Can starvation cause decreased blood flow when taking blood sample?

Question

Hi doctor,

I want to clarify one thing which has fed a lot of fears within me. When I gave the blood sample today and when the lab technician pierced the needle, the blood flow was very slow and stopped at one time. So the lab technician has squeezed my hand so many times to allow the blood flow into the syringe. I am very surprised by this scenario and fear a lot. And I am thinking like if he reused needle contaminated with any blood and clot and that is why it has not allowed blood to flow fast. Does this scenario happen to anyone? Because I have never seen this to me. I did not eat anything for the last 15 hours. Could this be the reason? But I am sure that they opened the new syringe or needle pack, but I do not know why blood still did not flow properly. This situation is fearing me a lot. Please let me know if this is an abnormal situation. But one request, please explain in detail as this is the most I am fearing at this moment.

Answer 1

Hi, Welcome to icliniq.com.

Regarding your query, it is not contaminated with clots. It has three possible scenarios: The laboratory technician is not skilled. So, I had a problem identifying the course of the vein. The veins used for blood collection are not always straight. The technician would have selected a vein that was tortuous, which led to decreased flow during collection, which caused him to squeeze for blood.

Alternatively, he could have made it straight for easy flow. Bad selection of a needle. Maybe the selected needle had a manufacturing defect or was of a small size, which made it difficult to suck the blood. So, mostly the problem with the experience of technician caused the problem.

I hope that this answers your query.

Kindly follow up if you have more doubts.

Thank you.