo much trouble trying to get the long ones, would order them, but always got the wrong ones. After so much hassle the company now realise they dont actually have long ones, so now I get them from home training. I only use long ones for the venous, and the short ones for the arterial unless I run out. My arterial is right at the crease of my elbow, and the venous is half way up, so its not that far away from my hand. Plus I can bend my wrists quite a bit, which I do to hold the arterial. I have double jointed wrists, but I dont think that makes any difference lol
To pull out my arterial I just use my other hand to put it between my thumb and pointer finger from behind, and pull it out like that. Bit hard to explain. Another thing you can do is attach a syringe to the end for extra length. I was doing this in training until I discovered I didnt need to.
The metal clamps do come in handy when you cant unscrew the lines when you are coming off. But lately it hasnt worked and its snapped the little bit inside the cap. I have a tendancy to do them up way too tight!

[jollor]

I wish I could stick myself but I'm a very big baby when it comes to those needles. I put EMLA cream on my arm too. I definitly see the reason behind self sticking. For example on Friday not a single person was there that had stuck me in the past so I had new people digging around and probing trying to get the stick right. Very bothersome.

[Epoman]

I wish I could stick myself but I'm a very big baby when it comes to those needles. I put EMLA cream on my arm too. I definitly see the reason behind self sticking. For example on Friday not a single person was there that had stuck me in the past so I had new people digging around and probing trying to get the stick right. Very bothersome.

When you stick yourself, YOU control the pain. If you want your fistula to last decades and if you want to be pain free, I recommend you get over your fear, and learn to stick yourself.

- Epoman

[charee]

I NEVER thought i would even think about sticking myself but now that I am going to do home hemo soon I will just have to , not looking forward to it but i won't have a choice , i have already asked about using the cream but it seems that they don't encourage the use of it and the thought of a local no way they hurt so I'm better off with one less needle i think. I Will keep you posted when i final get to Sydney to start.

Cheers   Charee

[Treasure]

I'm proud of the fact that I'm sticking myself these days... I knew I could do it, but I dreaded it because I have pain in a branch vein whenever I'm stuck and I don't use lidocaine. Today I was able to get the blunts in, so I'm ready for my "master's" in home hemo when I return for retraining in two weeks.

I'm so into sticking these days, that I have to contain myself from grabbing a bunch of needles and chasing people around for practice!  If only I could be a tech and not have to do anything but stick people, hehehe.

[jedimaster]

I needle myself...it hurts a bit, but, hey...I am a Jedi, so i can take it...

[MJB]

I never thought of sticking myself until I started home hemo. I can really say that it is so much better. As many have already stated in this thread, you are in control and yes there is going to be some initial pain but that will subside in a few months or sooner. The one thing I remember from being an in-center patient was that I was always so unhappy when my tech was off and I usually got the newest trainee. For all of you doing in-center remember everyone sticks a bit diffrently and all it takes is one screw up to ruin your fistula or graft. I would suggest everyone that possible can, learn how to stick themselves. I believe you will have a much healthier access site in the long run. I was just hospitalized recently for a nephrectomy and I insisted I stick my self and they had to have a meeting about it. Finally they let me do it. I felt much more comfortable espically since I have established Buttonholes.

Mike

[brenda]

I have needled myself for almost 13 years. It was very scary the first time. I was sweating, forgot to breath, but, after the first time it wasn't so bad. I have always used Emla cream. Why not. We go through so much anyway why have unnecessary pain. You have more control over where it's going and get the most out of your fistula. I have only blown my arm once doing it myself. When the nurses were doing it, they were blowing it on a weekly basis. Even this past summer I broke my elbow and my collar bone on my fistula arm, I have am upper arm fistula, it was so swollen you couldn't see my fistula. But I still needled it ok. Had that been a nurse I don't know where those needle's would have ended up! I believe it's better all the way around doing it yourself.

[Zach]

I learned to self cannulate so I could travel without too much concern.  It was also an independence thing.

[jbeany]

Brenda, how awkward is it to stick yourself with an upper arm fistula?  I want to learn to do my own, but when I see the angle they put the needles in in mine, I'm not sure I could crank my wrist far enough around.  Do you have someone hold your arm?

I figure if I can work out the angle, I can figure out how.  Given the number of drug addicts in the world who find their own veins while stoned out of their minds, surely I can learn how to do this while stone cold sober and surrounded by hovering nurses!   

[jedimaster]

Mine is an upper arm fistula...it's a bit harder to cannulate, but once you learn is a piece of...needle cake!

