This will only hurt a little...

I have a friend that has a phobia of needles.
While his rational side is accepting the necessity of the injection, his emotive side is generating anxiety and fear causing him to tense in anticipation of pain which, of course, is the result he experiences.

He reports that during his last injection he was deliberately distracted by a young woman with a large cleavage entering the room, such is the frustration that the nurses have with his phobia.
He still felt pain and I expect that 'rewards' for his phobia will not diminish its presentation at the clinic.

My personal opinion is that there is a strong psychological component to these experiences and that it is established in early childhood when preventive vaccinations are prescribed.

In the days of his and my childhood, needles were used multiple times and inevitably became blunt, causing pain in the unlucky later subjects who would often see the 'stinger'.
Nowadays, needles are single use and sharpness is guaranteed while the anticipation and sensation of pain is much reduced by concealing the needle and distracting the first-time injectee, especially infants.

Perhaps a study of needle-phobia can be correlated against age to test whether modern practices have reduced its incidence.

Self-injectors, such as diabetics, could separately supply anecdotal information regarding their feelings on first self-administering and correlated with age to compare with the other study.

"Wee, sleekit, cow'rin, tim'rous beastie"?



Really?


"Firefighters in Taiwan caught a 35cm snake and put it into a cage for safe-keeping. They found a tiny mouse and threw him into the cage as food for the snake but what happened next was hard to believe.

The tiny mouse became so aggressive when he saw the snake in the cage that he started to attack it, bite it and scratch it continuously.

After a vicious 30 minute battle, the snake was dead and the mouse was left with hardly a scratch."



Seriously, I do sympathise with your phobia, as I do my friend's.

You are both, in my opinion, unfortunate victims of circumstances that imprinted you both at an early age, before the capacity for rational thought had developed in your young brains.

Sadly, there is little that can be done to remove that imprinting.

So how would you test this? I don't think they would want to jab needles into someone....

There are syringes with needles that retract with a button push (for safety after injection). You could approach the subject with the syringe but retract the needle just before contact with the subject. Would this suffice as a test? Or, would this end up being more of a test in the sense of the "placebo effect"?

Then again, this would make it possible to have a blind test: only half the subjects are informed that the needle will not actually puncture their skin.

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Nope, I am squeamish at the best of times but just do not like the "feel" of the needle going in.....

Squeamish?... here I am, full St Johns Ambulance first aid certificate, have been at the side of the road patching people up before the Paramedics and Ambulances arrive in a multiple vehicle accident, but sit me down and watch Doctors do even the mildest surgery on TV?... I curl up and cringe....

Dont get that wrong, if you get a serious injury and I am the only one around, I do what needs to be done, keep focused, and mind control my fears back into a tiny corner...
But afterwards?... I may need to go for a short walk.... stiff Whisky required....

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right, because rational people understand the purpose of skin is for poking things through.

The thing most people don't understand is that a phobia is not just a fear, it's an IRRATIONAL fear. You can't reason with it; it just is. Some aren't even aware of the exact triggers for the phobia, they just deal with the results.

If it's severe enough, it can completely override any normal response, as the fight/flight/faint reaction takes over. When it gets that bad, you need help. Desensitization and relaxation training can go a long way if you're willing to work hard.

I've got a phobia of all medical situations. Just talking about it disturbs me. I've reached the point where I can do what needs doing and have a reasonable chance of remaining in control, but it's a struggle still.

What started it? I've got a few ideas--all incidents in my childhood. Knowing about them doesn't really help.

Like SD, I too can and have functioned in emergencies without a problem. I've helped out at car accidents, and with other injuries. It's non-emergency situations that really give me problems.

There is nothing more frustrating that wrestling with a genuine phobia--and no amount of abuse by the ignorant can make it go away. If it were that easy, all such sufferers would have cured themselves long ago. News flash: We KNOW it's not rational and seems ridiculous, but we CAN'T help it. Telling us to "Get over it" is not helpful at all.

Distractions can help (as the cleavage girl showed). A good healthcare professional understands this, and when you explain in no uncertain terms about your phobia, they're usually willing to work with you because a stressed out patient (or worse, a fainting or seizing patient) can ruin their whole day.

I was given one of those "You cant see the needle" things (pens) a short while ago....

They made one up especially for me, because I am needle-phobic, to self inject myself with something non medicinal, just to see if I could handle one?....
The reason being one of my Sons had to go on a set of self-injections, and it was either me or the Kid, so they wanted to know just HOW bad I would be....

Epic Fail.
You are supposed to hold the thing steady?....
My hand shook so much it looked like I was mixing a can of paint?....
Sweated more than a Boiler stoker on a steam ship........
Handle the pen?.. I had as much dexterity with that as I would have had writing this whilst wearing boxing gloves?...
I never did get to press the button....
But heck, I gave it a go. At least I know my own limitations?...
I am however left wondering that in an emergency situation, COULD I do it to someone else?....
I an hoping the answer will be yes, as a good friend is Diabetic...........
Perhaps in that situation I wont have time to think, and will just get the job done?....

Eventually, My son, who is also slightly needle phobic (dunno where he gets that from?.... ) overcame his own fears and was able to do it himself....
May the Gods preserve us if I ever became Insulin dependant Diabetic... I wonder if they do it in Tablet form?.....

****Mini Myth Idea**** possibly not a good one?.. opinions invited please.

Can someone who like me and others is MASSIVELY needle phobic react to an emergency situation?...

Scenario I suggest, get one of these epi-pen things without the needle in it, so no actual injection will take place, and "stage" the need to inject someone, as in someone "Act Out" having a Diabetic seizure, and see how well someone like me would react in that situation?...
No other Pre-warning, other than pre-warn people of possible need for that certain person's medical history....

Do you think this may be a bad idea?... I am suggesting this because of my own history with Needles, and I just do not know exactly how I would react, but hope I would cope.....

the new preferred term ins "exsanguinatrix" (the ones in my area are female more often than not)

Due to my wonderful medical condition, I have to check my blood sugar via fingerstick every morning. Almost at the point that my fingertips have become numb to the needle. Also, get to have blood drawn every three months, only about a gallon or so. Perhaps it's due to overexposure that I no longer even flinch when the needle is presented to me or put into my arm (always in the same spot on the inside of my left elbow, have a permanent divot from needlesticks).

Could it be that the treatment methods for those with a phobia to needles could be distraction (Loki's "Cleavage girl" ) and/or overexposure as an attempt to desensitize the subject?


I think in the case of life or death, instinct takes over and rational thought processes are kicked to the curb. I believe that a needlephobic would be able to stick another with a needle if that other's life depended on it.

This goes into the same category as someone, who is not EMT or FF, running into a burning building to save someone. Rational thought is screaming 'what are you thinking?' but instinct is screaming 'you need to save those people' much louder.