My Arm After Donating Blood

[Guest <3goesDOKIDOKI]

nonono dont worry

thats what happens when you poke and fiddle around with the needle.

they had trouble pulling it out right?

thats what happens your arm gets all bruised up

it'll clear up in a couple of days and yes it is gonna feel sore.

the correct way is to find the right spot, inject the needle, then pull it out smoothly.

if u jiggle it around then it bruises you up.

same if they cant find your vein...and poke around in a few places.

you'll be completely fine.

they're just bruises.

[Guest moochelle]

mine looked like that last year.. i didn't do anything about it.. i just let it heal on its own.. but yeah, probably should see a doctor to be safe..

and wtf? the people were rude to you!?

if anything, they should be treating you as nice as possible considering you're donating your own blood out of good will. =___=;;

[Guest conzerz]

see a doctor just incase!!

[Guest Honey_Babee]

I don't think it's 'supposed' to look like that, no.

Unless you have any clotting problems/conditions?

Otherwise, I think they just botched it. The bruising looks as if it will go away but I have no idea what that big nasty red line across the elbow is (is that an unrelated injury?).

Once a medical student practiced on me and i had a bruise the size of a spread out hand and it was swollen for one night. I had a dead arm for 2 weeks solid and couldn't straighten it out properly for that length of time. I went to see the doctor and she said that they might have just poked through the vessel wall, in the process poking out on small capillaries nearby. another dr said it may have been a superficial infection because my arm was so swollen. My medical student friends thought it might have gone into the muscle because it was v painful while the blood was being taken.

who knows!

scary... i dunno if its suppose to look like that, my friend donated her's was just a little red dot thingy.

[Guest chickery]

Pretty much, whomever put the needle in your arm messed up.

They probably had trouble locating the vein so they ended up rupturing the nerves in that area.

This happened when I went to the ER and they needed to take some blood tests. But don't worry -- just because it happens doesn't mean the people aren't experienced. Some people's nerve locations (forgive my ignorant medical speak) are harder to find than others. Heck, when I got poked, there was a problem with the catheter and blood started spraying everywhere. It ended up not being the nurse's fault, but the actual needle/product.

[Guest Aki]

My arm didn't look like that when I donated blood...

It should be fine after a week or two though. Bruises usually go away by that time.

You can call them too if you are really worried about it. They should have given you a card with their information on it if you experience any problems after the donation.

[Guest asdf.BLAHH]

woah, i recently just got surgery.. and i got blood sucked out of me over 5 times. (same arm, same place)

& my bruise wasn't even that bad. it went away after a week or so.

[Guest mlsnts]

Whoa I just donated yesterday and all that's left is a little red dot.. (and they also wriggled the needle around cos the blood wasn't pumping out). Call the organization and ask them if it's normal, etc ( they gave me a phone number in case anything happens during the next 5 days)

[Guest fruiteechi]

i run the blood drive at my school, and i never seen that happen. yes it's true that they miss a couple time but i guess i never saw that after effect. u should go see the doctor though. it's better safe than sorry. it could also be like a bad reaction to the iodine or sumthing

[Guest chocopocky]

OMG You should definitely get it checked out! Yeah, I agree.. usually, it shouldn't look like that! Curse that unskilled blood taker person!

[Guest aznscrewball]

Wonderful...

That happened to me when I had to get my blood tested.

The nurse couldn't find my vein and kept poking around.

Then she asked me if I have low blood pressure, which I dont.

Mine looked like someone had beat me up XD

It took weeeeeekkkss to get back to normal. I think it turned blue, green, then yellow before healing itself.

I think its normal, just inexperience.

[Guest MONICA]

yeah it happens. especially since you said they had a hard time so they were probably digging around in there and that's probably what caused it. doesn't look that bad. just bruising unless there's a big open wound with pus coming out. if so then that's when you should go see the doctor. otherwise just ice it and give it timee

[illneverletyougo]

=O omg...

that just scared me into not donating blood at my school next year.

[Guest xXSJloveXx]

DANGGGGG

T_T it didnt looked like that afterward for me, maybe u should go get that check out O_O

[Guest happygrl]

whoa.... thats so wierd!! when i donated blood for the first time... it didnt bruise up and only left a tiny hole... @___@ i didnt kno that could happen... ><;;

[Guest ny1Xiu]

holy, go see a doctor. how come theres a red cut line?

[Heroine]

Oh my god, I was going to donate blood next year when red cross came to my school...

I don't think that was supposed to happen, maybe just because that person had some difficulties with the needle...

[Guest girl armageddon]

was this your first time?

when i had my done for the first time it looked much much MUCH worse and it hurt for a week. i couldn't bend it hardly at all.

so it's normal. really. i would put ice on it to help with the bruising.

[Guest xpiyo]

my friend donated blood at school and all she had was a little bruise. yours looks really big. o.O maybe coz you're more skin is more sensative?

[Guest MIS0HAPPY]

my arm looked kind of like that the first time too.

my veins are really small, so the needle bruised it up sorta bad.

the bruise usually goes away within a few weeks or so. (a whole raiiiiinbow of colors, haha.)

though, i don't think the hole where the needle went in looked like yours though. !

maybe you should get it checked to make sure the area isn't infected.

hope you feel better!