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
Lookup Nocebo effect. It’s the opposite of placebo. Basically that if you’re expecting something negative you’re more likely to have a negative experience. If they say “this is going to hurt like a bitch” then everyone will hurt like a bitch. If they say pressure, some will still hurt like a bitch but more likely most people will feel pressure or at least less pain.
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.
Because it only hurts really bad for someone people. For most patients they encounter, it’s only some pressure or discomfort.
I can understand the sentiment that nobody likes being lied too, but there’s an anticipatory element to pain control. Patients WILL freak out more if they think something is going to hurt. Lying and saying you might feel a pinch/pressure primes you to feel something, but not tense up like you’re about to be shot at pointblank range. It’s kind of the lesser of two evils. Doctors and nurses should not use this line for things that actually hurt, and me personally I only use it for blood sugars and heparin/insulin shots. Additionally, the spectrum of skin sensitivity is all over the place, so some people genuinely just feel pressure, while some people are screaming like dramatic reenactments of The Exorcist for the whole floor to hear. Your ability to feel sympathy in those situations lessens when you’re experiencing permanent hearing loss from a blood pressure cuff squeeze, and then there’s a certain percentage of people (94%?) that would refuse anything mildly uncomfortably given the option/warning.
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