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Nerve damage in forearm after blood test
5 weeks ago I had a blood sample taken. When the nurse inserted the needle the pain I felt down my arm was like an electric shock and I screamed at her to remove the needle, which she didn't do without probing for a vein first!
Since then I have had extreme pain when I straighten my arm, and it constantly feels like when you hit your funny bone except its all down my arm. I have tingling and twitching nerves in my thumb, fore finger and middle finger and randomly the top of my ring finger! I have been told I just have to wait and see if it heals or if its permanent but the pain is unbearable at times and when I can just about cope with it, its extremely uncomfortable. I cannot drive at the moment and I am a teacher so carrying out my job is becoming increasingly difficult. At A&E the doctor said I had median nerve neuropathy and my GP has prescribed amitriptyline, but its not doing much.
Is this likely to heal? What can I do to make it any better or bearable?
Since then I have had extreme pain when I straighten my arm, and it constantly feels like when you hit your funny bone except its all down my arm. I have tingling and twitching nerves in my thumb, fore finger and middle finger and randomly the top of my ring finger! I have been told I just have to wait and see if it heals or if its permanent but the pain is unbearable at times and when I can just about cope with it, its extremely uncomfortable. I cannot drive at the moment and I am a teacher so carrying out my job is becoming increasingly difficult. At A&E the doctor said I had median nerve neuropathy and my GP has prescribed amitriptyline, but its not doing much.
Is this likely to heal? What can I do to make it any better or bearable?
Surprised and its heartbreaking that you all has to suffer this in life. My husband started the same pain 3.5 months ago from Lapcorp blook draw. He cannot function his day to day activity/ no exercise/no sports which he loves. The most sad part is this inactive life style has impacted his tyroid and chorestrol level, he gained wait which he cannot effort because he has plantar fasciitis too. We are so upset and depressed because this happends to us. After visiting all different doctors like physician, arm specialist, Neauroligist for EMG test . no one can really helps . They all are saying the same thing it will take time. EMG test shows no nerve damage but when how come he is still in pain and cannot live his normal life. We are still in the discovery phase as to what went wrong and what we have to do to cure his forearm pain. He have now appt next week with chronic pain doctor.
1 Comments
get a lawyer involved, it should not hurt this long. This has been going on for two months for me too.
On my way to recovery from nerve injury/damage after getting my blood drawn over 2 months ago and I want to share my experience for those who need some help like I did. I’m in no way a physician and please don’t just take my word for it— do your own research and see a doctor if you feel you need to.
Two months ago I needed to get my blood drawn and this young, rude girl at my local Quest Diagnostics took my blood and it felt abnormally painful. I rarely get my blood drawn so I didn’t want to make a big deal out of it but looking back now, it was very painful. It felt as though the needle was a light pole going in my arm and then when she was drawing the blood, I felt this insane pressure as though she was vacuuming all my blood out. I couldn’t wait for her to finish as I started feeling light-headed and dizzy. She finished and I just left and felt normal. (I now have learned that blood draws should have NO pain— only a tiny needle prick and if there is pain, we are supposed to immediately tell the Phlebotomist to STOP and remove the needle and switch arms.) I went home and had NO bleeding, NO bruising, NO swelling, NO redness or pain. I woke up the next morning and felt a very very tender pain behind my elbow when I went to put my elbows up on a table. I was surprised it was so tender but my family told me the Phlebotomist probably just tied my arm too tight. So a week goes by without any pain or problems and I then noticed a VERY minor ache in my arm around the injection site. Just felt as though I slept on my arm wrong and cut off circulation so I would just shake it off, massage my arm and go about my day. This was an and off for the next 4-5 weeks before I came to conclusion that this weird ache in my arm began after the blood draw. It very slowly became more prominent and my arm just felt fatigued— as though I just lifted heavy furniture for an hour. I also look back and remember even feeling fatigue in my right leg, which is crazy. And I also had 2 bouts of strong dizziness— I later found out that those symptoms are also related to nerve injuries/damage.
