Bad veins
 

hi everyone anyone have problems with there veins, i am having an awful time, i have not had a pheresis in about 12 weeks i am getting so week breathing is getting harder they cant seem to get a vein that will take, i had a catherter in my chest that did not last that long it got infected so they took that out then
they tried venous catheter in the groin they could not get that in and i will never do that again , SOOOO much pain . now they just did a av fistula about 3 weeks ago and they said that it may have to be done again cause the veins are just so small they are having trouble taking i have had 4 different doctors and they all say i have bad veins but this was not always so , a few years ago they never had a problem so is this from all the treatments or from the MG does anyone have any suggestions i am willing to try anything well almost anything

Hi littlewish, sorry your having problems with your viens. Just a suggestion, some things that make the veins not work are dehydration, this seems to be a big problems with senior citizens, they never are hydrated enough for them to start IV's . Also maybe something like vitamines that helps to strength veins, Vit C with bioflavinoids, another product called picnoginal (spelling) might be wrong. Thats suppose to be super biflavinoid. It can't hurt to take extra vitamines, especially when were sick we don't always eat right. And I'm sure that some of those meds deplete you of essential nutrients. Take care, hope someone else can help you the the vitamine department. Patricia

Hi, littlewish! Sorry you are having so much trouble. Patricia's suggestions sound good to me. Can't hurt, and may help. I hope they figure something out soon. Maybe they could try the catheter port again. My hubby had one in for nearly a year when he was going through his cancer treatments. No problems at all! Too bad yours got infected.
Hugs,

Thanks for all the suggestions my doctor called and said that they were going to try the catherter in my chest again just until the av fistula matures , at least i will be able to get the pheresis again i am having so many problems breathing so hopefully the pheresis will kick in really fast thanks again

Hi Littlewish,

I never had problems with my veins years ago, but now I get pricked 3-4 times before they get a hit. I will go from one nurse to lab tech to another. Where I go they have a policy 3 strikes and you are out and then another person tries. They almost had to omit contrast on a test because they couldn't get the needle in. I asked my oncologist if there was something wrong with me.

He said to me:"I'm sorry, but that was caused by us." He explained that since I have been poked for blood tests, IV's, etc so much that my veins now have scar tissue in them.

Keeping hydrated is a very good idea and it will help them some in getting a hit.

Sorry to hear you are having problems with that.

Hugs, Jean

thats about the same thing that they told me so may sticks that the veins have scars on them so now they just cant seem to get it at all so now it av fistular time and hope that it matures so they can use that ,like you i never had a problem well maybe one day they will have a cure

I've tried to avoid vein problems over the years by always asking for a butterfly needle when they are drawing blood for tests. That was on the advice of my GP's lab technician, since my veins tend to roll, blow up, hide, or something.
Hugs,

Hi Lois,

I know they have used that on me in the past. I'm not sure if they have used it everytime. I need to pay more attention to that.

Thanks for the advice.

Jean

they started to use the butterfly needle on me about 6 months ago but guess that the damage had already taken place , if they know that we are going to need alot of treatments then i dont know why they dont start out with using it in the first place to avoid this vein problem