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All consuming fear of needles.

KaloJaro

Hi,

Long story short, was told the doctors wanted to take a blood sample, I literally froze up shrieking 'No no no hell no' despite my mum being there to try and calm me down. I felt like I was going to throw up, began shaking really badly and I genuinely felt as though I was about to die despite being in a completely safe environment.I'm still shaking and seizing up at the thought of it now one hour since I was told.

I've never had blood taken from me before, I've lashed out at people who've attempted to give me injections before but I've never felt this scared before. Anyone got any advice on how to cope/calm down because my mums essentially said I'm having the blood test done if she has to rope in half the family to drag me there.

Advice DESPERATELY needed.

Katie.

Parents

  • 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. 

Reply

  • 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. 

Children
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