How afraid of needles are you?

[kenny]

This is about needles to draw blood or give an injection ... not sewing needles.

I voted 7.
I can't watch a needle go in me.
I look away and breath deeply and tell the phlebotomist to give me a 3 2 1 countdown so I don't jump.

I don't think I could ever give myself an injection, even if my life depended on it.

Oddly, I don't mind shots in my mouth from my dentist.
Those are low-anxiety because I trust my dentist since he is so skilled, gentle and considerate.

 

[AprilBaby]

Not afraid at all, and I love giving them

 

[Trekkie]

Used to be absolutely terrified but after two years of fertility treatments and some minor health issues I no longer even blink.

The only thing that annoys me is how I'm invariably ignored when I ask the person to PLEASE USE MY HAND!

They always say, "oh no, I can't use your hand, it hurts so much worse, don't worry, I've found a vein" and then proceed to prick and dig around repeatedly. They always find absolutely nothing and then end up having to use my hand anyway.

The last time I had blood drawn three nurses went through seven needles, pricked me six times and (four times on my hands!) and I still had to go back a few days later because they didn't get enough blood. I was not amused.

 

[movie zombie]

I HATE getting a shot in the mouth at the dentist's.
however, I've given myself allergy shots.....
I don't watch the needle go in but donated blood for over 25 years.....
so it really is a mixed bag for me so I said "5" on the poll.

I guess the reality is that I must not really be that afraid given what I wrote above!

 

[mayerling]

Couldn't care less.

 

[packrat]

Five? I hate them, and I get sweaty and floaty headed when I have to have a shot or blood drawn, but I've had it done so many times...when I've had to have it done often in a short time, I'm less apt to be freaked out. But when it's been a while, then I am more anxious. Shots at the dentist are no big deal. My mom came w/me when I got my tattoo worked on last week and she remarked about my fear of needles and the ease of my tattoo sitting. My artist told her there are a lot of people who are afraid of shots/blood draws, and will not blink an eye at a tattoo. It's a different experience entirely.

 

[dk168]

Does not bother me.

Used to give blood and watched the 16G needle going into my arm.

I was a human pin cushion recently when it took 5 attempts by 3 nurses in order to get a blood sample out, being a bit thick skinned (literally it seems) and slightly dehydrated did not help.

Don't wish to repeat that experience in a hurry!

DK

 

[luv2sparkle]

Not very. I voted 3, just cuz I would skip a needle if I could. That's about it. After 5 babies and 5 or 6 rounds of allergy shots, I'm pretty much cured.

 

[kenny]

While stationed in the Philippines I got a really serious case of food poisoning.
My digestive system quickly evacuated its contents out of both ends.

I couldn't hold down water even though the body needed more fluid to flush itself out.
The doctors told me that the body next gets the fluid it needs by extracting it from the blood, making the blood dangerously thick.

In the ER they tried to get an IV into me but the veins were shrinking or something.
They used a huge THICK needle that was plastic or teflon or something.
It hurt like hell and it wasn't pretty.

I didn't die, but wish I had.
Now I don't like needles.

 

[momhappy]

I certainly don't like them, but I realize that it's sort of an irrational fear because they really don't hurt that bad. It' smote about the anxiety leading up to them. After having babies, you sort of get used to it because there's a lot of poking and prodding that you go through. It's actually worse watching your kids get stuck with a needle (and they have over 15 vaccines by the time they enter kindergarten)

 

[LoveLikeCrazy]

Not afraid at all, and I love giving them

x2 RN here...LOL. I also love the big burly men who say they are scared of a tiny needle, yet, are all tatted up!

 

[perry]

I love the replies from the people who say they love giving shots to others.... So what does that have to do with the fear of needles. Its not you being stuck.

In my case I self inject at home normally 2-4 times a week (and this is not insulin). The first time or two was "interesting" - now its just routine.

I am also a blood donor - so I understand really big needles being stuck into me.


Have a great day,

Perry

 

[kenny]

Our bodies are kinda like blood-inflated balloons, and needles are balloons' mortal enemy.

