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Tacey
23-03-06, 16:20
oops! Wrote a really long message then lost it. I am new to all this! Oh well, start again...

Since I can remember I've had a fear of blood, Not 'gory' things, I have no problem with blood outside the body, just with it circulating! Since I was about 11 I have also had an excessive fear of needles. I thought that if I ignored it it may go away, but unfortunately I am 21 now and it has got progressively worse until I now faint after every injection.

I really want to do something about it, I don't want my life to be controlled by this irrational fear. Also (thinking ahead here) I want to have children, and I know that pregnancy involves many blood tests which at the moment are a real source of anxiety. I also don't want to pass on my fear to my children and want to make sure they are properly innoculated.

The symptoms of the fear are pretty extensive. Even typing this is starting a mild form of it! I go very weak and don't want to be in contact with anything, my breathing gets irregular and my tongue feels too big for my mouth. I twitch quite a lot and I start to hear churning noises before blacking out a few minutes later. It's really very frightening.

If anyone else feels something similar, knows why it happens (I haven't always been this bad) or what on earth I can do about it, I'd really appreciate hearing from you! It's great to be able to chat about something that people usually see as 'weird'!

QueenOfHearts
23-03-06, 17:41
Hi Tacey and Welcome to the forum

I don't suffer from a fear of blood/needles but i wanted to let you know that it is more common than you may realise. I'm studying to be a doctor and there are people on my course who are scared of needles. You are not weird. Phobias can be irrational but that doesn't make you weird at all! I have a phobica of peacocks because when i was 5 someone chased me round the classroom with a picture of one and scared me. So its rational to me, and luckily i don't come across them very often so it doesn't affect me but people still don't understand it!

Sorry i can't offer any help with the actual phobia. Does your doctor or any other healthcare worker know abotu your fear? Maybe they could offer some help.

Tacey
24-03-06, 11:46
Hi QueenOfHearts, thank you for your kind post. I guess I'm lucky that I don't have to be around things that trigger my fear too often!

I haven't told the doctor about it beyond telling them that I am scared when I need injections. Oddly I've never fainted while having the actual thing, it usually happens about five minutes afterwards so I'm often out of the waiting room already. I've been considering if I should go and see my doctor about it, but I really am concerned that they will think it is a waste of time. I have quite an old fashioned doctor and I get the feeling he'll just tell me to pull myself together! I'm also unsure of what he could do to help.

Evie
01-02-07, 00:17
Hello Tacey

Good news - it's curable!

I'm 40 and had suffered such extreme needle phobia that I even avoided foreign holidays on account of the needles.

Hormones kicked in big-time and I had a 13-week course of CBT to help me face the two blood tests which would be necessary to investigate my infertility so I am just about to start IVF mid-march. That involves daily injections which, whilst I don't relish the idea at least I know I'll face with ever-decreasing anxiety as the days progress and that's got to be good!

The fainting issue is unique to this sort of phobia. All phobias (my therapist told me this) involve a series of physical reactions based on a primaeval response to anxiety - the old "fight or flight" reaction - so we experience increased heartbeat to get the blood pumped into those leg muscles, the pupils widen, the breathing rate increases, and there's a sharp rise in blood pressure, and the body produces sweat, all designed to get you super-aware and ready to defend or remove yourself, whichever seems most appropriate. It's a little like switching the car engine on and getting the revs up before engaging the clutch.

In most phobias, that's all there is to it (apart from the ubiquitous panic attack which seem to act as a pressure release when we deem neither fighting nor fleeing to be appropriate) but usually the blood pressure, having peaked, drops off again quite gently back to it's normal level but with blood/needle phobias the blood pressure rises just as sharply but then plummets like a stone. To carry on the car metaphors, it stalls. The sudden decrease in blood pressure causes the brain to be temporarily starved of oxygen, hence the light-headedness and the faint. It helped me enormously to understand that the fainting is a known physiological side-effect and not just down to being overwhelmed by fear, which is what I assumed was to blame. Once I ceased to think of the phobia in emotional terms and just saw it as a primitive response gone mad I was much calmer about it and felt much more able to understand it and retrain myself away from it.

The first time I had a blood test I fainted but the second test a fortnight later I didn't even feel slightly, yet two weeks before my first one I had been so paralysed with fear watching my therapist having blood taken that I was making odd little crying noises, was contorting myself up in a ball (I felt better standing as I didn't tense up so much) and was seriously wondering whether I'd let go of my bladder.

It's quite uncanny how well CBT worked for me, but you really have to commit and force yourself into very uncomfortable territory but you MUST trust your therapist, even when they're firm with you. It really is for your own good in the long run and you have absolutely nothing to lose and everything to gain.

Good luck and keep in touch if you'd like to know any more detail about the stages, processes etc. H :-)

Elle
01-02-07, 15:22
Tracey
I don't fear needles as such, in fact I used to help out at a vets. Seeing other people or animals being injected doesn't bother me in the least. What bothers me is when MY skin gets pricked. I suppose my body is my temple and I don't like it being invaded. That said, sometimes it has to be.

