The Dread of Needles

[LightLizard]

Its something I've suffered from my whole life, and going on dialysis really brought it home for me.

I was in the hospital three times, through emergency, over the past year and a half. The last time, after six weeks of self-administered Interferon shots into my belly, I developed a gut bleed and had to be rushed to emergency because my hemoglobin levels dropped so low that I was as near to death as I've ever been. I was given four units of new blood, steroids, vitamins, a liver and kidney biopsy, and inadvertantly, a staph infection, which went rather well with my pneumonia, at the time.... *sheesh*

The intraveneous nurses had to change my IV site every 72 hours and I got to the point where I could hear them coming in the night, down the long, lonely corridors of the hospital, their tiny bottles and vials all clinking together on the little carts they pushed around with the squeaky wheels. For a time, I lived in dread of those sounds.

After a few days of it, I realised that my fear of needles was of no use. In fact, my fear of needles was spoiling the whole adventure for me. I decided to stop taking it so 'personal.' I willed myself to relax, totally, as the needle was inserted, to accept it not as 'pain,' but just another sensation. It worked! Before long, and even to this day, when the needle goes in I hardly feel anything!

The adventure continues....

Love

~LL~

[keefer51]

I too hate the thought of needles. Mine comes when i was diagnosed at the age of 11 of having only one kidney. I had so many catheters and needles i had nightmares. But after getting 15 Gage needles for dialysis. I found that the blood test or IV's i received didn't hurt anymore.

[livecam]

I too hate the thought of needles. Mine comes when i was diagnosed at the age of 11 of having only one kidney. I had so many catheters and needles i had nightmares. But after getting 15 Gage needles for dialysis. I found that the blood test or IV's i received didn't hurt anymore.

I remember the progression of needle sizes when my fistula was first used.  They start with number 17 needles, go to number 16's, and finally end up at number 15 needles for ever more.  The site of those things was scary at first but I got used to the idea after using the fistula got to be routine. 

Sticking the same spots over and over again desensitized those areas to pain so after a while the sticks became almost pain free most of the time.  There were times when a stick either hit or was near a nerve and and that stick could be pain city. 

I have small veins so blood draws and the occasional IV start can be a painful experience.  You get to identify the "good" sticks and the not so good ones pretty fast.  You really want the person who can hit the bullseye the first time rather than the one who plods around in the dark.  It also pays to ask the nurse or phlebotomist to use a small gauge "butterfly" instead of something larger. 

[Bajanne]

LightLizard, have you read "Dar's Guide to Dialysis Nurses".  It's all about how they do needles. It is a scream!
Here it is - http://ihatedialysis.com/forum/index.php?topic=66.0

[LightLizard]

Thanks for the link Bajanne2000. i've met a few of those nurses, too. The one's in the community unit i used to attend were vastly different though. There was a real family spirit there that i kind of miss, since i've been doing home dialysis.

The first time I passed out there was fun. The nurses always made a point of reminding us of the call button, should we need sudden assistance. Near the end of one run, my legs started to cramp, so I sat up to rub them and to just change position. Suddenly, I got that 'far away' feeling. Before I knew it, the nurses had rushed over, (one of them had noticed the change in my colour..) and I was flat on my back in the chair, waking up, with about 5 nurses all standing over me with concerned looks on their faces.
One of them asked me, 'why didn't you use the call button?'
'I dunno,' I replied, 'it was kind of a neat feeling, like smoking a joint, or something.'
That got a good laugh. It is Vancouver Island I'm on, after all.

I just got home from 8 hours training on my brand new cycler machine, so I'm a little burnt out at the moment...slightly overwhelming, all the info, but I am looking forward to hooking up...maybe tomorrow night, after I absorb some of the stuff I learned today.

love

~LL~

[kitkatz]

I had one tech who practically leaped over a chair getting to my chair because she thought I was going out on her! I was not even close!

[pierrat]

I had one tech who practically leaped over a chair getting to my chair because she thought I was going out on her! I was not even close!

Still its comforting to know their there for you when you need them