I see lots of foreign films, well, foreign to America.
I recall a scene from a Russian film that, while not rational, fed my needle-anxiety.

IIRC ... Picture a dimly-lit room of a 1950s Soviet-era clinic in a remote rural area.
The walls and floor are of filthy tile and there is a large drain in the center of the floor. (How's that for creepy?)
In the room was a chair and two gurneys, each holding the living body of a man.
Two tubes, one from each man's arm, met at a small pump machine between the gurneys.

A very drunk old doctor started the machine transferring blood from the healthy man to the sick one.
The drunk doctor took a seat to wait but passed out while the machine continued to drain ALL the blood from the healthy man ... who of course died.

Ugh! Thanks a lot. I really needed to see that.

I know, needles help good things happen to you.
But like with commercial jets ... when it goes bad it can go very bad.
Fear of flying is irrational too.

 

[lyra]

Not afraid at all. My mom was an OR nurse, so I grew up in a very clinical type household where nothing medical related was a big deal. You just did what you had to do and get on with it. Even so, after recently giving 12 vials of blood at one sitting, and then having 4 cortisone shots in one day, well, OUCH! They don't scare me at all. I'm getting more sensitive to the pain of some of them though.

 

[NOYFB]

I can't have blood drawn without laying down, and I can't watch the needle go in my arm or I'll pass out. I always have to tell them to use a butterfly needle too, because I have very shy veins. They never believe me and poke me multiple times before realizing that I do, indeed, know what I'm talking about. As a result, I have had to stay a few extra minutes at the Dr's office before, laying down with a cool pack on my head, or my head between my legs, before they'd let me leave. That's embarrassing. I used to be the same way about shots, but having worked in healthcare for so long I'm used to the annual PPD and flu vax, so I don't freak out as much over those. Still can't watch, though. When I had my hysterectomy and had to stay overnight at the hospital I hated having an IV in my hand and couldn't WAIT to get it out. That thing hurt like a B!TCH, but I enjoyed the PCA pump full of Dilaudid for a few hours.

Interestingly enough, I'm pretty heavily tattooed and feel less pain when I watch the needle tattooing me.

I know...I'm weird.

 

[Gypsy]

Well. I would rate a 10. I pass out, unless I am laying down. Needles are my trigger for this: http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/vasovagal-syncope/basics/definition/con-20026900 It's completely involuntary. I can't just 'put on my big girl pants' and grit my teeth and get through it. I've tried. I ended up in the ER.

 

[justginger]

I used to be very bad - an 8? Then I did a 3 week phlebotomy clinical placement last month and was desensitised. Now I'm a 3.

 

[packrat]

I'd rather be tattooed than have blood drawn.

 

[Kelinas]

Used to be a 8.

But now that I donate blood every 14 days? Mostly over it.

They put a heating pad over my vein to help it rise a bit then stick me. I can't watch them do it, but I don't hyperventilate anymore

 

[Resonance.Of.Life]

While I do not enjoy needles, I am not necessarily afraid of them, I just cannot stand the sight of the needle piercing my skin.

I am a regular blood and platelet donor.

 

[arkieb1]

1 - not at all. I don't like it but I am not afraid of it.

 

[lyra]

Well. I would rate a 10. I pass out, unless I am laying down. Needles are my trigger for this: http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/vasovagal-syncope/basics/definition/con-20026900 It's completely involuntary. I can't just 'put on my big girl pants' and grit my teeth and get through it. I've tried. I ended up in the ER.

My oldest daughter has the same problem. She faints 90% of the time she gets a needle or has blood drawn. She always has blood drawn while laying down. It is such a pain for her.

How did you end up in the ER?

 

[Gypsy]

Well. I would rate a 10. I pass out, unless I am laying down. Needles are my trigger for this: http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/vasovagal-syncope/basics/definition/con-20026900 It's completely involuntary. I can't just 'put on my big girl pants' and grit my teeth and get through it. I've tried. I ended up in the ER.

My oldest daughter has the same problem. She faints 90% of the time she gets a needle or has blood drawn. She always has blood drawn while laying down. It is such a pain for her.

