Sounds horrible. I can only offer you my unqualified sympathy and also some uncalled-for, non-evidence-based advice based purely on my personal experiences.
Feel free to ignore all of this as I'm sure you have heard all this before, but: Insist on having someone you trust taking the blood test. This is not an unreasonable request. (But if you don't trust anyone, I'm afraid you'll have to pick the least untrustworthy person in your view!). I think that the more experienced hospital phlebotomists are slightly better than most GPs or practice nurses - just because they do it all the time. Not sure how phlebotomists would feel about sedated people in their dept but maybe whisky might have an equivalent effect? Local anaesthetic cream is an excellent idea and much used for children and needle phobic people (Emla is popular), but make sure you apply it liberally, well in advance (an hour is good), covered by an occlusive dressing, over each of your 2 best veins. I haven't seen local anaesthetic sprays used - most of these work by cold, I think, which would make the veins constrict. Relaxation exercises/ breathing exercises / meditation techniques are very strongly recommended to help control the "terror" feelings. In fact most people having blood taken can be heard quietly whistling something complicated to distract themselves. Re: sedatives, your body may gradually build up a kind of "resistance" so you may need a higher dose to achieve the same effect (warn the colonoscopy people about this too). Lastly, make sure you are really well hydrated prior to any blood test and that you also wrap up warm.
But presumably you have to have a scope whatever the blood test results come back as - so why can't you get the bloods done at the same time as the colonoscopy, if it's not too long a wait until this gets done? They might be able to take the blood for tests through the same line (butterfly/venflon) as being used for the sedation which you will need. Or failing that, can't they take the blood while you're zonked out afterwards? (bit more risky though cos its a bit like being drunk and you might end up swearing at whoever is doing it, but you probably won't remember a thing afterwards). I should think a lot of endoscopy depts would be happy to take an extra blood test while they're at it, if you ask the right person nicely in advance.
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advice on bl**dy bl**d tests
Date: 2006-04-12 06:55 pm (UTC)Feel free to ignore all of this as I'm sure you have heard all this before, but: Insist on having someone you trust taking the blood test. This is not an unreasonable request. (But if you don't trust anyone, I'm afraid you'll have to pick the least untrustworthy person in your view!). I think that the more experienced hospital phlebotomists are slightly better than most GPs or practice nurses - just because they do it all the time. Not sure how phlebotomists would feel about sedated people in their dept but maybe whisky might have an equivalent effect? Local anaesthetic cream is an excellent idea and much used for children and needle phobic people (Emla is popular), but make sure you apply it liberally, well in advance (an hour is good), covered by an occlusive dressing, over each of your 2 best veins. I haven't seen local anaesthetic sprays used - most of these work by cold, I think, which would make the veins constrict. Relaxation exercises/ breathing exercises / meditation techniques are very strongly recommended to help control the "terror" feelings. In fact most people having blood taken can be heard quietly whistling something complicated to distract themselves. Re: sedatives, your body may gradually build up a kind of "resistance" so you may need a higher dose to achieve the same effect (warn the colonoscopy people about this too). Lastly, make sure you are really well hydrated prior to any blood test and that you also wrap up warm.
But presumably you have to have a scope whatever the blood test results come back as - so why can't you get the bloods done at the same time as the colonoscopy, if it's not too long a wait until this gets done? They might be able to take the blood for tests through the same line (butterfly/venflon) as being used for the sedation which you will need. Or failing that, can't they take the blood while you're zonked out afterwards? (bit more risky though cos its a bit like being drunk and you might end up swearing at whoever is doing it, but you probably won't remember a thing afterwards). I should think a lot of endoscopy depts would be happy to take an extra blood test while they're at it, if you ask the right person nicely in advance.