Suggest Remedy Of Pain In The Arm After Donating Blood

Posted on Mon, 16 Mar 2015

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Mon, 16 Mar 2015 Answered on

Mon, 6 Apr 2015 Last reviewed on

Question : I just tried to donate blood. The guy said it was coming out slowly and began moving it around. I actually cursed out loud. It felt like fire in my arm and told him to remove it. It's been 50 minutes and my arm still hurts very bad like a 7 or so. I can not carry on about my day. What can I do?

Answered by Dr. Kathy Robinson (50 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
bruising and cuts

Detailed Answer:
Hello and thank you for your question.
I am so sorry that this happened to you. You can take acetaminophen for pain. You should not take aspirin, ibuprofen or naproxen because that can cause more bleeding into your tissues. He probably cut through your vein in moving it around so much. Drink lots of water and try to prop your arm up on a pillow above the level of your heart to decrease swelling. Use ice packs on the area. It should calm down in a few hours if you do all of these things. However, it will continue to be sore for the next few days and you will probably have some tremendous bruising. Remember to really drink a lot of water before you try to donate blood again.
I hope you are feeling better soon.
Dr. Robinson

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Vinay Bhardwaj