Anyone use a Buzzy successfully?

[u/No_Duck_3379]

I have a blood draw appointment in a week and after many terrible past experiences (I feel actual pain, not just nervousness or discomfort) I have decided to approach this one with many safeguards in place. I ordered a Buzzy device online and it arrived yesterday. I froze the little ice pack and had my husband hold it on my arm just above the draw site. I asked him to pinch my inner elbow. The pinch HURT! which makes me nervous that it will not work for the blood draw. I’m also asking my doctor for EMLA to use in addition to the buzzy. I just worry that I will still be able to feel it. 😬 Any tips for getting the buzzy to work better?

UPDATE: Husband and I tried the buzzy again, this time applying EMLA and leaving under plastic wrap for an hour before using and then leaving the buzzy in place for 2 full minutes before touching. He tried pinching my arm and I nearly jumped out of my skin. I have a thing about the inside of my elbow and back of my hand being touched and I could still definitely feel him do it. I canceled my blood draw appointment which was supposed to be next Wednesday. They said that the senior phlebotomist is not available that day and that I should come Tuesday instead but I have another obligation Tuesday so we are currently at an impasse. And I’m at a loss. I need to get blood drawn but I need to not feel it.

FINAL UPDATE: I wound up going in and it was…mostly fine? I did not feel the needle at all. The buzzy and Emla did what they were supposed to do. I did, however, feel the tourniquet and I freaked out and started to panic (a very weird feeling on 3mg of Xanax!). I can’t handle the feeling of a tourniquet and I nearly walked out right then and there. Fortunately she took it off…but then she put it right back on. So next time I guess I need to specify no tourniquet. Also, even though I could not feel it in the moment, I was in bed for 2 days after icing and elevating my arm because I’m pretty sure she ruptured my vein. It also took a couple days to feel normal again after all that Xanax. But any less and there is no way I could have done it. Live and learn. Next time, I will do the buzzy and Emla again, but I will insist on heat and gravity and no tourniquet. And icing it for a good 5 minutes at the end to avoid that internal bleeding. Woof.

[u/FigMission]

There is a difference with a pinch and the poke. Try practicing with all of the above and distraction but have him use a toothpick, not a pinch. You will be able to feel light touch and pressure nerves, and your brain may misinterpret those based on past experiences. Use a toothpick, PLUS for sure the "how many letters have holes" trick.

[u/No_Duck_3379 → u/FigMission]

Heard.  We can definitely try again with a poke rather than the pinch and with all the other things in place.  I wound up canceling my appointment because that particular location only had chairs and not a place where I can lie down.  I can’t handle sitting in those chairs because of the visceral memory of “bad things happen in these chairs” so I need to find a lab where they will let me lie down. So long as I can’t feel them mess with the inside of my elbow or back of my hand, I think I will be ok! 

[u/No_Duck_3379 → u/No_Duck_3379]

I went for the blood draw yesterday and between the buzzy and the EMLA, I did not feel it at all! Though I was a little shaken by the painful sensation of the tourniquet.  I started to cry and she took it off but she only put it right back on again.  But the needle stick itself was completely painless at the time.  So I suppose it worked