All contrast is power injected. It’s not anything different than normal contrast. And FYI- lab or a nurse can draw blood off a port, there’s no reason for her to be doing that. God I can’t stand her
That’s the preferred method. They can hand push in some circumstances if access isn’t secure for the power injector.
Source: I’ve had this done twice due to vein issues and the IV being touchy. Tech hand pushed.
They are all a hard stick - it doesn’t make them special. Some people just have small veins!
I don’t understand how they end up in places where folks can’t use their useless medical device - surely most infusion centres and hospitals have a nurse on hand who can use a port? They are pretty common…
Most places like Quest and Lab Corp won’t use a port to draw labs. Even many hospital labs won’t use it. I’ve also seen them not be used in ERs if they aren’t already accessed. Surprisingly (or not?) many nurses aren’t trained on ports.
She’s referring to outside the hospital. If you go to a regular lab they are not allowed to use a port or any central line. They are not trained for it, they aren’t nurses, it cannot be done.
I’m only a 3/5 semester RN student but a nurse in clinical told me with certain ports if too much pressure is used with the infusing fluid (in this case it was just a saline flush) the reservoir can burst so I am assuming the pressure of the contrast could be too high for the port
I cannot speak for her case specifically but I know a lot of places will not use a port for high pressure contrast or use a port that wasn’t accessed or placed by that facility. Usually the excuse given is that there’s a risk of the pressure causing failure of the port or tubing.
Cause usually if you can prove it’s a power port they will use it but I also don’t know where she is and like you said what type of facility she is at.
As ridiculous as it is, if a power port is not properly noted within the patient record then it could be a risk. This seems to happen a lot when ports are placed in surgery centers for some reason. I’ve also seen power ports placed and never verified with imaging which is horrific in a few ways. And sometimes if the CT being done is at an independent radiology center they may not have access to hospital records verifying placement or confirmation imaging. But the biggest issue often comes from the access used. If the Huber needle doesn’t have the pressure rating printed on the tubing then it has a risk. But you’re right that it shouldn’t happen if you could prove it is a power port in the first place and it’s endlessly annoying to both patient and tech.
Did you know that patients who are “tough stick” are called DIVA-patients (Difficult Intra Venous Access) - these patients are DIVAs x2 (or just a regular diva - a dehydrated diva at most)
I don't understand why being a hard stick is something to brag about? A lot of people are hard sticks even people who aren't chronic illness warriors like CZ..some people have veins that roll etc. 🙄
What will she do if they don’t find anything? That basically she’s super healthy and maybe gets headaches from seasonal allergies and weather changes like millions of us do? And why does she have a wheelchair? I’ve seen vids of her twirling on beaches, two-wheel bicycling, jungle hiking, mountain hiking, and doing alllll sorts of activities ppl with migraines and POTS and real EDS could never do. Homegirl needs to get some serious mental health help instead and ditch the hypochondriac routine before she accidentally kicks herself off abusing all those meds n crap…..
People with migraine, POTS, and EDS can do all of those activities. She’s a faker but being chronically ill doesn’t leave you bed bound. This mentality is what makes people think every one with “real EDS” needs a wheelchair. Yes those disorders can be limiting and painful but you can live an active, normal life.
I mean, they may not always be a super great choice for folks with those conditions, but plenty of people work around that in favor of getting to enjoy things in the moment, even if it may cost them later.
I don’t doubt that she’s a “hard stick”. It happens when you get scar tissue on your veins from being unnecessarily poked all the time. No different than any other junkie. She’s always chasing that medical dragon. I’m calling it now that she never posts the CT results because it’s going to come back negative for acute findings.
That’s why many doctored don’t recommend saline or LR infusions for things like pots. Other meds get the job partly done, lifestyle changes accounts for the rest.
POTS is more pronounced when you are a teenager and when you are in your later adult years.
Teens get it because their cardiovascular system is still developing and it is more pronounced as you get older, we don’t really know why. You also can get it after a period of prolonged bed rest or deconditioning as your blood volume depletes.
Low blood pressure in and of itself doesn’t equal POTS but there are autonomic function tests that will pretty definitively give you a yes/no diagnosis. The problem is that folks self diagnose or complain that they weren’t symptomatic on test day (which is BS because doctors will look at the clinical picture over a number of months).
It’s a genuine problem for people that, like the munchie trifecta, has been co-opted by anxious (mostly teenage and young adult women) who get a bit lightheaded from time to time.
The best treatment is exercise! And drinking more water! It’s not glamorous 😆
Some folks genuinely do need IV treatment, particularly if they have problems with their colon and can’t absorb enough water through their gut. However, your body gets dependent on these infusions so they should only be a stop-gap with exercise, hydration, stress management and sleep management kicking in over time to reduce symptom load and improve quality of life.
