So I go into the doctor’s office yesterday for a check-up since I hadn’t been there for about 2 years. Everything was just dandy (he didn’t even mention the 40 or so pounds I had gained which disappointed me), and it turned out I was due for some bloodwork since I hadn’t had any since 2001. Now, the last three times I donated blood I completely passed out. It was usually a minute or two afterwards when they have you sit up. I wasn’t worried this time since it would just be a vial as opposed to a whole pint, but sure enough about 15 seconds after the needle stick I start breaking out in a cold sweat. I said something to the nurse, the next thing I know about 3 different people are slapping me in the face and laying me down on the bed. Apparently the 100 pound nurse had a hell of a time holding me up so I didn’t face plant on the floor. So that makes it four times in a row, all over a span of about 2 years.
But anyways, my point is, what causes this? Is it a mental thing, or some sort of physical reaction? I used to have terrible allergies and had to get stuck every week for about 10 years and never had a problem, so surely it’s not an issue with the needle.
Orthostatic hypotension. It can happen from just standing up too fast, however, it is often seen in the health/medical professions due to white coat syndrome. A muscular patient is more prone for this to happen as well as an obese person due to the increased area at which blood can be spread throughout when the “fight or flight” mechanism is set into motion.
[quote]Professor X wrote:
Orthostatic hypotension. It can happen from just standing up too fast, however, it is often seen in the health/medical professions due to white coat syndrome. A muscular patient is more prone for this to happen as well as an obese person due to the increased area at which blood can be spread throughout when the “fight or flight” mechanism is set into motion.[/quote]
Thanks for that. So it’s probably not a coincidence that this started to happen about 2 years ago, about the time I started lifting and eating to get bigger.
[quote]Donut62 wrote:
Professor X wrote:
Orthostatic hypotension. It can happen from just standing up too fast, however, it is often seen in the health/medical professions due to white coat syndrome. A muscular patient is more prone for this to happen as well as an obese person due to the increased area at which blood can be spread throughout when the “fight or flight” mechanism is set into motion.
Thanks for that. So it’s probably not a coincidence that this started to happen about 2 years ago, about the time I started lifting and eating to get bigger.[/quote]
Nope, especially if you have big legs. This has happened to quite a few soldiers because they also lift. Add low blood sugar on top of that and you get some dude who is 6’3" 250lbs who passes out after every visit. The biggest thing to worry about is making sure they don’t hit their head on the way down.
It’s psychologic. It happened to me before I started lifting and I was really_scrawny.
I don’t have any issue with needles poking my muscles. I received many injections when I was a child, some even more recently as a grown-up, and had no issues whatsoever.
The veins, however, and the idea of drawing blood, seem to be somewhat different for some hidden part of the psyche, which seems to get seriously upset when said veins are being poked at with a needle.
My uneducated assumption is that it’s some kind of fighting instinct against blood-sucking predators and parasites. The more primitive parts of the brain have no doubt whatsoever that you must get up ASAP and punch the guy hard in the snout, while your conscious mind is quite unconcerned with what is just a simple harmless medical procedure.
Of course, the lower brain is too stupid to comprehend all that, it just keeps trying to get you up and fighting, the conflict between it and the conscious mind escalates, and then something goes like “oh f*ck it, I’m leaving.” And you pass out.
It’s quite funny because there’s no conscious fear. The body just feels funny, kind of weak at the knees, a bit of cold sweat, then next thing you know, someone is slapping you awake and you’re like “what the hell happened, did you gave me a sedative or what?”.
But the mechanical explanation might be easier to accept for people who are otherwise strong and lacking most of the usual petty fears.
[quote]X-Factor wrote:
You were in a doctors office when you passed out and you did’nt ask him?[/quote]
I’ve seen and heard worse. Many people seem to walk out without understanding a thing. Add to that most patients only listen to and retain only 20% of what they are told and you end up with people getting home with major questions that were probably already answered but they were too nervous or caught up in thought to actually understand.