Then one day, after a hard days’ work (very strenuous), I instantly felt my forearm tighten in a very weird way and felt heat up and down my arm into my fingers. I felt alarmed and started massaging my arm and applied ice (which is a NO-NO!). Woke up the next morning with EXTREME arm pain and could barely move it. I was beside myself with pain and discomfort, couldn’t find relief, couldn’t lay my arm down on anything either because it was on FIRE and extremely TENDER to the touch. That week I just stopped working (I’m a self-employed Artist) and laid in bed very confused but just knew it was related to the blood draw and thought i should rest my arm and apply ice and see how I feel. I basically TORTURED myself for that whole week by applying ice to my nerve damaged arm when I later found out this is a huge NO NO. I keep saying this because the pain I caused myself was INSANE! I cried ALL day in pain and slept horribly. When researching nerve damage, I read that the damaged area should NOT be exposed to extreme temperature changes. I also had gone in my jacuzzi that week! Eek! And took very hot baths. Once I stopped all this ice and heat nonsense, the pain level subsided by a large degree but my arm was still of course healing and still felt tender, painful and my Index finger and thumb was swollen as well. I felt barely any grip strength and could barely put my hand in a fist. When studying nerve damage in the arm, I read that the MEDIAN nerve is what connects to those fingers so I knew which nerve was injured. I also studied that the MEDIAN nerve travels thru the carpeltunnel and when inflamed, causes a compression which causes the pain in my hand and wrist.
After learning this, I then found out that the arm should be SO IMMOBILIZED that it should be in a sling all through the day. The damaged arm should be free from ALL tension!! When I say immobile, I mean 100%. I didn’t even brush my teeth or put up my arm or even wipe myself in the bathroom with that arm, which is my DOMINANT arm. I started acting as though I had ONE ARM and rested all day. This has been extreme for me because I’m an Artist and work with heavy materials like solid wood and sheet metal which I hand cut. SO I haven’t been able to work or make money while I heal because this is serious and needs to heal. I chose not to see a doctor or Specialist just because I felt I did extreme research and felt very confident that I found what was wrong with me but also paid attention to my body. If I didn’t improve after the resting and immobilization after a few weeks, I was going to see a doctor.
Now, thank God, after 2 weeks of complete resting and immobilization, I feel a HUGEEEE improvement. My arm is almost feeling normal now but still resting it and now doing anything strenuous and won’t until every last ache is gone. I read that your not supposed to even open bottles or grip anything tight while it’s healing. I also must say that I took anti-inflammatories throughout the day, every day. I took either Ibuprofen or Advil (Naproxen). I even took lukewarm showers everyday and washed my hair and body with ONE arm. I drove my car with ONE arm. Everything with ONE ARM, lol. I also changed my sleeping position, which was very uncomfortable, and slept only on my back or left side and would prop my arm up on a pillow. Its best to keep your arm in an L-position as much as you can. I did take a few minutes each day to gently stretch my fingers and arm so it wouldn’t stiffen.
I’ve put together that all-in-all, my nerve was pricked at the blood draw, and because I work very strenusouly, this MINOR injury never healed and I even re-injured the nerve causing more damage, which could, if not taken care of, lead to more serious problems. Again, I’m NOT a doctor but just wanted to share my experiece because it was scary. Study about nerve damage and pay close attention to your body and symptoms. I never had any symptoms of infection or a blood clot or internal bleeding so I felt more confident that I could try and heal myself. I had also read a lot that if you do just have 1st and 2nd degree nerve damage (look up), doctors can’t really offer anything and just mostly tell you to rest and immobilize the arm while taking anti-inflammatories. Hope this helps.
Two months ago I needed to get my blood drawn and this young, rude girl at my local Quest Diagnostics took my blood and it felt abnormally painful. I rarely get my blood drawn so I didn’t want to make a big deal out of it but looking back now, it was very painful. It felt as though the needle was a light pole going in my arm and then when she was drawing the blood, I felt this insane pressure as though she was vacuuming all my blood out. I couldn’t wait for her to finish as I started feeling light-headed and dizzy. She finished and I just left and felt normal. (I now have learned that blood draws should have NO pain— only a tiny needle prick and if there is pain, we are supposed to immediately tell the Phlebotomist to STOP and remove the needle and switch arms.) I went home and had NO bleeding, NO bruising, NO swelling, NO redness or pain. I woke up the next morning and felt a very very tender pain behind my elbow when I went to put my elbows up on a table. I was surprised it was so tender but my family told me the Phlebotomist probably just tied my arm too tight. So a week goes by without any pain or problems and I then noticed a VERY minor ache in my arm around the injection site. Just felt as though I slept on my arm wrong and cut off circulation so I would just shake it off, massage my arm and go about my day. This was an and off for the next 4-5 weeks before I came to conclusion that this weird ache in my arm began after the blood draw. It very slowly became more prominent and my arm just felt fatigued— as though I just lifted heavy furniture for an hour. I also look back and remember even feeling fatigue in my right leg, which is crazy. And I also had 2 bouts of strong dizziness— I later found out that those symptoms are also related to nerve injuries/damage.