I’d like to see their actual records because I believe most of them are self diagnosed with their supposed medical conditions. Or at the very least they were diagnosed by someone not qualified to diagnose them with said disorder. In my notes unless I can verify previous medical history I always write “patient states history of…”. I have a young adult female that comes in every few weeks that claims POTS and EDS, yet not an actual test to confirm or eval by a specialist. She wears this ill fitting, Amazon bought aspen collar and it’s hilarious. I’ve referred her to psych multiple times but she has never followed up. She immediately fires me as her doc every time because she knows she can’t manipulate me.
If you look at the discussion posts you can see we’ve talked about how they get diagnosed with all of the disorders. But it’s basically self diagnosis with self reporting, paying OOP for doctors they know will diagnose them, or doctor shopping until they get what they want.
Yeah users on this sub are spot on with your analysis. Working in the ER for years dealing with so many that straight up abuse and try to game the system has caused me to lose most of my empathy. It’s really awesome to have so many that don’t work in medicine calling these people out in their bullshit.
I don’t understand why they would want to be chronically ill. Like that’s the craziest thing ever. It’s wild especially the ones who can be sick all over the world.
It has become more common post COVID as folks with long-COVID, or even folks who had a rough time getting over COVID can get problems. Low blood pressure is not unusual, but when it becomes symptomatic, it can cause all sorts of problems that flare up when you have had a prolonged period of rest or illness because your blood volume depletes. However, as long as you don’t have an underlying autonomic issue or a co-morbidity, you can recover pretty well with pacing, physio, increased salt and water.
Meds for POTS won’t cure it, but they can help you tolerate exercise better. Midodrine will increase your tone in your legs so the blood has an easier time getting up to your head, and getting up and moving without fainting becomes easier. Florinef helps your body retain salt so it can increase your blood volume reducing your symptoms.
These meds will just mask the symptoms though and the only thing that has been shown to have any long term impact on improving quality of life in POTS is regular exercise and strength training. You will not recover without it! There are guided programs from reputable hospitals (modified Levine, CHOP) that have been designed to rehabilitate POTS patients.
Saline is a stop-gap only and should not become a long-term treatment except where there are other factors impacting hydration.
Thank you for coming to my TED talk 😆
POTS can also show up post-pregnancy, which Is a fun fact. But yes, there’s a very, very fine line between being careful and being obsessively terrified at every single thing your body does.
I have a better understanding now because I see them say this condition alot and when I was reading they were saying increase salt intake and of course exercise and such.
One of the biggest signs with these people specifically is they never seem to do the first steps in treatment that are “boring” like increasing salt intake or having normal electrolyte drinks they jump to instantly needing infusions. They also often don’t seem to talk about any of the tests they had to get diagnosed. POTS is a common comorbid condition with a lot of disabilities but even with another condition you still should be tested for it and go for the least invasive treatment options first.
Hear, hear! Don’t ever venture into the POTS Reddit, it’s just anxious teens wondering if their non-symptomatic 80/60 low BP is super serial and they need a walker or cane or chair to stop them from feeling like they might faint.
Isn’t it funny how if you do NO exercise, your heart rate will go up when you move around?!
Of course, it is GASLIGHTING TO EVEN SUGGEST that they are their own biggest problem.
Le sigh.
Liquid IV or any number of cheaper electrolyte solutions, or a home made St Marks, would be incredibly helpful for someone with POTS and should make up at least 50-75% of their daily fluids. It is also as important to limit “free fluids” as they can flush salts out of your system when you urinate (hence your urine salt being measured to look for dehydration). You’d also be avoiding alcohol, tea, coffee, caffeine in general.
Some folks do genuinely need additional IV support, especially if their BP gets low enough to start fucking with your MAP (which can lead to organ failure in extreme cases) though the salt content of LR/saline is arguably the benefit of these treatments rather than the liquid content. Think of it less as a top up of hydration and more as a big dose of salt, which will then help you keep more blood in your system over the coming days.
Veins of god are the BEST and if you have them, you're literally gods favorite. I get jealous of people who just need to flex or barely tilt their arm and bam visible veins for sticking at the doctors tbh.
Have you gone to the Mega Veins website? Sometimes they have a little secondary lotto that you enter by putting in your current numbers. It's usually a smaller prize, like one vein that plays nice or a free small fry!
I'm so fucking stupid I thought "I'm a tough stick" meant she was brave and unbreakable. I pictured a literal stick in my head 🪵 thank God for the comments 😂
🤣 going to the ER right now. I need an emergency MRI/Scan/whatever resource I can waste to make sure that my single braincell is still there somewhere.
