Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm at CCRM Tysons. The phlebotomist, Mark, is quite literally amazing. I have small veins and a history of trouble. After two rounds of egg retrievals and testing rounds (probably 16-20 draws?), I have only bruised twice. And he's very nice.
I echo above comments about drinking a ton of water beforehand. I try to just stay really hydrated during a stim cycle.
Good luck!

Aww thank you so much for this, I'm just about to start testing so haven't been in yet.

Mark is indeed fantastic. Best blood draw ever - got it first try which has literally never happened for me before, including during pregnancy.

I have one small rolling vein in my left arm that is the only way techs can draw blood. I have also been through 3 rounds of IVF and four FETs. Here is what I have learned over the last 5 years.

1. Drink water the night before, and chug as soon as you wake up in the morning. Yes you may have to pee at night, but it makes a huge difference.
2. Exercise your arms (strength training). This might sound like ridiculous advice for a mere blood draw, but if you've been through as many as I have, you'll try everything. I started doing small dumbbell weights with my Peloton workouts.
3. Right before your blood draw, do a few standing pushups in the bathroom, leaning on the sink/counter.
4. As you walk to the blood draw, swing your arms around in big circles. You *will* look like a crazy person, but the centrifugal force helps.
5. As you sit in the chair, gently press and massage your vein at the injection site.
6. Ask for a heat pad if you are cold.

This may sound extreme, but I am an extreme case. My first IVF, the techs had so much trouble with me that they were always messing up that vein and having to try to draw out of my hands or wrist, which was extremely painful and left me black and blue. Then I would go back the next day and they would jab those bruised locations again before (a couple times) giving up. Just staying hydrated wasn't enough for me. When I can manage to do most of these, they usually get my vein on the first try.

Additional info:
https://hemaware.org/mind-body/tips-and-tricks-accessing-problem-veins
https://www.ladyoflyme.com/blog/tips-for-a-good-blood-draw-small-and-difficult-veins

Pretty much daily past day 5 or 6 of the cycle. At SGF K St. I always had Alexis (I think) do my blood draws because I have bad veins, am prone to fainting and she's excellent at getting it one on the first try. After the 2nd cycle I got it down to where I chugged water as soon as I woke up and that was the key to avoiding multiple attempts (which was why I was fainting). On the flip side... getting an IV started after no fluids past midnight for an egg retrieval was pretty awful. During the last round the person doing it tried 5 times and didn't think she was going to get it started... i was covered in bruises and crying when it was over. But it's one time... I think the guy named Steve was better at it and got it started on the first try once.

Anonymous wrote:I'm at CCRM Tysons. The phlebotomist, Mark, is quite literally amazing. I have small veins and a history of trouble. After two rounds of egg retrievals and testing rounds (probably 16-20 draws?), I have only bruised twice. And he's very nice.
I echo above comments about drinking a ton of water beforehand. I try to just stay really hydrated during a stim cycle.
Good luck!

Aww thank you so much for this, I'm just about to start testing so haven't been in yet.

I'm at CCRM Tysons. The phlebotomist, Mark, is quite literally amazing. I have small veins and a history of trouble. After two rounds of egg retrievals and testing rounds (probably 16-20 draws?), I have only bruised twice. And he's very nice.
I echo above comments about drinking a ton of water beforehand. I try to just stay really hydrated during a stim cycle.
Good luck!

There was one time that they could not get a vein for me during monitoring, and I told them I needed a break. The plebotomist ended up talking to my doctor, who said we could skip the blood draw that day. (I was going in every day at that point in the cycle.) It’s not ideal, but good to know that they can skip a draw sometimes if they have to.

Also, one of the phlebotomists taught me to not carry my purse on the arm that they had just used for the draw. It bruises worse that way.

OP here. Aww crap. I have cysts as well. I'm going to CCRM in Tysons. I'm just going to think a lot of happy thoughts for cooperative veins. My legs are a pretty good bet so maybe we can always do it there.

Anonymous wrote:SGF - daily starting on day 4 of storms, up until retrieval. I have “good” veins, but I had so many blood draws during 5 rounds of IUI, an IVF, 3 FETs, and weekly monitoring of an ectopic that took months to fully resolve that I now have scarring on several veins in my arms.

Drink LOTS of water.

Stims, not storms...

SGF - daily starting on day 4 of storms, up until retrieval. I have “good” veins, but I had so many blood draws during 5 rounds of IUI, an IVF, 3 FETs, and weekly monitoring of an ectopic that took months to fully resolve that I now have scarring on several veins in my arms.

Drink LOTS of water.

It sucks. SGF - went every other day after the first appt (day 4 of stims). At the end, you have back to back monitoring - could be if you are a 10 day stim - day 4, 6, 8, 9, 10.

If you have a cyst (I did last time) you have monitoring even before stims - it was awful awful.

I have small deep veins that roll - drink water like a PP mentioned. Some of the MAs are better than others, but its the same as every where else. I've been stuck several times, had them use a needle to dig around, etc.

As pp stated, it's part of monitoring. For me, I ended up going in daily. I am a very hard stick. I have tiny veins that collapse and roll. Prior to monitoring I would drink 2-3 bottles of water.

Usually by day 4 or 5, I've run out of places to insert a needle. Both arms usually get bruised on day 1. Then they go for my hand and wrists. Eventually they looked to my legs for a vein. The nurses at the clinics are no better then anyone else. The only good is that if you have to repeat the process, they will remember you.

During one monitoring cycle, the nurse just could not find a place to draw from. The anesthesiologist happened to be walking into work--coffee in hand. The nurse stopped him as he was passing by and asked him to do my blood draw. Now, he was good!

As a cancer PT with numerous draws, I have to echo the pp: be really hydrated. Also stay warm, and you can ask for a hot wet towel to be applied to your arm first. It helps a lot.

It was constant at Dominion. I have easy veins and was still black and blue but I got used to it. Definitely stay hydrated!

You will get a blood draw every time you go in for monitoring and that kind of varies depending on how you respond. I’ve been to SGF and GW and SGF seems to like to bring you in a lot more often and everyday close to trigger. GW was more lax. In any case, I have difficult veins but I have one vein that is pretty reliable if I’m well hydrated so I basically drank a ton of water before coming in and always gave the same vein. It sucked and was probably the worst part of the process tbh. Definitely warn them you have difficult veins so they can give you whoever is best at doing the sticks. Good luck!

Can anyone tell me about blood draws prior to egg retrieval? How often are they? I know its often but not sure if that means every day, every other day, every 2 days, etc. Also does anyone here have particularly difficult veins? Its not uncommon for me to need 3-4 attempts to find a vein. This is true at multiple doctors offices, in the hospital, and at places like LabCorp. Is this going to really suck? Are the nurses at clinics just way better at blood draws than everybody else?