Helping young ones deal with blood draws

[TracyRee]

DS is 5 and has had his blood taken so much lately. It's really hard on him, he paniks, begs the doctor not to do it, screams the entire time. It's really horrible.

 

Any ideas for helping him with it?

[dcmom]

Do you use emla creme? It is a numbing creme prescribed by doc for blood draws. Although it helps my dd, she still panics and yells a bit

[matis_mom]

DS is 5 and has had his blood taken so much lately. It's really hard on him, he paniks, begs the doctor not to do it, screams the entire time. It's really horrible.

 

Any ideas for helping him with it?

Did they try the numbing spray? It's makes the area really cold and it helps my son a ton. Also, don't let the child look at the needle, stand by him and have him keep looking at you. And the silliest thing, it turns out my son did not mind the needle as much as the rubber band... He actually had the composure to ask the nurse not to use it, and she obliged... They took 17 little tubes of blood of out the one arm that day!!! And this is someone who had been sick for months and the ped kept coming up with different possible explanations trying to avoid doing a draw because he was so traumatized the first time they tried! Of course, he's older (12) and I can explain to him the need for it. I don't know what it would have been like at 5!

I know it's hard, but you got to do what you've got to do. Living with PANDAS is a lot worse

[dcmom]

Tracey- The other thing I can say is- I have gotten really picky about blood draws. I try to do as few as possible, and refuse some (like if they ask for ASO and antiBnase). I am not interested (at this point) in experimenting, or searching for info- only getting blood draws that will affect the course of treatment. My dd was stuck so many times throughout pex procedure- she is now getting about a 6 mos break. I do want to get her to an immunologist who will do a more exhaustive panel, but until we are thinking we want to proceed with IVIG- I am waiting on the blood draw. Really, you should be able to get everything done in 2 draws (I would think).

 

It is so hard- but I also think to myself: it is 10-15 minutes- they will forget about it.

 

Hang in there...

[Suzan]

The trouble we have is that dd's blood stops flowing in the middle of the draw so it ends up being a huge ordeal. So far, I've found nothing that helps with that. They say stay super hydrated and warm.

 

Regarding the panic, yelling, kicking.... I bribe them with ice cream. It helps a little but not a lot. I have dd7 go first since dd8's draw is the worst. When we get out of there, we go get ice cream no matter how bad the draw was. I don't say be calm or no ice cream. It's basically keep the prize in mind and let's get through this as calmly as possible.

 

Hugs and good luck.

 

Susan

[momaine]

The second time, after a terrible ordeal the first time, I got her a mild sedataive from the doctor. It took the edge off and helped. The next time she was able to do it without the sedative. I also use the numbing cream (lydocain, I think) and bribe with chinese food. =) It all helps.

 

The trouble we have is that dd's blood stops flowing in the middle of the draw so it ends up being a huge ordeal. So far, I've found nothing that helps with that. They say stay super hydrated and warm.

 

Regarding the panic, yelling, kicking.... I bribe them with ice cream. It helps a little but not a lot. I have dd7 go first since dd8's draw is the worst. When we get out of there, we go get ice cream no matter how bad the draw was. I don't say be calm or no ice cream. It's basically keep the prize in mind and let's get through this as calmly as possible.

 

Hugs and good luck.

 

Susan

[zazuk2010]

Hi, my boys (5) were also terrified of both the blood draws and IVIG. We did the numbing cream. The trick was though that we had to put it on at least a 1/2 hour before and cover it with an airtight clear bandage. That was what made it really numb. When we did IVIG, they both screamed and screamed until the needle went in and they both looked up and said "you mean that's it???" After that we have used the cream for several blood draws without any problems. I put the cream on at home, cover it and by the time we get to the lab it is numb.

 

Good luck.

Kari

[mama2alex]

Can they put on a video? My son's first blood draw was at the DAN doctor's and they were prepared - they had a tv, vcr, and video all ready to go. Now that he's older and we've had to do blood draws other places, I let him bring his DS.

 

Also, Emla cream has been priceless. When he was 4 I told him it was a magic cream that would protect him from pain - we still call it "the magic cream." Ours is tetracaine, 4%; lidocaine, 2.5%; and prilocaine 2.5%. When we had IVIG recently, the hospital tried to use their own cream on the seond night and it wasn't as good as the Emla cream the DAN doc gave us. So we put ours on, and it worked like a charm.

[Suzan]

We had our blood draws today and they went pretty well.

 

DD8 - I gave her 200 mg L-Theanine before we got there and she was pretty calm. I also gave her 2.5 mg melatonin before we went in and she was really relaxed. I kept her really warm and hydrated and her blood flowed. It was the best experience she's had in months.

 

DD7 - She only had the melatonin before and she cried and cried and hollered that she was scared but we got the blood and it all ended up OK. Next time, I plan on trying the L-Theanine.

 

Susan

[melanie]

DS is 5 and has had his blood taken so much lately. It's really hard on him, he paniks, begs the doctor not to do it, screams the entire time. It's really horrible.

 

Any ideas for helping him with it?

Ever since danny was little about 4 or 5 he has done a gazillion blood draws and what always untill this day worked was the abc song I know it sounds funny even now hes 15 we sing the abc song it looks redic now but it works also we used to go to toys r us .ps he hated the band aids with the pictures try a special song to distract him.. good luck

 

melanie