I was in the ER almost 2 weeks ago with abdominal pain, it hurt to breathe, laugh, roll over or lay on either side, couldn’t stand up straight and it hurt to bad to take a deep breath when my body tried to sneeze it stopped the second I took the first deep breath. It turned out to be just a pulled muscle thankfully! But I did have a blood draw done to rule out problems with my gallbladder. I have a lot of anxiety when it comes to medical procedures and needles, I have a hard time with blood draws. My first blood draw ever ways okay, went in with my partner at the time, didn’t cry or hyperventilate but did feel very faint afterwards. The second time I had one I was in the ER I was already distressed and became more distressed when told I needed a blood draw. I did cry and another nurse came in to hold my hand while the other did the draw, but the process was very fast and not painful except for the initial stick. This time when I went to the ER they had me do a urine sample, while in the waiting room my stupid MyChart app gave me my urinalysis results and I don’t know how to read them but I was seeing a lot of things tagged as “abnormal” and immediately knew they were going to do a blood draw (as if they weren’t already going to due to my upper right abdominal pain lol) and began to feel very anxious. I began crying quietly in the waiting room while the person who came with me tried to calm me down, I did my breathing exercises and tried so hard to stop crying but before I could calm myself I was called back. At this point my breathing is getting out of hand. I have already told the staff I have panic attacks and all of the medications I am on, so that they didn’t think I was just being over dramatic. I was already very embarrassed I was so freaked out, I felt so stupid. One nurse tried to talk to me and distract me as I looked away, I was engaging as much as I could, talking and answering questions and even cracking jokes to calm myself. The nurse doing the draw feels around on my right arm and cannot find a good vein, I tell her both of the previous times I had blood drawn they did my left arm so that may be easier. She moves to my left arm and ties the tourniquet. I move my head to look at the other nurse on the opposite side as I super suddenly feel a sharp pain further down my arm than expected and then a burning. I kind of let out a little yell because I didn’t expect it to burn and I begin crying harder because I was freaked out it burnt. I kept attempting to talk to the other nurse but also kept saying that the needle burnt (which had never happened with other draws which is why I was saying it) and she snapped the tourniquet off, I’m guessing because she assumed that was what burnt. This was taking much longer than my other draws so I asked why we were still going, the nurse told me she couldn’t get anything from me because I was “freaking out”. Eventually we finished after what felt like forever but for some reason it hurt when she pulled the needle out. I made a comment about being scared that they didn’t get enough blood and that they would have to stick me again but the nurses told me it was enough and it would be fine. I eventually calm back down after the draw and the staff are out of my room, but later a nurse comes back and tells me the blood was hemolyzed and could not be used. The next day I have a large bruise on the draw site and a small scab on the spot where the needle went in, which has also never happened. Please keep in mind at no point was I ever combative, I was definitely crying and hyperventilating but at not point did I pull/move away from the nurses and I was talking and engaging with questions as much as I could. This all just felt very overly stressful for me and I feel very stupid for not being able to control my panic better and I’m afraid the draw going bad and the blood sample being messed up as well as the pain and bruising was my fault. Sorry for the super long post with too many details, I just wanted to make sure I covered the environmental aspects and my feelings incase it impacted anything. Picture of bruise attached, it’s just now almost faded after 2 weeks.

I want to know if my blood draw not going well was my fault (super long post I’m so sorry)