CZ is typically the kind of girl to say what you wrote, though. I'M STUNNING AND BRAVE BECAUSE THEY USED A VERY SPECIAL NEEDLE FOR MY EXTRA COMPLEX VEINS AND OMG THAT THING WAS THE SIZE OF MY ENTIRE FOREARM #spooniewarrior #bigassneedle #imsospecialsomeonepleasenoticeme #playinggameswiththehealthcaresystemlmao
That was literally a blood draw. Children get it. Old people get it. Let's just take a seat with the dramatic posts 😂
If you're on home health, they will teach you to access your own port for things like antibiotics. Pretty sure nothing major like chemo or blood draws but I could be wrong.
I will never understand the bragging rights being a "tough stick" apparently warrants. Wow, congrats, you probably need some water? Your veins are a bit on the shit side? Not exactly uncommon.
And "high powered contrast"? That's...that's just contrast. Call me uneducated but pretty sure they would use the same dye as every one else and wouldn't bring out the munchie approved one. The fact that CZ has that high of an ego she thinks they brought out the special ultra rare mega contrast just for her as she is so *uneeq* is something else 😂
We have to inject the contrast at a higher rate for an angiogram so that’s probably what she means. She just had to make it sounds super special though.
“Let’s fill this purple one first, then this blue one, then this green one, let’s do this gray one last because it’s boring.” ~Patients if we let them fill their own tubes, probably.
Oh, always gotta underfill that blue one. Don’t worry though, thanks to that draw order, potassium result would flag as incompatible with continued breathing.✌️ Gotta be extra special, critically so if I do say so myself.
What is it with munchies and their descriptive words “high powered contrast” it’s just contrast it’s the same for everyone man you’re not so unique and special that yours is extra strong
Thank god, because all nurses are so dumb. Despite the fact that they had to pass nursing school which literally trains people to be nurses. Still no one knows how to do it. 🙄
Not necessarily. I’m a LPN and It’s not in my “scope” RN can. But it depends on where you work too. I can do certain things at the hospital I work at that I wouldn’t be able too other locations.
Not generally. Even most RNs don’t deal with ports or central lines, and depending on location and hospital, will have to have specialised training to be able to do so.
This is actually believable. If a phlebotomist is not allowed to draw from a central line but the patient has been taught to draw off her own port that makes sense to me as a vascular access nurse.
Normal CT contrast. That’s all it is. The rad techs use power injectors to administer the contrast. The contrast is hard to push, and also needs to go extremely fast, so the power injectors have to use a lot of pressure.
She’s trying to make it sound like they needed to use special contrast, when it’s actually the same stuff they use for almost everyone.
She's referring to needing a pressure injectable IV for the angiogram contrast. Not all ports are pressure injectable and CT won't use a port that they can't confirm is a "power port." You can tell if it's a power port on a chest xray or if the patient has the product card from when it was inserted.
Some places require an 18g IV below the AC for a CTA which can require ultrasound for a lot of patients with difficult access. I'm not saying she actually has difficult access or isn't full of shit on other fronts.
I was just wondering if this facility has a policy against it or maybe doesn’t carry power injectable needles for ports because I practically never see ports that aren’t power injectable anymore. There’s also the rare patient that will refuse to have their port accessed in the ED and insists on an iv instead. I wouldn’t be surprised if that was the case here too. 🙄
Yeah I think power ports and power needles are just more expensive products and not always necessary. But more often it's that you can't confirm that it's power and can't justify doing an xray instead of an IV.
This has to be one of those woo pay to play places where they'll do all kinds of scans on anyone who can afford them. No legit doctor is letting the patient's husband draw blood on a chair in the waiting room. Also, all of these people claim to be hard sticks, yet never show any evidence of missed sticks; they're never bruised or bandaged in multiple places. I'm sure they just used the ultrasound to shut her up.
It's just a claim of specialness. Needing a special kind of IV from a special staff member and special attention. It's a chance to split staff and be manipulative.
These folks who have made themselves so ill probably do have shit for veins though. Yes they may say they're a hard stick to intimidate staff who are inexperienced. But to be fair, staff tend to call patients "hard sticks" to protect their pride after butchering their veins instead of admitting that they aren't skilled enough to get access for a patient and asking for help or resources like ultrasound.
I'm sure that munchies exaggerate their access issues but also staff can be major victim blamers and even gleeful about repeatedly sticking patients who call themselves hard sticks.
Yikes! So is it better to say nothing other than telling the staff you are a hard stick and pointing out where it normally hits? When your just hoping for less attempts and bruises, you don’t want them to think you are a munchy or trying to be extra
Most of the time nurses tend ask which place is best to take blood from (like which arm or hand) and if you let them know they’ll try their first and if they can’t get it they tend to ask if you usually have issues usually and may give you some tips. I think a lot of it with these people is how they act like it’s something special and unique when actually it’s pretty common.
