What was your experience with bone marrow biopsy?

I had the same experience. I expected a lot of pain. Local anesthetic and it was over quickly. I completed a number of errands that afternoon and took things easy for a few days.

My doc is trying to diagnose or rule out a monoclonal protein spike which might indicate multiple myeloma or something else. I hav iron deficient anemia and not responding to iron infusions. Also autoimmune diseases. COPD.
Have been “dragging” for way too long. My hematologist/oncologist specialist is on it for me. So glad I was finally referred to him. 👍

Hi Kathleen, Sedation will make all the difference in the world for you! Each of us have our own experiences and discomfort we feel doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with our pain threshold level. I am a tough old bird and nothing much causes me discomfort. But I had 13 bone marrow biopsies over my leukemia/bone marrow transplant odyssey and I can tell you, after 3 without and 10 with sedation…I will always go for sedation! ☺️ There is no shame in going with comfort! Plus I get to wake up to juice and Lorna Doone cookies. LOL. Good luck!

If you don’t mind sharing what is the reason for your bone marrow biopsy?

I had an attempted bone marrow biopsy without sedation, just last week. Canceled by doc after several attempts to reach the bone- I kept tending up because of too much pain and pressure. Am now rescheduled at hospital for a bmb WI TH sedation on the 11th of Nov.

My BMB wasn't bad, just laying on my stomach was uncomfortable. Lowered pants, Local anesthetic, some pressure, no big deal. Black and blue mark for a few days. I think my anxiety was worse than actual procedure

I went in the examination room. The Doctor explained the procedure. I pulled my pants down to expose my hip. He gave me a local anesthetic and went ahead with the biopsy. I felt no pain. The worse thing I did was to watch videos of biopsies on you tube and read all the comments.
I expected a very painful experience and I was pleasantly surprised. I was in and out of there in less than 30 minutes.

Ask for the sedation, go to sleep and you won't know what happened.
I had no pain during or after the procedure. I am waiting on the results!

I have had 3 BMB in 6 months.
1. UCSF at my bedside/topical numbing agents. Only thing was pressure and the sound of the drill.
2. Done in a surgical center with sedation. Don’t recall much of anything.
3. Done at Stanford out patient clinic. Topical numbing agents like UCSF. Same result; pressure and drill sounds…No pain. Each had the same instructions; take it easy and do not shower for 24 hours.
All experiences were much better than I anticipated.

Just have it done with sedation and U will do fine.

My BMB, was painless so I would not be concerned about getting a BMB.