Blood

[Megan99]

Hi everyone,
I have a question. Is it true that people can actually faint at the sight of blood. I have an immense dream to become a veterinarian but I always feel light headed when I see blood. I am not about to let fear stop me from achieving my dream, but it would be inconvenient if I keep passing out every time I do dissections or surgery. But is it actually true that one can actually faint like they show in movies. If so, what is the best way to get rid of the lightheadedness. is there any way to get used to seeing blood and stuff?? any particular therapy?

[meant2live]

I've never actually fainted from a blood test, but I've gotten close.

For me, it's all a mental thing. It's not like I see blood and almost pass out. It's the thought of blood being taken out of my arm.

It seems like you may be able to desensitize yourself to it by just pushing forward with your studies.

I know that my fear isn't as bad as it was before because of all of the blood tests I had to go through during pregnancy. Those ten tubes during the first appointment really break you in lol. Obviously, others have it much worse than me.

When I do start to feel lightheaded, I just distract myself by talking to people in the room.

[Fishmanpa]

This is an interesting question. I'll relate my experience. I relate this to getting needles, blood drawn etc.

When i was young (8-10yo) I had to get allergy testing done. I recall staying at the hospital for a couple of days and getting allergy testing done. I had scratch tests and needles... and needles.. and NEEDLES! They took different allergens and scratched them into my skin and put these little bubbles of liquids just under my skin to see what I reacted to. Mind you, we're talking probably close to 100 scratches and well over 60 little bubbles on my arms!

Talk about acclimating! So for the next 40 years, needles didn't faze me in the least. Then came cancer. I was fine until the last couple of weeks. By that time, my veins were shot. The little gal who did my IV and was amazing, began to have trouble finding veins. Several sticks later things were good.

From that time, I've had a mental/physical reaction to needles. I can only describe it as a rush from my toes all the way up to my head when that needle pierces my skin. It's not debilitating by any means but the physical reaction is interesting and I've mentioned to the nurses that. So I can see how a reaction from the sight of blood or other physical stimuli cause an extreme reaction.

Positive thoughts