Hello. I had some blood work done at a local, well known lab back on October 3rd, 2013. The phlebotomist/nurse, (not sure of title) applied the tourniquet and then proceeded with filling out paperwork. I d say it was atleast five minutes before she attempted to draw blood. Normally, when you are having blood drawn, you feel the prick of the needle. Well, I didn t because my arm was numb at that point. She says that the vein rolled and she was having trouble finding it, as she is moving the syringe around in my arm. As with the initial prick, most folks would feel pain. I know that in the past, it has hurt pretty badly to have this done. But, guess what, I didn t feel it due to numbness. Now, once the tourniquet was removed, I felt immediate pain. I knew that she did not follow the correct procedure, but I figured the pain would subside within a few days, a week at most. As time went on, the pain (along with numbness and tingling) radiated through my arm and became quite unbearable at times. The pain extended from the draw site (left arm; outside edge of the bend at elbow) down the top side of my arm and into my wrist, top of my hand and into my fingers at times. At one point, maybe three weeks after, the pain moved into my bicep and into my shoulder. Well, it has been just over three months since I had the bloodwork done and I am still in pain! I do not have much strength in my arm and if I attempt to use it (pick something up, push or pull something) the pain is so bad that I have to stop or drop what I m doing. Even picking up my cup of coffee is painful! I can not even straighten the arm without cringing in pain. I have tried using analgesic pain creams, massaging the area and applying heat, as well as ice. Nothing seemed to help. I even tried wearing a wrist brace, thinking maybe my carpal tunnel was acting up. That seemed to only make it worse. Mid November, I finally came to the realization that something was wrong. Really wrong. My doctor sent me to a neurologist to have a nerve test done. It came back normal. My doctor sent me to have an MRI of my neck done (just to see if maybe the pain stemmed from there). It, too, came back normal. I now have an appointment scheduled with an orthopedic specialist to see if they can determine what the problem is. All I know is that the everyday pain is aweful and not having the full use of my arm is quite irritating. Do you have any idea what could have happened to cause all of this or do you have any suggestions as to what I should do next?