When I was at college I went to give blood, not because I had an overwhelming desire to do so but because my peers put pressure on me. Well, I couldn't bring myself to squeeze my hand and they couldn't get any blood out. Ten minutes later I came REALLY close to passing out.

I have had four children so imagine how many times I have had blood taken from me. With my last child I did actually pass out in the waiting room whilst making my next appointment. None of the men standing behind bothered to catch me and I hit my head, not that I knew it at the time. I know this all sounds a bit grim but there seems to be something innate within me that hates having bloods done.

It's often down to the skill of the doctor or nurse. Some seem much more adept at taking blood. Once, I truly didn't feel it. The last time I had to have blood taken I told the nurse about my passing out. She made me lie down and relax and it all went well.

Curiously it is only having blood taken that upsets me. I have injections at the dentist and vacccnations with no trouble at all.

So, all I can suggest is that you find a way to relax. Deep breathing perhaps and after having blood taken, lie down for a while. Don't be afraid to tell the doctor or nurse, this problem is very common.

Elle

Elle
01-02-07, 15:23
Sorry, should have said Tacey.
Elle

Clare
07-03-07, 01:03
Hi there Tracey!

I suffer from needle phobia, and was terrified about blood tests, any sort of needle/injection. I have seen various people to help me get over my phobia, and none of them seemed to work, until last year. I saw this psychologist, and she used exposure therapy with me, and at first I never thought I would cope with it, and she showed me pictures of needles and marked my anxiety on a scale of 1-10, and she kept making me look at the picture until my anxiety disappeared, I also watched videos of people injecting themselves and she did the same thing as before, and then I had to handle needles that they use for blood test and other injections, then I had to watch my psyschologist have a blood test herself, then the final thing we did was for me to have a blood test, and guess what I did it, even though I felt very anxious at the beginning, I was taught some breathing techiniques, one that is very good is abdominal breathing, it really helps to calm you down, and since the time I went with my psychologist I have had to have 2 blood tests done and I did it.

It's all about changing your thoughts of injections etc.. It worked for me, and I don't get as anxious as I did before if I have to have a blood test done.

Feel free to pm me anytime

It can be a phobia that can be overcome

Love
Clare

Evie
18-03-07, 15:05
I've just had my third blood test since being 'cured' with CBT six months ago and I'm delighted to say it went perfectly well - my hubby had to have one at the same time and I think he was more nervous than me! The sure, once achieved, seems to stick.

edd158
15-05-07, 10:36
i too have a HUGE phobia towards needles:weep: and can totally sympathize with everyone and everything that's been posted so far, just typing the world needle alone makes me feel sick.

the thing is i'm currently experiencing stomach problems and my doc wants to do a blood test which i'm dreading, i've put it off for a while, but it's something that i need to do, but just feel like i can't, and it just feels like i've got this giant piano hanging over my head that could drop at anytime :wacko:

i've had a few anxiety attacks over this issue, i've had one this morning after i woke up and i feel terrible. i have a session with my therapist this afternoon so this will be something i'll talk to with her, but i was just wondering if anyone had any experience with hypnotherapy? and does anyone have any tips to help me perpare perhaps?

best wishes

edd

JoyofClimbing
02-07-07, 22:20
This issue is the source of my anxiety. I don't have a fear of blood or needles, but I had blood drawn a few months back and almost fainted. It felt like a panic attack (which I'd had before) only a lot worse. It seemed to be triggered by how uncomfortable the feeling is, and the idea of it all. Injections never bothered me like that. So now I'm all confused and worried about it, that I'm going to faint again. What is it about getting blood drawn that causes fainting? It feels like you're having a panic attack, but so much worse.

Erica
02-01-09, 09:38
I am in the same boat as you. I absolutley 100 percent hate needles and I want to be a doctor. Here are a few tips that I have picked up
1 if you can bring a friend with you
2 let the nurse know, and ask them for a warning before they bring in the needle (so you dont have to worry through the whole appointment)
3 after the warning prepare yourself- lay down or sit, hold you friends hand (it really helps), make sure that the nurse lets you know what they are going to do before and while their doing it so you know what to expect, after your down stay seated for a few minutes then treat yourself to something because you deserve it after something scary.
*one thing that helps me (and im almost helpless on this matter) is to go really early in the morning so that I am tired and not fully aware.

rainbubs
13-06-09, 10:00
I am needle phobic (my doctor and mental health support worker are aware) so they referred me to a clinical psychologist for CBT, she however, has just told me I am being silly and how can I expect to be a nurse if I have a phobia of needles?! this of course did my self confidence the world of good! NOT!

does anybody have any ideas of strategies or anything apart from seeing the clinical psychologist who I really haven't had much luck with at all!