I got the needle stick blues!!!

fiveofpeep · Mar 14, 2009

Im sorry to hear that. If you do a search here you will see similar threads. I have had blood splash in my eye and actually I am not out of the woods yet. My six month mark is in april so thereafter hopefully I can stop worrying. At first I was really stressed out and couldnt sleep but since so much time has passed I rarely even think about it. It is a very stressful time and I dont have much advice except that once the time period is over you will have your final answer and this can all be over. Did you report it and get prophylaxis?

waitingforthedream · Mar 14, 2009

Im sorry you are going through this. I have been stuck twice, and even though both clients agreed to blood work, it still weighs on your mind. I refused medicine for first stick, they were very low risk and I was pregnant. The second one I took the meds, pt. had bad history. It has been 4 years and I am good, but it is scary. Last year I needed 9 units of blood tranfused into me, and once again, I wait for the year to pass so I can make sure I am clean. Good Luck to you in anything you decide.

Daytonite, BSN, RN · Mar 14, 2009

I got stuck with a needle being held by another nurse that was full of blood suspected of being contaminated with AIDS. I was upset. I wanted to hit that nurse for being so stupid. You know how they laughingly say, "Runs with scissors"? Well, she was walking with a handful of syringes while we were cleaning up after a Code Blue with all the points of the needles facing forward and I turned around right into her and got jabbed in the arm.

We reported the incident, had my blood work drawn and I was upset for a few days. At that point I had had cancer twice so death wasn't something I hadn't thought about already. I actually forgot about it as time went on because I had no symptoms. I had also read that the chances of getting AIDS from just a prick like that were almost nonexistent especially if you are healthy and have a good immune system. Keep in mind that many people who get hepatitis and AIDs are already messed up health wise because they don't eat a healthy diet (too concentrated on their booze or drugs) and that is a big factor against them coming down with the disease. The other is repeated exposure to virus.

RedCell · Mar 14, 2009

There is a 0.3% chance of sero conversion with a needle stick from a known HIV patient. Hep C carries a risk of 2-4%. Hep B, if not previously vaccinated infects up to 30% of those with needle sticks. I would not be that concerned, just go through the testing.