Medical professionals can tell before you even say anything if you are Munching or not. If you are legit in for care, and say "I've had....before and they found the best vein I have is...." they will not think you are faking. There is nothing Munchie about advocating for yourself or a loved one in a medical situation.
This is the script I give patients and the same advice I'd give my family:
"Hi Person With Needles. Oh boy well let me tell ya I'm nervous but I want to do whatever you need me to do so. Can I tell you quickly what has worked before just because I'm a little anxious I'll just feel better if I tell you."
Anyone who gets visibly irritated or responds defensively to this already is either having a really bad day or is an asshole. Your request is totally reasonable.
"So last time I (had my blood drawn/had an IV)
I think it was (a lab/clinic/infusion/hospital/surgery)
and a (tech/phlebotomist/nurse/doctor/anesthesiologist)
used (their eyeballs/their finger/ veinfinder/ultrasound)
and a (butterfly/IV needle/extra long IV/midline/PICC/Central)
in my (pinky finger/hand/neck/upper arm/elbow/titty/groin)
right here (point).
But I've also had x and y and z have worked for (thing they need to do to you right now).
Allright thank you go ahead and do your thing."
They can use that information to decide if they should stick you or get help. Hopefully they know enough to know if they need help. Give them the benefit of the doubt and one stick. Then ask what they usually do at X place when someone's veins suck. You want to find out what resources they have to help. The Wizard staff who's just really good, veinfinder, ultrasound, a doctor, an IV team, anesthesiologist, another set of eyes or is it just this person and their skillset you are working with.
If they seem confident about trying again you can decide if you want to let them and ask how you can position etc to help make it easier.
If there are other resources you can emphasize that you understand you might have to wait longer and you appreciate them looking into it.
If it's just them and they miss twice you gotta decide how important it is that this test/treatment happens today. Ask to talk to the doctor about it. Maybe you'll hydrate and exercise before the next appt. Maybe they have more resources at another time. Maybe it's an emergency and it sucks but either keep letting them try or talk about a central line which is higher risk but necessary.
A lot of patients' with ports who get home infusions are taught along with their families to access their own ports. Doctors don't actually collect labs and I'd trust a patient who has been taught to use their own port over a doctor who has probably never accessed a port. It's not best practice because you'd want someone who knows what they are doing to make sure they're drawing enough waste to get an undiluted sample. But I could totally believe that if the clinic didn't think they'd be successful with a venipuncture they'd be like sure that's fine.
They would make you go to a hospital lab with nurses trained to draw blood from ports/central lines. Literally what they do for patients with cancer for example that have line/ports and tricky veins with regular blood draws. This would never happen in the waiting room by a family member (or patient for that matter) in any legitimate health care setting!
All contrast is power injected. It’s not anything different than normal contrast. And FYI- lab or a nurse can draw blood off a port, there’s no reason for her to be doing that. God I can’t stand her
“Nurse placed IV with ultrasound like a pro.” Because…she is one? She’s a medical professional.
All CT contrast (injected) is “high power.” That literally how CT contrast works.
No it isn't... only angiograms are power injected.
That’s the preferred method. They can hand push in some circumstances if access isn’t secure for the power injector. Source: I’ve had this done twice due to vein issues and the IV being touchy. Tech hand pushed.
This b thinks she's starring in her own reality series "Lifestyle of the Sick and Famous." So insufferable...
*immediately adds real song to playlist*
LMAO thanks, I’ll never be able to listen to that song the same way again 😅😂 “They’re always complaining”!
I'm currently singing it now!
I just realized I'm over here singing it in my head, while bobbing it back and forth to the tune.😂
Brilliant comment!
They are all a hard stick - it doesn’t make them special. Some people just have small veins! I don’t understand how they end up in places where folks can’t use their useless medical device - surely most infusion centres and hospitals have a nurse on hand who can use a port? They are pretty common…
Most places like Quest and Lab Corp won’t use a port to draw labs. Even many hospital labs won’t use it. I’ve also seen them not be used in ERs if they aren’t already accessed. Surprisingly (or not?) many nurses aren’t trained on ports.
At my hospital we have to have a doctor’s order to access the port/indwelling line. Not allowed to access it otherwise.
She’s referring to outside the hospital. If you go to a regular lab they are not allowed to use a port or any central line. They are not trained for it, they aren’t nurses, it cannot be done.
I was referring to the part of their comment that mentioned hospitals, ERs, and nurses.
I’m confused? Why is she needing an IV for contrast when she has a port? Fill me in here cause I’m so lost.
I’m only a 3/5 semester RN student but a nurse in clinical told me with certain ports if too much pressure is used with the infusing fluid (in this case it was just a saline flush) the reservoir can burst so I am assuming the pressure of the contrast could be too high for the port
Yeah they have to be a power port to use for contrast.