[brenda]

Jbeany, I haven't ever really found it a problem. I use a tourniquet and a clamp to hold my arm. Once the needle is in you just tape them up. I don't use my fistula hand at all. It takes a little practice and a little preparation but you learn different tricks as you go along. When I pull my needles I leave them hooked to the lines to give me length. I pull them with my fistula arm and apply the gauze with the other. I do everything myself.  You would like it. If your really thinking about it, just do it. You'll do fine.

[Zach]

I use a tourniquet and a clamp to hold my arm. Once the needle is in you just tape them up.

Same here.
You can do it jbeany.
 

[jbeany]

A tourniquet and a clamp?  For what, exactly?  Or is that just something for a fistula?  I've got a graft, and it shows up under the skin all the time - I don't think I'd need a tourniquet to see it - none of the nurses or techs do.  They just scrub and poke at it.

[brenda]

I don't know anything about a graft or how that even works!? Then what do you mean by the nurses holding your arm?

[jbeany]

A graft is similar to a fistula, as in it is a looped connection of vein and artery under the skin.  Only my veins are too small and pitiful to make the loop by themselves, so the surgeon connects them with a nylon tube.  The tube is big enough to be seen in a faint "C" curving across my upper arm.  When the nurses stick me, they usually hold the needle in one hand and press and hold with the other hand so the tube is perfectly visible and, I suppose, so it doesn't move.  Plus, one needle is angled up into one end of the graft, and the other is angled down.  The way the nurses bounce around trying hold the needle at the right angle, I'm not sure how I'm going to manage one handed. 

No one at my center sticks themselves, so I don't really have anyone to ask for a demo!  I've seen the videos of Bill, but his is a lower arm fistula, so it doesn't really address all my questions. . .

[Panda_9]

I NEVER thought i would even think about sticking myself but now that I am going to do home hemo soon I will just have to , not looking forward to it but i won't have a choice , i have already asked about using the cream but it seems that they don't encourage the use of it and the thought of a local no way they hurt so I'm better off with one less needle i think. I Will keep you posted when i final get to Sydney to start.

Cheers   Charee

You only use the smallest amount of local, and most of the time I dont find it painful at all. It hurts less than putting a sharp needle in without local. Once your buttonholes develop you dont need it.

[renal30yrs]

I find my hand shaking so much from all the immunosuppressives I've taken before.  I'm used to injecting epogen but 15 gage needles? 

[jedimaster]

Jbeany:
You have a graft, so you don't need a tourniquet. We (the ones who have fistulas) have to "bring out" the fistula to cannulate. I never used "freeze" and I started with a smaller needle and went up a bit (every two weeks) at the time...ask as many questions as you want, if I know the answers I'll be more than happy to help....

[brenda]

Jbeany,  If there is no one in your unit that does it now, I think you would be surprised at how many would maybe try it if you did it first.

[MattyBoy100]

On Monday night, a nurse who doesn't normally put the needles in me and therefore, who doesn't know my fistula put the needles in me.  The first one was fine but she had to push quite hard to get the needle in.  The next needle was going in higher up in my fistula but the skin is softer there.  The nurse didn't know my fistula was softer there and to be truthful, I didn't think to mention it either.  Anyway, she pushed the needle in as hard as she did for the first one, causing me some pain and discomfort.

On Wednesday (Epoman is not going to belive this!!!) I put both needles in my fistula myself!  And I have to say I am feeling pretty pleased with myself.  I also have to say that from now on, I am always going to stick myself! 

I did not feel any pain whatsoever and could feel exactly where I was going with the needle.  The only thing I did wrong was I was too slow with the first needle and caused a spurt of blood to go all over my T-shirt but I was expecting that as I had been prepared by one of the better nurses in my unit.  I don't take any anaesthetic either.

Something else is strange but in a good way.  Normally my BP goes up from about 150/80 to 170(+)/90.  After I self - cannulated my BP was steady at 150/80.  I figured it was because I wasn't nervous about someone else sticking those needles in me.

Like everyone else who has posted I thought I would NEVER be able to self cannulate and had visions of me passing out or hyper- ventilating or something but it was the exact opposite, I was calm and collected and felt better than ever coz I didn't cause any pain to myself.

All this is part of my instruction so I can eventually put myself on a machine.  I have been on HD for 6 months now and am learning (slowly) as much as possible.

Now I have done it once, I will NEVER go back to having someone else stick me. NEVER NEVER NEVER!!!

And, I won't have any of those trainnees "having a go at putting Matt on." coz "I do it myself thanks, find someone else to practice on cos it sure ain't gonna be me!!!"