Then one day, after a hard days’ work (very strenuous), I instantly felt my forearm tighten in a very weird way and felt heat up and down my arm into my fingers. I felt alarmed and started massaging my arm and applied ice (which is a NO-NO!). Woke up the next morning with EXTREME arm pain and could barely move it. I was beside myself with pain and discomfort, couldn’t find relief, couldn’t lay my arm down on anything either because it was on FIRE and extremely TENDER to the touch. That week I just stopped working (I’m a self-employed Artist) and laid in bed very confused but just knew it was related to the blood draw and thought i should rest my arm and apply ice and see how I feel. I basically TORTURED myself for that whole week by applying ice to my nerve damaged arm when I later found out this is a huge NO NO. I keep saying this because the pain I caused myself was INSANE! I cried ALL day in pain and slept horribly. When researching nerve damage, I read that the damaged area should NOT be exposed to extreme temperature changes. I also had gone in my jacuzzi that week! Eek! And took very hot baths. Once I stopped all this ice and heat nonsense, the pain level subsided by a large degree but my arm was still of course healing and still felt tender, painful and my Index finger and thumb was swollen as well. I felt barely any grip strength and could barely put my hand in a fist. When studying nerve damage in the arm, I read that the MEDIAN nerve is what connects to those fingers so I knew which nerve was injured. I also studied that the MEDIAN nerve travels thru the carpeltunnel and when inflamed, causes a compression which causes the pain in my hand and wrist.
After learning this, I then found out that the arm should be SO IMMOBILIZED that it should be in a sling all through the day. The damaged arm should be free from ALL tension!! When I say immobile, I mean 100%. I didn’t even brush my teeth or put up my arm or even wipe myself in the bathroom with that arm, which is my DOMINANT arm. I started acting as though I had ONE ARM and rested all day. This has been extreme for me because I’m an Artist and work with heavy materials like solid wood and sheet metal which I hand cut. SO I haven’t been able to work or make money while I heal because this is serious and needs to heal. I chose not to see a doctor or Specialist just because I felt I did extreme research and felt very confident that I found what was wrong with me but also paid attention to my body. If I didn’t improve after the resting and immobilization after a few weeks, I was going to see a doctor.
Now, thank God, after 2 weeks of complete resting and immobilization, I feel a HUGEEEE improvement. My arm is almost feeling normal now but still resting it and now doing anything strenuous and won’t until every last ache is gone. I read that your not supposed to even open bottles or grip anything tight while it’s healing. I also must say that I took anti-inflammatories throughout the day, every day. I took either Ibuprofen or Advil (Naproxen). I even took lukewarm showers everyday and washed my hair and body with ONE arm. I drove my car with ONE arm. Everything with ONE ARM, lol. I also changed my sleeping position, which was very uncomfortable, and slept only on my back or left side and would prop my arm up on a pillow. Its best to keep your arm in an L-position as much as you can. I did take a few minutes each day to gently stretch my fingers and arm so it wouldn’t stiffen.
I’ve put together that all-in-all, my nerve was pricked at the blood draw, and because I work very strenusouly, this MINOR injury never healed and I even re-injured the nerve causing more damage, which could, if not taken care of, lead to more serious problems. Again, I’m NOT a doctor but just wanted to share my experiece because it was scary. Study about nerve damage and pay close attention to your body and symptoms. I never had any symptoms of infection or a blood clot or internal bleeding so I felt more confident that I could try and heal myself. I had also read a lot that if you do just have 1st and 2nd degree nerve damage (look up), doctors can’t really offer anything and just mostly tell you to rest and immobilize the arm while taking anti-inflammatories. Hope this helps.
1 Comments
Did your arm completely heal?
Same thing happened to me. Its been a week to the day and the pain is worse than before. Mostly blow my thumb, base of wrist, and draw site. Getting dark thoughts if this doesn't heal and is permanant.
1 Comments
did it heal?
Wow , its not just me then, this happened to me on Friday,I have prominant veins and have never had any problems before, i just dont like to watch. As the needle went in the pain was that intense that i jumped and pushed the nurses hand away, as the needle came out,it scratched my arm and blood came pumping out, i asked what the hell did you do? and she replied, i dont know why you reacted like that cause i found the vien no problem! no way that felt very wrong, ive never felt antthing like it. she cleaned me up, took the blood from the other arm and i thought that was it but by sunday im no longer Able to fully extend my arm as i get a shooting pain down my arm, which then causes spitful pins and needles in my hands and fingers. Also typing is difficault and causes the same sensation in my elbow, wrist,knuckles and fingers and gets very painful the longer i type, will be seeing Dr Friday!
Horrible situation, I think you should establish a legal action, since it's clear negligence of the person who did the procedure. She should stop and try again on the other arm, or you could just step away. That injury is something serious that might affect you for life. Take an action because is the only way we can protect ourselves from any kind of negligences.
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