Prednisone causing weak veins?

[carey]

been on 40-60 mg prednisone everyday for the last yr. when i have to go to the hospitol they always have a hard time getting a line on me. was recently in the hospitol for 3 days and they had to re-do my iv 3 times because my vein kept collapsing. could the pred be causing this? i have to switch from remicade to humira because they couldnt get a line on me. the nurse even called in the flight for life people and they couldnt get it.

 

[David]

Did they have a hard time prior to you starting prednisone? My experience is that some people are just plain terrible at starting IV or taking blood and will blame it on anything but their technique.

 

[Keona]

Im not on prednisone and I have a really hard time getting an IV in or even giving blood. My last MRI, it took them 6 tries before they called an IV nurse and during my surgery it took them only 2 tries. I think my vein must have rolled during surgery because when I came out, I noticed my IV had moved. Also, when I got my wisdom teeth removed, I woke up ..again, my vein rolled and the anesthetic seeped into my arm causing a softball sized lump in my arm.

I was told not to come back at the blood bank because I just have veins that jump out of the way or roll or they just nick the vein or it goes deeper once they try...

it will help if you can get them to wrap your arm up in one of those really warm blanket awhile before you get your IV.

 

[Entchen]

David, so true, at least in some cases! I'm also "classified" as someone with tricky veins...yet the phlebotomists almost never have a difficult time during my monthly blood tests. Last week at my blood test appointment, arms full of bruises from recent attempts at a hospital to insert an IV, I asked if the technique was different. The phlebotomist snickered and said no. Even though some people really do have more challenging veins than others, she doesn't think mine are anywhere near catastophically bad -- just deep and twisty.

This might be unrelated, but I have noticed that it really hurts when I have an IV in. Not sure why since the staff always say it shouldn't hurt at all. I have no problem with getting a short, but IVs...ouch. During the MRI last week I was really struggling, and the nurse asked if the contrast hurt going on...nope, just that darned IV, especially since she was moving it ever so slightly.

 

[carey]

no i never had problems with iv's before. i was an iv drug addict for 5 yrs. been clean now for 12 yrs. which is why i dont understand how they cant seem to ever get a line on me