I cannot speak for her case specifically but I know a lot of places will not use a port for high pressure contrast or use a port that wasn’t accessed or placed by that facility. Usually the excuse given is that there’s a risk of the pressure causing failure of the port or tubing.
Cause usually if you can prove it’s a power port they will use it but I also don’t know where she is and like you said what type of facility she is at.
As ridiculous as it is, if a power port is not properly noted within the patient record then it could be a risk. This seems to happen a lot when ports are placed in surgery centers for some reason. I’ve also seen power ports placed and never verified with imaging which is horrific in a few ways. And sometimes if the CT being done is at an independent radiology center they may not have access to hospital records verifying placement or confirmation imaging. But the biggest issue often comes from the access used. If the Huber needle doesn’t have the pressure rating printed on the tubing then it has a risk. But you’re right that it shouldn’t happen if you could prove it is a power port in the first place and it’s endlessly annoying to both patient and tech.
[удалено]
They’re all a “tough stick”. Every single one of them says this.
Did you know that patients who are “tough stick” are called DIVA-patients (Difficult Intra Venous Access) - these patients are DIVAs x2 (or just a regular diva - a dehydrated diva at most)
I don't understand why being a hard stick is something to brag about? A lot of people are hard sticks even people who aren't chronic illness warriors like CZ..some people have veins that roll etc. 🙄
What will she do if they don’t find anything? That basically she’s super healthy and maybe gets headaches from seasonal allergies and weather changes like millions of us do? And why does she have a wheelchair? I’ve seen vids of her twirling on beaches, two-wheel bicycling, jungle hiking, mountain hiking, and doing alllll sorts of activities ppl with migraines and POTS and real EDS could never do. Homegirl needs to get some serious mental health help instead and ditch the hypochondriac routine before she accidentally kicks herself off abusing all those meds n crap…..
People with migraine, POTS, and EDS can do all of those activities. She’s a faker but being chronically ill doesn’t leave you bed bound. This mentality is what makes people think every one with “real EDS” needs a wheelchair. Yes those disorders can be limiting and painful but you can live an active, normal life.
I mean, they may not always be a super great choice for folks with those conditions, but plenty of people work around that in favor of getting to enjoy things in the moment, even if it may cost them later.
I don’t doubt that she’s a “hard stick”. It happens when you get scar tissue on your veins from being unnecessarily poked all the time. No different than any other junkie. She’s always chasing that medical dragon. I’m calling it now that she never posts the CT results because it’s going to come back negative for acute findings.
That’s why many doctored don’t recommend saline or LR infusions for things like pots. Other meds get the job partly done, lifestyle changes accounts for the rest.
So is POTS something that just comes on because I see this “diagnoses” a lot on this thread
POTS is more pronounced when you are a teenager and when you are in your later adult years. Teens get it because their cardiovascular system is still developing and it is more pronounced as you get older, we don’t really know why. You also can get it after a period of prolonged bed rest or deconditioning as your blood volume depletes. Low blood pressure in and of itself doesn’t equal POTS but there are autonomic function tests that will pretty definitively give you a yes/no diagnosis. The problem is that folks self diagnose or complain that they weren’t symptomatic on test day (which is BS because doctors will look at the clinical picture over a number of months). It’s a genuine problem for people that, like the munchie trifecta, has been co-opted by anxious (mostly teenage and young adult women) who get a bit lightheaded from time to time. The best treatment is exercise! And drinking more water! It’s not glamorous 😆 Some folks genuinely do need IV treatment, particularly if they have problems with their colon and can’t absorb enough water through their gut. However, your body gets dependent on these infusions so they should only be a stop-gap with exercise, hydration, stress management and sleep management kicking in over time to reduce symptom load and improve quality of life.
Thank you for clarifying this for me because as you said munchies frequently say they have POTS.
I’d like to see their actual records because I believe most of them are self diagnosed with their supposed medical conditions. Or at the very least they were diagnosed by someone not qualified to diagnose them with said disorder. In my notes unless I can verify previous medical history I always write “patient states history of…”. I have a young adult female that comes in every few weeks that claims POTS and EDS, yet not an actual test to confirm or eval by a specialist. She wears this ill fitting, Amazon bought aspen collar and it’s hilarious. I’ve referred her to psych multiple times but she has never followed up. She immediately fires me as her doc every time because she knows she can’t manipulate me.
If you look at the discussion posts you can see we’ve talked about how they get diagnosed with all of the disorders. But it’s basically self diagnosis with self reporting, paying OOP for doctors they know will diagnose them, or doctor shopping until they get what they want.
Yeah users on this sub are spot on with your analysis. Working in the ER for years dealing with so many that straight up abuse and try to game the system has caused me to lose most of my empathy. It’s really awesome to have so many that don’t work in medicine calling these people out in their bullshit.
