I donated blood for the second time yesterday. When he was inserting the needle it hurt really bad and I saw him readjust the needle. It was fine then. Then toward the end it started hurting really bad, and when he was removing it it hurt. I went to go and wait the 15 minutes and during that I got dizzy and nauseous( I have before) but it was really bad worse than I've ever had. I waited another 15 and left. I still felt nauseous and dizzy all afternoon. Then I took the bandage off after 4.5 hrs and I was still bleeding. I got it to stop in 10 minutes. I didn't think much of it but today my upper arm and around the site is sore and a bit swollen. It's bruised only a bit. I figure they might've burst a vein but I'm not sure. Could they have burst a vein. Do I need to be worried? Anything I need to do?
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Your worry is if somehow the technician caused a vein to explode or in some way be of real danger to you. No, this is not possible with what happened.
It is possible for a vein to collapse from constant trauma, but a single (bad) handling of the needle by the technician won't permanently damage your vein.
What happened is the tech who worked on you was incompetent, lazy, bored, or otherwise unable to properly insert the needle into the vein at a proper angle and without sheering. It sounds like the tech inserted the needle at too sharp/vertical angle initially, which likely went through the vein and aggravated surrounding nerve fibres -- which is definitely painful... then made an adjustment to get the needle into proper position for positive bloodflow as he was at the wrong angle. Then again, removed it improperly.. further your arm was already in a state of trauma from the initial poor insertion, so it was extra sensitive. I'm sorry you had to experience this incompetence, it is truly a shame.
As for your dizziness and nausea -- well this is due to the blood loss and perhaps a bit of psychosomatic reaction to the experience -- you can't help it, it is literally ingrained in your brain, especially after acute pain. If you've ever heard the phrase that pain can be sickening -- it's true,.. pain can and often does cause nausea and the vagus reaction is fainting.. which if teetering on the edge is dizziness.
It is possible for a vein to collapse from constant trauma, but a single (bad) handling of the needle by the technician won't permanently damage your vein.
What happened is the tech who worked on you was incompetent, lazy, bored, or otherwise unable to properly insert the needle into the vein at a proper angle and without sheering. It sounds like the tech inserted the needle at too sharp/vertical angle initially, which likely went through the vein and aggravated surrounding nerve fibres -- which is definitely painful... then made an adjustment to get the needle into proper position for positive bloodflow as he was at the wrong angle. Then again, removed it improperly.. further your arm was already in a state of trauma from the initial poor insertion, so it was extra sensitive. I'm sorry you had to experience this incompetence, it is truly a shame.
As for your dizziness and nausea -- well this is due to the blood loss and perhaps a bit of psychosomatic reaction to the experience -- you can't help it, it is literally ingrained in your brain, especially after acute pain. If you've ever heard the phrase that pain can be sickening -- it's true,.. pain can and often does cause nausea and the vagus reaction is fainting.. which if teetering on the edge is dizziness.
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