Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with intravenous

Mitten Hands Strikes Again

OsoMeaty — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 17:27:25 -0800

When I have to use syringes at my job for blood draws and catheterization I get what I've been calling "mitten hands" and loose fine motor control. Anyone have any tips or tricks for holding/using syringes? I think this is a mix of nerves and an essential tremor that I self diagnosed/have had my entire life.

What are the physics of intravenous drips?

aunt_winnifred — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 17:48:56 -0800

What are the physics of intravenous drips? I visited my friend in the hospital today and she sent me away with homework. "Find out how these damn intravenous things actually work, would you?" Neither of us is a scientist or an engineer, but we can both handle a fair amount of technical information. Anybody have any links to suggest? I haven't been able to find anything that lays it out.

What if some crazy freak shot up vodka?

Avelwood — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 02:54:52 -0800

Shooting up alcohol intravenously? What? I was sitting around with a friend and a glass of wine when this topic came up. We had both heard of people doing it, but neither of us had anything more than hearsay to report. Maybe my Google-fu was a little dulled by the wine, but I couldn't turn up anything terribly reliable. All I could dig up on PubMed had to do with controlled, professionally done, clinical trials. (mostly on rats, cats, and sheep) Erowid, my usual source for crazy, drugged-out information didn't seem to touch on it either. Are there any doctors, nurses, or crazy alcoholics out there that could tell me what effect intravenous ethanol might have on someone crazy enough to do it?

I'm just asking here. No one's life hangs in the balance.

What is this thing in my arm?

mdonley — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 19:47:07 -0800

I received an intravenous drip in a hospital in Morocco a little more than a week ago and now there's this thing under my skin near the injection site on my arm. What is it? A few details:

- My IV wasn't always suspended from a pole/stand; I occasionally had "backflow" of blood into the drip tube. I also saw a couple air bubbles in there. Nurses also occasionally applied pressure to the tube to increase the flow of fluid/clear the tube of blood or air bubbles, which was rather painful.
- I'm pretty sure I was being injected with something to treat food poisoning (or the massive dehydration that comes with the vomiting and diarrhea).
- After leaving the hospital, I took a week's course of ciprofloxacin as prescribed by my doctor there.
- I flew back from Morocco to Berlin (two flights, about 5 hours in the air) in a single day - the day after I left the hospital.
- Messing around with the spot now leads to very mild irritation, but nothing I would call pain. It feels like a piece of very thin rope or sinew under my skin, about 3/4 inch long, which makes me think it's the vein that received the IV, but I can't be sure as it's a bit "higher" up my lower arm than the injection site.

What are my options for a) finding out what the lump-y sinew-y thing is, and b) getting rid of it? Would this even be detectable on an X-ray?

Bonus: I'm in Poland, so any Polish-specific info you can point me to would be amazing.

Happy to provide more details. YANMD, etc.

I need me some iron!

missjamielynn — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 13:37:45 -0800

Anyone have experience with intravenous iron treatments for anemia? I was diagnosed with anemia at the beginning of this year and took iron pills for several months until my doctor told me I was no longer anemic. However, she said I should continue to take the iron pills only when I get my period once a month.

When I initially started taking the pills, there was an adjustment period of about a month while my body dealt with some uncomfortable side effects. My stomach pretty much went nuts. After a bit, I got used to it and taking them daily wasn't so terrible.

Cutting down to just one week a month though, seemed to confuse my body and the discomfort lead me to become lax on taking them during my period.

I was feeling fine for the past few months, but have recently noticed anemia symptoms again. I know I need iron, but I really don't want to go back to the pills. I heard that there are alternative treatments such as getting the iron administered intravenously every 3 months or so.

Has anyone had any experience with this kind of treatment? If so, do you prefer it to the iron pills? Thanks!