Cannot strike blood: Told I have a virus?

[MAFG666]

I woke up yesterday with frightening symptoms that I'd not experienced before: My feet and hands were cold and circulation was poor. I tried 4 times to test but only found enough blood to get half way down the strip. After 20 pressups a dish of hot porridge and my hands around the kettle '40mins later' I struck blood and measured 6.5 and couldn't understand so I rang a diabetic nurse who told me I had a virus. My question is "Do you think health professionals are merely earning a living these days and ethics, real empathy and consideration is a thing of the past?"

 

[MAFG666]

I haven't drunk alcohol at all for months (nearly a year) but yesterday I had some brandy and with a good walk felt a lot better (I did spend two hours at the gym ensuring I burn't off most of my sugars).

 

[13lizanne]

Hello there, Sorry you had a bad experience with your DN Unfortunately, as in every profession there are empathetic people and there are people to whom "it's just a job" I think that the virus thing is the stock answer when they don't actually know the answer. Hope you are drawing blood OK now?

 

[copepod]

While the nurse you phoned may have been a bit quick and unexpansive in their explanation, it's true that poor periferal circulation can be caused by some viruses. It's possible that they were short with you because they were dealing with a patient at the surgery / clinic. Drinking alcohol has a short lived effect of dilating (making wider) blood vessels near the skin, which is why some people get red faces when they drink.

I'm not defending the nurse, just pointing out that they obviously didn't appreciate how worried you were.

The key fact is that you solved your problem of getting blood to test. So you didn't need their help.

 

[Daphne917]

I often have difficulty trying to get blood - I tried 4 times last Thursday and Friday mornings and failed so gave up. It's not imperative that I test so I tend to give up after 4 attempts!!