How did you end up in the ER?

Well, I had a very friendly but well, ignorant, phlebotomist who always took my blood laying down. I have to get regular blood tests for some medication I take. So one day he was all "have you tried to have blood taken from you in the big girl chair" and I was like "not since I was a kid, I always passed out," and he was all, "you trust me right?" and I was all "okay, let's try this." Well, I sat in the big girl chair. In fact the thing somehow clicked shut. So he starts taking the blood and I pass out, and start to turn BLUE and he and my husband and the staff there couldn't get me out of the chair to lay me down (it had clicked) and they couldn't pull me out from the bottom of it without risk, the room was too small. And no matter what they tried they couldn't get me to wake up and I was turning bluer. Apparently my husband LOST IT and demanded they call the paramedics. I came to in the ER.

So no more big chair for me.

It also happens when I get IVs in. Have to be laying down. Not sitting down.

I also passed out when I got my ears pierced at 10 (not laying down).

It's pretty much just my reality. I am absolutely fine if I am laying down. But if I am sitting up at all, I pass out, and usually turn blue (happened with the IV and ear piercing), and freak everyone the heck out.

 

[OreoRosies86]

Arms I am fine. Hands and wrists I panic and apparently my veins go flat. It isn't an issue of passing out, I'm pretty down with most medical procedures, but my wrists and hands are just a hugely sensitive area and I can't stand them being stuck. An acupunturist once squeezed between my thumb and index finger and I involuntarily screamed the f word

 

[TooPatient]

Very.

I have not had my cholesterol or anything checked. Ever. The doctor wanted the test at my physical two years ago. I still get a reminder that they need my blood to complete this test...

I've been known to get light headed and nearly pass out at the mere thought that the doctor may want to stick me with a needle.

The dentist once did a filling (including drilling and stuff) without giving me Novocain. I wouldn't let them near me with a needle...
(That stunk. Decided that a needle in pre-numbed mouth was less horrifying than dental work with feeling!)

 

[staci76]

I used to be a 9 but after being pregnant, having to have blood drawn and then having an IV, etc when in labor & delivery (including being poked and prodded for a new IV line in my right arm because I was still in the hospital 3 days after originally being admitted which resulted in most of my lower arm being black & blue.... ), now I'd say I'm a 4. I still can't look at the needle going in but it isn't really too bad most of the time...depending on who is poking you with the needle, of course.

 

[Candygrl]

Not really afraid. I've had two epidurals, two spinals, numerous IV's, lots of blood draws, and had to inject myself with insulin my last pregnancy due to gestational diabetes. I definitely do not like them, but I wouldn't say I'm afraid.

 

[Karl_K]

I watch and give directions and have been known to jerk my arm when the person isn't going deep enough.
I have deep veins and most of them are all scared up so they role.
My worst one was 42 with a large bore iv needle tries for an iv to do contrast dye to check my lungs for blood clots in the CT machine.
The lady who ran the machine came in wondering what was taking so long and said why not just put it here and pointed to my forearm. Then the nurse supervisor said no we have to put it in the elbow and started arguing with her. So they ended up having to call someone and he oked the forearm and the test got done.

 

[missy]

I am not afraid of needles and that's a good thing as I have been proked and prodded with them quite the bit this year. I have veins that stick out so the health care professionals never have any problem getting blood from me. I found having an IV very unpleasant though and I had one in my arm for 4 full days. I was very happy to get that out of my arm.

I do occasionally have the vasovagal syncope reaction at the sight of blood so I never look when they take blood from me. As long as I don't see the blood I am OK.

And on the occasion I cut myself more than a paper cut and see the blood flowing out of me, well, I just might faint. It is very hard to control that as Gyspy wrote and something helpful you can do is as soon as you feel it coming on sit down and put your head between your knees. Another method that I have not yet tried is to tense the muscles in your body thereby raising your blood pressure.

http://www.webmd.com/mental-health/features/swoon-at-the-sight-of-blood

 

[LLJsmom]

Can't even look at them, not even on a sewing machine...