Hello everyone. I just came back from hospital and feel awful because the lab people were struggling for half an hour to take blood fro me, I have alwyas had bad veins, but now they appear to be worse, may be because of chemo, not sure. Any advise how to make it easier next time and before chemo as well will be highly appreciated. Thanks
My whole arem hurts as if it has undergone a surgery!!!
Hello …it sounds like you need a picc line or port fitted which most of the ladies here have had at some stage. Once it’s fitted its easy for blood and chemo .
You must be so sore …the veins get hard if they are used so much.
Ask your oncologist or phone and ask for one as you don’t want this problem every time.
Carolyn xxx
hi Avrelia,
yes, im in the same position and am holding out for as long as I can, because im hoping to come off i/v chemo soon.Belle, …one of the community champions posted the following tips ( see below) under Chemotherapy on the primary part of the site. So far I have followed them twice and beel ok…may be worth a try whilst you decide what to do?
Moijanxx
Re: Vein Care
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02-09-2016 05:30 PM
Miso Soup
I found this advice for plumping up veins pre canulation on (hystersisters.com/vb2/showthread.php?t=357436):
'Here’s what I found worked. The night before chemo, drink a ton of water. If you get up to pee in the middle of the night, drink more water.
Also, have a big bowl or double-size mug bowl of strong miso soup. The high salt content will help hold the water in your body. You can buy miso paste (usually refrigerated, but some types are in packets on a shelf – don’t buy “instant” or things in a box, just get the paste) and add it to hot water, and that’s all you need to do. It tastes good as well.
The morning of chemo, have some more water and more miso soup. The more water you can get in you and the more salt, the better you’ll find that your veins hold up. When I started doing this (after that six-needle-sticks episode, which of course made me cry), I never had another problem.’
However, I bought the Clearspring Organic Miso Paste from Waitrose £2.35 for four sachets (only place I could find it!) and only drank one sachet the night before chemo and on the morning as I hadn’t read the advice about doubling up. I may double up for future attempts as my veins are shocking at the moment: sore, swollen and painful. I don’t know why the powder is sniffed at in the original post and so long as it’s got salt in it I would think that it would work as well.
As far as salt goes, I’ve tried the above mentioned Clearspring variety which has 14.33g of salt per 100g and, in my opinion, tastes vile. On the advice of others I’ve since bought the Itsu brand which tastes much better but has less salt (vegetarian miso 9.5g standard miso 10.4g salt per 100g).
I’ve used miso now for chemos 4 and 5 and it seems to have made a world of difference. I’ll definitely be doing it for my last one too.
B x
Suggest you look into a power point… It’s certainly taken away my blood phobia… For 3 years the nurse took blood and canulated on my right back hand…used to get very stressed…
Hi Avrelia…i had exactly the same problem and the nurse recommended a groshang line…procedure was a bit uncomfortable but have had no problems in 2 years. It does have to be cleaned and flshed weekly which is a bit of a drawback and swimming i tghink is an issue. maybe worth lookiong into??? xx