Thick blood?

[Mandy278]

Hi everyone. I went to see my PCP for a follow up this afternoon. I am suppose to see the cardiologist next week and she is going to try to get me in with a rhuematologist ASAP. I think she is thinking lupus. But is is getting me in with a dr she knows that thinks outside the box since my ANA is negative.

She wanted to recheck my bloodwork since a few things were off a few weeks ago and this is where my question come in. The lab is next door to the dr and I have had the same lady draw blood with no problems about 10 times. Today she could not get blood out of me. Finally got hand and said my blood was very thick.

Any ideas?

[lovemy6monkeys]

When I had my lumbar puncture a few months ago the nurse had to try 4 times to draw the blood. She ended up getting it from my upper arm (yeah, that hurt!). I have horrible veins, always have, so I'm used to them having a hard time getting a vein. This was different, though, because the blood "dripped" instead of flowing.  

I just had blood drawn again a couple weeks ago. The go-to spot has always been the right inner elbow. Again, the blood dripped, and she needed about 8 vials. She ended up using a vein in my hand. Her theory was that when I had the 2 IV steroid courses in the Spring they used my "best" veins. The IV hookup thing can stay in for 3 days (the length of time I did the steroids) but it never lasted the full 3 days, it always blew the vein. So, I guess now my "best" veins have scar tissue?

Luckily I'm not squeamish about getting blood drawn, because it has never gone smoothly for me.

Good luck on your test results!!
~Jess

[summerluvr]

That's good your doctor is rechecking!  What I learned is to keep on top of the blood test results, and check everything! What the clue was in my blood work was high protein which the doctor was initially brushing off as high cholesterol.   There are other tests such as compliment testing that can help rule in or out Lupus.  That was on my list of likely suspects once I finally got a doctor who started running blood tests! Do you have MS or are you in the process of trying to diagnose?

[Mandy278]

Thank you all for your replies. It just concerned me a little because I had bloodwork done 2 weeks ago and they had no problems. At that time they did a D Dimer check and it was 174 with a ref range of 0-500.

And I was not dehydrated. I have a cup of coffee every morning and then I drink water all day. And I always drink alot of water. The nurse at the lab was asking if I was diabetic. But I am not. She also wanted to know if I had been sick lately. I told her no but my WBC was a little high a few weeks ago, so then she wanted to know if I had a fever, which I have not.

The only thing they were running yesterday was a CBC for a recheck.MY PCP has only done the ANA test and I think she is waiting for rhuemy to run others.

wiilowwoman7: Do you have lupus and MS? How were you diagnosed? My cholesterol and everything is great

[willowwoman7]

I do have lupus, but do not have thick blood. That being said, I do test positive for the clotting protetin associated with lupus. It's called the AP protein. I take aspirin (or supposed to) every day. My son-in-law has "thick" blood and it is a result of high cholestrol.

[Quixotic1]

Difficult to draw blood can be a fault of the technique in drawing the blood, like the tourniquet on too long or too tight.  I wouldn't worry about this.  If your CBC is out-o-whack (medical term) it should be repeated.  "Thick blood" doesn't just happen to people in the absence of dehydration.  Mary is right.  If thick blood was the problem it would have been noted before.

Do you know if they have checked you for "sticky blood"?  That is blood that clots too easily.

Quix

[twopack]

Most likely you were dehydrated today as Alex and Lulu mentioned.  Anything with caffeine works like a water pill.  If your legs are swollen the fluid could be there instead of in your blood volume.  If there are no restrictions, it's always a good idea to drink plenty of water when you are having a blood draw.

Mary

[summerluvr]

I have "thick blood" but I have multiple myeloma, which is plasma cell bone marrow cancer.  There are simple test they order to test the blood viscocity. thick blood is different then blood clots.  I had a lot of MS symptoms due to my blood viscocity. Not sure what your symptoms are.  Don't want to scare you!

[Lulu54]

Are you hydrated well before the blood tests?  That is one think they recommend to make the procedure flow easier.  Just a thought.  - Lu

[HVAC]

I have very red thick blood and there is nothing wrong, my PCP thinks she has hit an artery every time. After the ANA did they do an AntiDNA? ANA just means inflammation. I had a I high ANA but a negative anti DNA so that ruled out Lupus. This made sense since I had 12-obands only in my CSF.

Drinking coffee and not enough water before a blood draw can make blood thicker I think?

Alex

[Audrey_M]

Don't know what tests have been ordered on your blood panel, but they should d be running PT, INR and PTT  tests, which are part of coagulation studies. There's also another test D-Dimer, which can assess your risk for clots.

This will tell if you are prone to blood clots. If your levels are outside or normal ranges, they may want to do further blood test to try to find the cause.

My blood is not thick, but I do have a history of blood clots First bout was superficial, second bout was deep vein, which can be life threatening and often has no symptoms. I was fortunate to have symptoms and recognize it as a vascular problem. It turns out that I have a genetic defect that increases the odds of DVTs.

Audrey