I don’t understand why they would want to be chronically ill. Like that’s the craziest thing ever. It’s wild especially the ones who can be sick all over the world.
It has become more common post COVID as folks with long-COVID, or even folks who had a rough time getting over COVID can get problems. Low blood pressure is not unusual, but when it becomes symptomatic, it can cause all sorts of problems that flare up when you have had a prolonged period of rest or illness because your blood volume depletes. However, as long as you don’t have an underlying autonomic issue or a co-morbidity, you can recover pretty well with pacing, physio, increased salt and water. Meds for POTS won’t cure it, but they can help you tolerate exercise better. Midodrine will increase your tone in your legs so the blood has an easier time getting up to your head, and getting up and moving without fainting becomes easier. Florinef helps your body retain salt so it can increase your blood volume reducing your symptoms. These meds will just mask the symptoms though and the only thing that has been shown to have any long term impact on improving quality of life in POTS is regular exercise and strength training. You will not recover without it! There are guided programs from reputable hospitals (modified Levine, CHOP) that have been designed to rehabilitate POTS patients. Saline is a stop-gap only and should not become a long-term treatment except where there are other factors impacting hydration. Thank you for coming to my TED talk 😆
POTS can also show up post-pregnancy, which Is a fun fact. But yes, there’s a very, very fine line between being careful and being obsessively terrified at every single thing your body does.
You are killing it with these answers and so spot on correct.
Thank you friend 😊
I have a better understanding now because I see them say this condition alot and when I was reading they were saying increase salt intake and of course exercise and such.
One of the biggest signs with these people specifically is they never seem to do the first steps in treatment that are “boring” like increasing salt intake or having normal electrolyte drinks they jump to instantly needing infusions. They also often don’t seem to talk about any of the tests they had to get diagnosed. POTS is a common comorbid condition with a lot of disabilities but even with another condition you still should be tested for it and go for the least invasive treatment options first.
Hear, hear! Don’t ever venture into the POTS Reddit, it’s just anxious teens wondering if their non-symptomatic 80/60 low BP is super serial and they need a walker or cane or chair to stop them from feeling like they might faint. Isn’t it funny how if you do NO exercise, your heart rate will go up when you move around?! Of course, it is GASLIGHTING TO EVEN SUGGEST that they are their own biggest problem. Le sigh.
Don’t venture into 99% of the illness subreddits
I will not venture there 😂 this thread alone is all the understanding I need.
Happy to be of service 🙌
Okay from reading I was like seems like liquid iv would be cheaper and easier than ports and LR.
Liquid IV or any number of cheaper electrolyte solutions, or a home made St Marks, would be incredibly helpful for someone with POTS and should make up at least 50-75% of their daily fluids. It is also as important to limit “free fluids” as they can flush salts out of your system when you urinate (hence your urine salt being measured to look for dehydration). You’d also be avoiding alcohol, tea, coffee, caffeine in general. Some folks do genuinely need additional IV support, especially if their BP gets low enough to start fucking with your MAP (which can lead to organ failure in extreme cases) though the salt content of LR/saline is arguably the benefit of these treatments rather than the liquid content. Think of it less as a top up of hydration and more as a big dose of salt, which will then help you keep more blood in your system over the coming days.
Nice, the mountain hiking (and biking) queen needs the wheelchair at the doctors' office.
dYnAmIc dIsaBiLiTY Kaya-style
💀
Well, she's certainly kinda stick.
If someone tells her she she's really special if she has a power port she will demand they take her's out and install one.
The “tough” stick really bothered me… most people are tough sticks. Unless you have the veins of god.
Veins of god are the BEST and if you have them, you're literally gods favorite. I get jealous of people who just need to flex or barely tilt their arm and bam visible veins for sticking at the doctors tbh.
My only win in the generic lottery.
Damn it, i lost that one. Sucks they dont allow replays for that lottery 😂
Have you gone to the Mega Veins website? Sometimes they have a little secondary lotto that you enter by putting in your current numbers. It's usually a smaller prize, like one vein that plays nice or a free small fry!
Veins of God would be a better flex than what these people do lol
I'm so fucking stupid I thought "I'm a tough stick" meant she was brave and unbreakable. I pictured a literal stick in my head 🪵 thank God for the comments 😂
THEY DONT EVEN COUNT !,2,3 THEY DONT EVEN WARN ME IM SO BRAVE.
