r/medlabprofessionals • u/BATTLE_ANG3L • 10d ago
Discusson Blood 🩸
Am i the only one that gets nauseous at the scent and sight of blood.
I can handle my own, but a person with a serious cut and the 🩸 spilling out is what i can’t handle.
I don’t think it’s fear. I’m not afraid of needles and i have no problem doing blood tests.
17
u/KuraiTsuki MLS-Blood Bank 10d ago
The smells and sights of blood aren't pleasant, but I don't have any kind of reaction to them. It's been many years since I've worked at a hospital where I had to interact with patients in any capacity.
Sputum, though... That stuff triggers my gag reflex immediately.
11
u/minot_j 10d ago
Like when you only need 0.5 mL for the test, but the specimen is somehow 15 mL? And it’s all one strand? And you have to cut it with scissors?
I was trying to gross you out but I just ruined my own morning.
5
u/KuraiTsuki MLS-Blood Bank 10d ago
Yes exactly that. At my first lab, we had to aespetically cut them in half so part could go for culture and the other for Cytology. I hated having to do that so much.
5
2
u/BATTLE_ANG3L 10d ago
Do you hate gelatinous food by any chance? Just out of curiosity?
4
3
u/KuraiTsuki MLS-Blood Bank 10d ago
Jello and pudding consistency doesn't bother me, but if I get a big chunk of fat in a bite of meat, that will trigger my gag reflex.
2
15
u/According_Coyote1078 10d ago
I used to feel weird about touching blood that was still warm because it was just drawn.
Now I find it kind of comforting
6
u/twotired4life 10d ago
I love using them as handwarmers in the winter because I have bad circulation...
3
u/lupine_and_laurel 10d ago
The big glass vacuum bottles of pleural/peritoneal fluid are the best handwarmers though.
8
u/Live_Broccoli_2180 10d ago
Everytime I get a blood test I have a vasovagal reaction and pass out, but my major for my postgrad is haem. Kind of ironic because i’m fine with handling blood lol
3
u/Acceptable-Spite-537 MLT Student 10d ago
Same! I hate needles as the patient (vaccines, venipuncture, etc.) but I’m fine poking others and handling FNA needles. Weird how our brains work.
2
u/Live_Broccoli_2180 10d ago
Yes me too! we were practicing FNAs on a liver last week and I thought it was fun, but i’m terrified of a tiny needle going in my arm 🤣
6
u/Cautious-Raccoon-341 10d ago
Hmm yes but it may be less about the blood and more about the stress of the situation for me. When I was a teen my dad put his arm in between a dog fight (bulldog and pitbull 😅) and the bulldog got his wrist pretty good. I fainted.
3
u/BATTLE_ANG3L 10d ago
That was traumatizing indeed, i hope both you and your dad are okay around dogs now 🥺
3
u/feralfarie12 10d ago
Trauma/ER nurse lurker and if im not actively doing something, the smell of the blood makes me nauseous. I think its bc when im focusing I breathe through my mouth
2
1
2
u/Serious-Currency108 10d ago
Never really stopped to smell blood. I've seen some nasty traumas where I've had to take coolers of blood, but the smells I was getting wasn't from blood.
2
u/aylad32 MLS-Generalist 10d ago
Blood is nothing for me, generally in a tube/bag and generally not smelly. Urine….. is a battle that has to be overcome with experience and maybe some vicks vapor rub under the nose. Used to make me gag, I don’t care anymore. Microbiology is always smelly and it can be different smells depending on how much you wanna smell, not for me. Nothing smells in chemistry but no thanks for me. Other body fluids in general are meh but sputum, semen, BAL’s or whatever. Ew
1
u/BATTLE_ANG3L 10d ago
So would you rather hold your breath in, or hold your urine and not dare use a public restroom?
2
u/aylad32 MLS-Generalist 10d ago
Brother I worked as a CNA in a nursing home for over a year haha my sense of smell never recovered I can smell a UTI or CDiff right away, now I can just close the lid or put it under a biosafety cabinet
2
u/BATTLE_ANG3L 10d ago
Oh Nursing Home! It’s true that Not all superheroes wear capes indeed, thank you for hardwork.
2
u/twotired4life 10d ago
It has never bothered me. Maybe I'm the odd one out?
I was an EMT before becoming CLS. You get your first patient with a femoral bleed and you get over any discomfort real fast.
I remember going back to clean the ambulance and when I opened the door blood literally ran out the back and there were bloody glove prints on everything.
The only one that made me nervous was an IV drug user with hep C who had accidentally cut his wrist open. I've never applied a tourniquet so fast.
1
u/BATTLE_ANG3L 10d ago
In your profession, which btw 🫡 thank you for your hardwork. Not being bothered is really helpful. I’d imagine myself passing out faster than the patient.
2
u/Luminousluminol MLS-Blood Bank 10d ago
The only blood smell that bothers me is cell washers and if plasma breaks in the thawer.
As someone with a uterus… the smell just makes me feel the need to check where the smell is from…
1
u/Aromatic-Lead-3252 SH 10d ago
I never had this issue until the last few years, and now seeing my partner's blood makes me light headed.
I'm 48 and I'm a hematology specialist. I see blood all day every day. This makes no sense!
1
u/BATTLE_ANG3L 10d ago
Would you say that it makes you light headed regardless if you get a whiff of it or not?
1
u/Annual-Arugula473 MLT 10d ago
Ive never witnessed someone REALLY bleeding but the kind of situations that are fixed with first aid have never bothered me. However really sweaty people? Having to draw a sceptic person with a crazy fever covered in a layer of their own sweat? I shudder to think about it. Visually it doesnt bother me but touching peoples sweaty bodies is so so bad imo
1
u/Sunwolfy Canadian MLT 10d ago
I used to faint at the sight of blood, no matter who it belonged to. Going through my program is what cured me of it. Now I can look at it just fine. I do agree that the smell is really gross. I find the one that gets to me the most is when the cell washer is opened and the leftover blood mixes with the saline. Ewww.
2
u/BATTLE_ANG3L 10d ago
The iron scent, and to think that there are perfumes that have notes to evoke the scent of blood 😵💫
29
u/New-History853 10d ago
Ive never seen blood spilling out of a person so I wouldnt know.