My husband has had his PICC since Aug. 10, and after having gallstones with 4 weeks of IV Rocephin and allergic sensitivity with 2 1/2 weeks of Claphoran, we have now done about 30 days of IV Zithromax.
In the last 3 days, he has been having discomfort, tightness and a bit of pain in the arm, from the elbow, through the bicep, up to the armpit. He is also having a bit of sporadic numbness and tingling and pain flashes in his wrist and hand.
He says it feels like there is a blood pressure cuff (loosely) around his bicep area. No swelling or heat associated.
Had an ultrasound at the hospital on Friday (and also 2 weeks ago because of a pressure feeling at the tip of the catheter)and no clots found, and everything looked "great!"
Any idea on what could be causing these symptoms? Anyone else with similar experiences? Thank you! Posted by clpgotlyme (Member # 7875) on :
Those are the exact symptoms I had with my blood clot caused by a poor insertion of a PICC line. After 5 months I still have them if I use the arm too much. Had heperin injections, now on Coumadin. Cindy
Posted by lyme_suz (Member # 7628) on :
I would be concerned about the discomfort. I am not a granola-y person, but it sounds like his body is trying to tell him something.
My kids did picc and I was really surprised how easy it was for dr. to pull it out. There doesn't seem to be a problem with reinserting.
Could you have it pulled, then try again to see if they can get a better vein? Maybe this one is not good for picc.
Another factor is where the pic is inserted in upper arm. My son's pic was positioned more toward his inner arm and this was more uncomfortable,tender and awkward than my daughters which was more toward the front of the arm.That might sound drastic, but this pic should not be uncomfortable beyond superficial site soreness or itching.
OAnother idea- you could go to the IV that just goes into arm.(sorry can't remember name) They put a new one in every 4days or something like that. The advantage I see there for your husband is that his upper arm will be left alone.
Also, some do bicillan injections.
We lived in Herndon, but moved this summer.
We had our pics inserted at Loudon Hospital in radiology dept. They were awesome.
Best Wishes,
Susan
Posted by daniella (Member # 6753) on :
I had 3 picc lines and never had anything like that....
Posted by DocLand (Member # 7794) on :
Thanks for the replies....our doc called today and okayed gettting it pulled and just switching on to biaxin/omnicef for a bit to let him recover. We can replace it in a few weeks, or whenever.
Lyme_suz, his is also towards the inside of the arm just barely above the elbow, but did ok for the first two months, and just the last two weeks has been more and more uncomfortable.
Just glad that no blood clots showed up on the doppler
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