flowergirl2day

Robbie,

IV needles can cause damage to the veins, tissue and nerves. My experience was somewhat similar to yours. After several days and many puncture sites later my veins became unusable. To make things worse, several of the IV needles had been jammed into the tissue, missing the veins completely and causing the IV fluid/drugs to leak into it. This resulted in an extremely painful swelling of the lower arms. A PICC line had to be used. It took several weeks for my arms to heal and for the pain from the "bad pokes" to stop. I have a visible reminder of this experience in the form of two lumps of tissue on the inside of my left wrist and very prominent veins in that area. As I see it, the pain and discomfort were a small price to pay for the lifesaving treatments received. I know this does not help much. Like you, I had no pain medication once I got home and was forced to tough it out. Hang in there. You can do it. These types of IV-related problems are probably more common than one would expect - your doctor isn't concerned. Just to be on the safe side, if you don't notice any improvements after a while, check with his office.

flowergirl