Why do they tend to downplay it so much most of the time? Do they truly not think it will be painful? Or is there some other reason for that?
In: Biology
I’m a phlebotomist— I draw your blood. I say just a pinch every time because any time I have done it it has been just a pinch.
If someone asks me if it is going to hurt I say yes but not that bad. However, the way you experience pain and the way I do are different. What doesn’t bother me might bother you. It’s a little like a bee sting but not quite.
Personally I think of it as a quick, clean, crisp sort of pain but that feels weird to say so I don’t. But like I’ve experienced a lot of different pains in my life. I would equate it with a bee sting, not the same level as a stubbed toe but long than that pain. It’s not an irritating throb or anything in my experience.
That being said I have a really good vein. It is visible to the naked eye and nice and thick when palpated (because, honestly, when you are getting blood drawn we care way more about the feel of the vein than if we can see it by eye or not). For people with tricky or bad veins I’m sure it is much worse. I’ve had people vomit and faint from something I could shrug and do to myself and be fine. Every body and everybody is different.
So, a little pinch is what I say because that is a lot easier and quicker than explaining all of that to the large number of people I poke a day.
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