Hemochromatosis Support Group
Hemochromatosis is a hereditary disease characterized by improper processing by the body of dietary iron which causes iron to accumulate in a number of body tissues, eventually causing organ dysfunction. It is the main iron overload disorder. Hemochromatosis is notorious for having symptoms that are often initially misattributed to other diseases.
I need to get blood taken off but they ars having a hard time with my veins. Anyone have a port or picc
I currently have a port. I did do a picc for many years. It was taken out after every phlebotomy. Even with the picc they would still have a hard time with the phlebotomy. I decided to get the port because going through the procedure of getting the picc became to stressful for me. With the port you only have to go through getting it put in once. So far I have had 2 phlebotomies with the port. The first went fine the second they had a tough time but did succeed. So far I do prefer the port. I am just hoping it keeps working. I hope this helps.
Pats4ree1
I don't have a port but I have learnt to drink a lot of water the day before I am due to have a phlebotomy and on the day. I drink much more than I normally would to the point of it being a bit unpleasant.
I have found that the difficulties of trying to find a vein and remove blood when I am a bit dehydrated are truly barbaric, time-consuming and very painful.
The only thing that has made much of a difference so far is drinking a lot. I also have an anaesthetic cream put on my skin where the blood is to be drawn from, however the pain reduction is small.
I have watched people have it done without anaesthetic cream and they don't even flinch. I value every small think that helps so I will keep having the cream put on - about half an hour before the treatment.
Christine
I am not a proponent of ports. I have had two ports and a PICC inserted back in the late 90's and early 2000's. The first port clogged and the second one was headed that way when I demanded the port be removed. The problem is our blood is thick due to the iron and unless the port is irrigated frequently with saline and heparin, it will clog. Some doctors prescribe blood thinners but it didn't work on me. Some people take flax seed oil capsules or fish oil capsules to thin the blood. I did try the flax seed oil capsules but it caused too much bruising. Right now I take one fish oil capsule 1200 mgm a day.
Drinking a lot of fluids ( and I mean really a lot) a few days prior to the phlebbing helps.
Just as an aside, back in 2001, I had decided to go to a cardiologist to see if my heart had been impacted by HH. The first time I saw the cardiologist I still had my second port. The following year I did not. The cardiologist was happy the port had been removed. The more times the port is accessed, the greater the chance the heart can develop an infection.
JMHO