Why does an IV hurt?

I recently had surgery and the worst part of the surgery was getting an IV. When I first arrived in the pre-op area, my nurse was wonderful. He was friendly and explained my operation. But then he said he was just helping out and the nurse assigned to me would be there shortly. Well, just like he said, the nurse assigned to me arrived. She was cold and efficient and had an immediate job to do.

My doctor had instructed the nurse to give me extra strength Tylenol before surgery. Every time I asked her for the Tylenol she said she was busy. She said she needed to get my IV going right away. Of course, she didn’t give me the Tylenol before the IV.

The nurse named Lisa, (I would have given her another name), looked for the vein in my hand. Then she started yelling at me and telling me to hold my hand straight. She said, “Ma’am keep your hand straight!” And then she said, “I’m not going to lie, this will hurt.”

I kept saying OW, OW, OW and then I started crying. It hurt like I couldn’t imagine and continued to hurt afterward. The nurse gave me a dirty look because perhaps I was holding up her schedule. Oh and much later she gave me the Tylenol. I feel like hospitals should offer numbing cream (lidocaine) for patients having an IV and also Tylenol beforehand. Nurse Lisa was the worst part of my entire surgery.