What is a “blown” vein when getting an IV and how is it not harmful?
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It means the vein ruptured, usually due to a pressure difference collapsing the vein so blood can’t flow easily. Veins are pretty small and don’t carry a huge amount of blood at any one time. The only *dangerous* part is bruising, and you’ll need to get stuck again.
Things usually sound worse than they are in the hospital. Everyone gets a blown vein at some point from dehydration, illness, small veins, shrinkage, etc,. If it was a concern, they would do a lot more than give you a bandage and try a different vein.
I guess there are very, very rare cases if your blood doesn’t clot well that the bleeding could last a while, but with pressure, the blow out will not be able to release that much blood on its own.
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