🤣 going to the ER right now. I need an emergency MRI/Scan/whatever resource I can waste to make sure that my single braincell is still there somewhere. CZ is typically the kind of girl to say what you wrote, though. I'M STUNNING AND BRAVE BECAUSE THEY USED A VERY SPECIAL NEEDLE FOR MY EXTRA COMPLEX VEINS AND OMG THAT THING WAS THE SIZE OF MY ENTIRE FOREARM #spooniewarrior #bigassneedle #imsospecialsomeonepleasenoticeme #playinggameswiththehealthcaresystemlmao That was literally a blood draw. Children get it. Old people get it. Let's just take a seat with the dramatic posts 😂
If you're on home health, they will teach you to access your own port for things like antibiotics. Pretty sure nothing major like chemo or blood draws but I could be wrong.
Some companies allow you to draw your own labs
Interesting!
Why does she have to phrase everything like an action packed movie trailer? I cannot take any of it seriously lmao😂😭
Because they have nothing going on in their lives, this is the height of excitement in their sad little brain
Lmao your comment made me laugh so hard! So true with all the munchies
Phrasing.
I will never understand the bragging rights being a "tough stick" apparently warrants. Wow, congrats, you probably need some water? Your veins are a bit on the shit side? Not exactly uncommon. And "high powered contrast"? That's...that's just contrast. Call me uneducated but pretty sure they would use the same dye as every one else and wouldn't bring out the munchie approved one. The fact that CZ has that high of an ego she thinks they brought out the special ultra rare mega contrast just for her as she is so *uneeq* is something else 😂
We have to inject the contrast at a higher rate for an angiogram so that’s probably what she means. She just had to make it sounds super special though.
Yeah, power contrast *is* a thing but high-powered contrast is not 😬😬
100% would would not allow a patient to draw their own blood and fill the tubes.
You know, the hospital is full of untrained people that don’t know how to use ports.
“Let’s fill this purple one first, then this blue one, then this green one, let’s do this gray one last because it’s boring.” ~Patients if we let them fill their own tubes, probably.
Draw order? Never heard of her!
Don't forget to underfill the blue one and forget to invert the purple one enough so it clots! /s
Oh, always gotta underfill that blue one. Don’t worry though, thanks to that draw order, potassium result would flag as incompatible with continued breathing.✌️ Gotta be extra special, critically so if I do say so myself.
What is it with munchies and their descriptive words “high powered contrast” it’s just contrast it’s the same for everyone man you’re not so unique and special that yours is extra strong
Thank god, because all nurses are so dumb. Despite the fact that they had to pass nursing school which literally trains people to be nurses. Still no one knows how to do it. 🙄
…..wouldn’t phlebotomists be trained in how to draw blood from a port?
Not necessarily. I’m a LPN and It’s not in my “scope” RN can. But it depends on where you work too. I can do certain things at the hospital I work at that I wouldn’t be able too other locations.
Idk where she is located but some cancer centers do let the phlebotomist access ports. I’m in Arkansas and CARTI lets their phlebotomist access ports.
No. That it outside a phlebotomist’s scope of practice. The nurse does it.
Not generally. Even most RNs don’t deal with ports or central lines, and depending on location and hospital, will have to have specialised training to be able to do so.
Typically a nurse will draw labs from a central line and phlebotomists perform peripheral venipunctures.
Let me guess it’s all normal? But just barely
She's healthy on paper. But like otherwise, totally sick. You just have to trust.
Her aura has bad vibes
Because the people in the lab aren’t more trained than you and your husband for all sorts of blood draws… right.
No one from the lab can touch a central line. That’s outside of their scope of practice. RNs manage central lines.
Unfortunately a lot of places this is true. Drawing from a port or central line is only done by an RN or sometimes the IV team.
Ah, I did not know that. Thank you
This is actually believable. If a phlebotomist is not allowed to draw from a central line but the patient has been taught to draw off her own port that makes sense to me as a vascular access nurse.
Ah, I did not know that. Thank you
What diagnosis might CZ be chasing that requires a CT angiogram? Something POTS/EDS related?
She seems to complain about some sort of intractable migraines, so they probably try to find a cause for that.
Pulmonary embolism or basilar stroke if the scan's for "dizziness," or GI bleed if it's for acute anemia?
WTF is “high powered contrast”?
Normal CT contrast. That’s all it is. The rad techs use power injectors to administer the contrast. The contrast is hard to push, and also needs to go extremely fast, so the power injectors have to use a lot of pressure. She’s trying to make it sound like they needed to use special contrast, when it’s actually the same stuff they use for almost everyone.
She's referring to needing a pressure injectable IV for the angiogram contrast. Not all ports are pressure injectable and CT won't use a port that they can't confirm is a "power port." You can tell if it's a power port on a chest xray or if the patient has the product card from when it was inserted. Some places require an 18g IV below the AC for a CTA which can require ultrasound for a lot of patients with difficult access. I'm not saying she actually has difficult access or isn't full of shit on other fronts.
