Hiv risk from weird blood draw procedure

[worriedgirll]

Hello,

Yesterday, I was taken to an OBGYN emergency room due to complications with my pregnancy. I had blood drawn & I was paying close attention to the nurse. She did not use gloves & I did not see her grab a new needle since she brought the needle over to my room. I was looking at the tube that holds my blood & I saw that my blood was not going into the tube so she pushed down on my vein & then it started to flow a bit more. The blood draw was extremely painful & I usually have no problems getting my blood drawn with this vein. Is there a chance she could have reused a needle & that is why it was difficult for my blood to go through the needle? I have been pretty good the past couple of months regarding blood draws but this one set me off because it was very weird. Please help.

[Chima7]

Blood tests are painful because you're getting stuck with a needle. That is common sense. And the primary reason why sometimes blood is harder to draw up into the tube is because the patient is not properly hydrated. Ask anyone who draws blood on people on a regular basis and they will tell you that. Which is why I always drink 2-3 bottles of water before any blood draw to make sure they don't have problems getting enough blood.

[mike_no]

In a healthcare setting, people are professionals, they are very careful and would never re-use a needle.

Also, to ease you up, you must know that it is practically impossible to acquire HIV though a used needle that was kept away from the syringe post usage on another individual. Since, the exposure of the contaminated blood with the environment would render the virus inactive. Nevertheless, the fact that it was used on a HIV positive person is debatable.

Rationally, you should accept the point that healthcare professionals wouldn't jeopardize your health, they are trained to take care of you.

While it is understandable that you are worried for your little one and you are concerned about it's well being, you must also realise that there will be some hormonal changes in these days to come, you might get anxious but try and not be worried much, your focus should be on good things, we wish you all the best.  

[worriedgirll]

Thank you for the reply. So I shouldn’t feel concerned due to the fact that I did not see if she grabbed a used needle & because of how weird the procedure was? & the fact that she didn’t use gloves. I have never had a more painful blood draw probably in my life & it was all very odd. This is a very big hospital in my city, my sister even works as a nurse here, I would like to believe that they take preventative measures I’m just really weirded out I suppose.

[AnxiousNoMore]

A painful draw has no bearing on hiv risk, so your anxiety and your imagination are feeding off each other. You mentioned you have ocd in that forum, so see your therapist to help resolve this new hiv fear.