[quote]rrjc5488 wrote:
Rockscar wrote:
I’m fascinated by it. I like to watch the needle go in, and the blood spatter in the tubes!
While fasted?! Jeez… I get light headed een if I dont look.
Last time I needed anestesia they stuck the needle in with a tube. I thought that was the anestesia (it was just the IV) and I passed out at that.[/quote]
I guess it comes from experience with a PICC line in my arm for 2 weeks. I had a bone infection once that required a Picc line, which is inserted in your arm and pushed all the way up into your heart. It was freakin cool when it was pulled out too!
The same thing used to happen to me. Weird thing was it never happened until I was in my mid twenties. Giving blood never really bothered me, then one day it happened.
I was talking to someone I knew in a waiting room on the way out and woke up on the floor. From then on it would happen each and every time about 5-10 minutes after the blood was taken. This lasted for a few years and then it stopped. Go figure.
[quote]Rockscar wrote:
rrjc5488 wrote:
Rockscar wrote:
I’m fascinated by it. I like to watch the needle go in, and the blood spatter in the tubes!
While fasted?! Jeez… I get light headed een if I dont look.
Last time I needed anestesia they stuck the needle in with a tube. I thought that was the anestesia (it was just the IV) and I passed out at that.
I guess it comes from experience with a PICC line in my arm for 2 weeks. I had a bone infection once that required a Picc line, which is inserted in your arm and pushed all the way up into your heart. It was freakin cool when it was pulled out too![/quote]
Wow. You look a lot different now then you did then. You look healthier, you know, a lot more color to you.
Shoot, I guess I don’t have enough muscle mass then…
Actually, I’ve given blood and had a blood test recently and have never had any issues.
However, I do like to look away from the puncture point so I don’t have to anticipate and simultaneously see the needle go in. Once it is in I don’t mind watching the blood gushing away.
Maybe if I watched it go in, and had the anticipation/fear factor I’d be at higher risk for this?
I think a lot of it is mental. I used to get light headed whenever I had blood drawn. Then my thyroid went bust and now I get blood drawn every 6 months. For a while there, I was getting it drawn ever 3 months. It’s no longer a big deal to me.
Except for the one time when they had a med student try to draw it and he missed 4 times. The NP took over and stuck me and everything was going along fine until the blood stopped coming out in the middle of the 2nd vial. She blamed me, of course, saying my vein must have rolled (I’ve since found out from talking to other nurses and a phlebotomist that this is a bs excuse and that she likely pushed the needle through the vein). So now, she sticks my other arm, fills up the 2nd vial and switches to the 3rd vial, which for some unknown reason the vacuum isn’t working. The cabinet where they are stored is out of reach, so she asks me to hold the needle, which is dripping a little blood. I’m serious, you can’t make this up.
It turns out that there are no more of the vials in that room, so she runs next door, gets a new vial and comes back and sticks it on. At this point, I finally pass out. When I came too, she was full of attitude and tells me that I should have told her beforehand that I’m prone to passing out. I told her that I wasn’t prone to passing out but that it was just a little more than someone should have to go through to get a little blood drawn.
This shit happens to me every time a doc draws blood. I don’t faint completely, but I get dizzy and my vision goes white (not black!).
I know it’s coming, so I take my sweet time standing up, and as soon as I’m out of the room I sit down on the closest chair for 5 mins or so. Bearing this is mind, what Prof X said makes complete sense.
[quote]dollarbill44 wrote:
I told her that I wasn’t prone to passing out but that it was just a little more than someone should have to go through to get a little blood drawn.[/quote]
I hope you then got her in a headlock and rubbed her head until she apologised!
Geees DB, nurse like that are the stuff urban legend are made of. If I didn’t know you better…
Thanks for the explanation, Prof X. It actually happens to me every time, which is why I stopped donating blood. Guess I ought to be proud of my leg development. Is there anything I can do to prevent this?
