All consuming fear of needles.

KaloJaro thanks for this post. My 13 year old aspie is absolutely terrified. He has had the cream and various attempts at trying to take blood but cannot out of fear. He shakes and feels sick and thinks he will die. Hi heart speeds up and he sweats badly and cries. I feel so bad for him and am desperate to help him. He urgently needs the tests and I am trying everything possible. Your post has helped me to understand how he feels! x Thanks!

Thanks for all the advice guys,

Good news: This is all going to be extremely handy in the future for the next time they want blood.

Bad news: My mum dragged me to the hospital on Wednesday and they took it. They did as I asked and left my wrist and the inside of my arm alone, however, I still went into shock after it was over, and nearly threw up several times. My hand still won't co-operate.

Note to parents with Aspie kids: We're not just crying/making a fuss for fun. I was genuinely TERRIFED. I felt like I was going to die before, during, and just after the blood test, even though my mum claims they were really gentle with me (it still hurt, and I had the numbing spray thing) which didn't help. I've only just plucked up the courage to actually go near strangers again.

Hi Katie,

I agree with Longman, it would be a good idea to have a dry run (or many) so to speak.  When my son (9) had to have a blood test we went to the hospital a few days before and the nurse talked him through what would happen.  She suggested bringing something to distract him, in his case a Where's Wally book. We went home and wrote down what the nurse so that he could reassure himself what would happen.

On the day they also put anaesthetic cream on the site to reduce the level of sensation.  The children's ward where he had the blood test were brilliant.  There were enough staff on hand to deal with anything that happened.  (He had had a previous blood test at age 5 and it took two of us to hold him down).  But in the end despite becoming very upset he coped and it took less than 15 minutes.  He even coped when he had to have a second blood test a month later.  This time we decided to have the blood taken in our local doctors as it was a familiar environment, again he was fine even without the cream.  The bit he found most painful was the band around his upper arm.

I don't know if you really want all this information but I find that sometimes the most scary thing is the unknown.  If you can overcome the unknown and find a distraction that will absorb you attention then it may not be not too bad. 

It is something that would be advantageous to resolve because certainly in later life you get needled a lot - I've spend a lot of my fifties in and out of hospital on one thing or another. And then there's the dentist.

One thing you need to do is find a way of stopping yourself turning the issue over and over in your head. It uses up a lot of mental energy and thinking time, but it also magifies the fear and puts it too far into the front of your thoughts.  Try to develop some phrases that with practice will come to mind every time you start worrying. I've got a few like "I've had enough of this I want to go somewhere else now" and it is just enough to interrupt my thoughts and comes into my head when the anxiety is rising. It takes time to develop this and your blood test is soon, but it might be worth at least starting to do this. You can use a strong rubber band around the wrist and snap it to break the worry loop.

Another thing is to ask if you can go to the place where the sample is being taken some time beforehand just to adapt to the unfamiliar environment.

Try to think up a strong pleasing thought or image to try to hold in you mind when you go for the blood sample. Practice it in advance so you have something really strong and sustainable in your mind on the day.