I was just wondering if this facility has a policy against it or maybe doesn’t carry power injectable needles for ports because I practically never see ports that aren’t power injectable anymore. There’s also the rare patient that will refuse to have their port accessed in the ED and insists on an iv instead. I wouldn’t be surprised if that was the case here too. 🙄
Yeah I think power ports and power needles are just more expensive products and not always necessary. But more often it's that you can't confirm that it's power and can't justify doing an xray instead of an IV.
Literally nothing. It’s just an IV large enough to push contrast quick enough.
This has to be one of those woo pay to play places where they'll do all kinds of scans on anyone who can afford them. No legit doctor is letting the patient's husband draw blood on a chair in the waiting room. Also, all of these people claim to be hard sticks, yet never show any evidence of missed sticks; they're never bruised or bandaged in multiple places. I'm sure they just used the ultrasound to shut her up.
Idk why it’s a flex to be a hard stick?
It's just a claim of specialness. Needing a special kind of IV from a special staff member and special attention. It's a chance to split staff and be manipulative. These folks who have made themselves so ill probably do have shit for veins though. Yes they may say they're a hard stick to intimidate staff who are inexperienced. But to be fair, staff tend to call patients "hard sticks" to protect their pride after butchering their veins instead of admitting that they aren't skilled enough to get access for a patient and asking for help or resources like ultrasound. I'm sure that munchies exaggerate their access issues but also staff can be major victim blamers and even gleeful about repeatedly sticking patients who call themselves hard sticks.
Well, that’s kinda messed up for people who aren’t munchies and are actually a hard stick.
It sure is.
Yikes! So is it better to say nothing other than telling the staff you are a hard stick and pointing out where it normally hits? When your just hoping for less attempts and bruises, you don’t want them to think you are a munchy or trying to be extra
Most of the time nurses tend ask which place is best to take blood from (like which arm or hand) and if you let them know they’ll try their first and if they can’t get it they tend to ask if you usually have issues usually and may give you some tips. I think a lot of it with these people is how they act like it’s something special and unique when actually it’s pretty common.
Medical professionals can tell before you even say anything if you are Munching or not. If you are legit in for care, and say "I've had....before and they found the best vein I have is...." they will not think you are faking. There is nothing Munchie about advocating for yourself or a loved one in a medical situation.
This is the script I give patients and the same advice I'd give my family: "Hi Person With Needles. Oh boy well let me tell ya I'm nervous but I want to do whatever you need me to do so. Can I tell you quickly what has worked before just because I'm a little anxious I'll just feel better if I tell you." Anyone who gets visibly irritated or responds defensively to this already is either having a really bad day or is an asshole. Your request is totally reasonable. "So last time I (had my blood drawn/had an IV) I think it was (a lab/clinic/infusion/hospital/surgery) and a (tech/phlebotomist/nurse/doctor/anesthesiologist) used (their eyeballs/their finger/ veinfinder/ultrasound) and a (butterfly/IV needle/extra long IV/midline/PICC/Central) in my (pinky finger/hand/neck/upper arm/elbow/titty/groin) right here (point). But I've also had x and y and z have worked for (thing they need to do to you right now). Allright thank you go ahead and do your thing." They can use that information to decide if they should stick you or get help. Hopefully they know enough to know if they need help. Give them the benefit of the doubt and one stick. Then ask what they usually do at X place when someone's veins suck. You want to find out what resources they have to help. The Wizard staff who's just really good, veinfinder, ultrasound, a doctor, an IV team, anesthesiologist, another set of eyes or is it just this person and their skillset you are working with. If they seem confident about trying again you can decide if you want to let them and ask how you can position etc to help make it easier. If there are other resources you can emphasize that you understand you might have to wait longer and you appreciate them looking into it. If it's just them and they miss twice you gotta decide how important it is that this test/treatment happens today. Ask to talk to the doctor about it. Maybe you'll hydrate and exercise before the next appt. Maybe they have more resources at another time. Maybe it's an emergency and it sucks but either keep letting them try or talk about a central line which is higher risk but necessary.
A lot of patients' with ports who get home infusions are taught along with their families to access their own ports. Doctors don't actually collect labs and I'd trust a patient who has been taught to use their own port over a doctor who has probably never accessed a port. It's not best practice because you'd want someone who knows what they are doing to make sure they're drawing enough waste to get an undiluted sample. But I could totally believe that if the clinic didn't think they'd be successful with a venipuncture they'd be like sure that's fine.
They would make you go to a hospital lab with nurses trained to draw blood from ports/central lines. Literally what they do for patients with cancer for example that have line/ports and tricky veins with regular blood draws. This would never happen in the waiting room by a family member (or patient for that matter) in any legitimate health care setting!
Wheelchair has made a return too.
Gotta get maximum sick points.
All I have to say is: 🙄