Trypanophobia
I know a few people have done stories about needles, but it's the one true phobia I have. I’m feeling quite quite ill even writing this as I can see them in my imagination. I've no idea where it came from, but I just *cannot* bear them. Can't look at them, in real life or on screen, can't be near them, and will do just about anything to get out of having to have one stuck in me. So things like dentists and blood tests or even taking my cats to get their inoculations are a living nightmare. And I won’t avoid needles if I’m told I need to go for fear that if I don’t, things might get worse, and next time they might need a bigger needle. And a Black and Decker drill.

Friends of mine know that if they start talking about anything that's likely to have needles as part of the subject matter (and seeing as a few of them work at hospitals that's not uncommon), I need a warning so I can cover up my ears and eyes so as no to lip read, or bugger off to the bar/loo/outdoors. There’s just something so cruel about needles. They’re designed to do one thing – punch holes in skin. I like my skin. It keep everything valuable (well, not my wallet) like organs and blood where it needs to be. I like it as it is.

Anyway, a while back I had to have a blood test. And a very good friend of mine kindly said he’d come along with me as I was genuinely concerned I’d run screaming for the hills if left to my own devices. He said afterwards that he hadn’t realised how serious I was about my phobia.

We got there, bright and early so as not to have to wait a long time and risk my overworked heart adding a cardiac arrest to the day’s problems, took a deli style ticket from the machine and were, thankfully, called in quickly. That’s when the crying started. No build up, from no tears to a terrified, angry Niagra. I was fighting my own body – I was so, so scared that I completely tensed up meaning they had trouble getting me to unfold my arm, let along get near a vein. Some poor nurse was trying to talk to me, to get me to talk, and was asking questions about my job and stuff, just to get me to refocus I guess. Not a hope. I couldn’t speak let alone answer coherently. My friend was standing to my left; I was sitting in a chair with the nurse fighting my seemingly autonomous right arm. Fortunately for my friend, he was wearing a leather jacket, as the only way I could stop the racking sobs, and the associated convulsions which in my mind would have led to a vivid tearing of all of my arm skin, was to grab his arm and bite down hard on the creases in the leather around his elbow. There were bite marks for a while...

The thing is, amid all of that, I don’t even remember the needle going in. I really don’t. But I know I’ll be the same next time.

Damn – I hoped writing this would be cathartic but I still feel ill :(
(ancrenne made Tourette's do a moderate wee on, Tue 15 Apr 2008, 13:10, closed)

Trypanophobia
I had this, and it's unspeakable... Cancelled trips to countries that required vaccinations, lied about feeling ill to avoid blood-tests etc. I know where you're coming from and it's hideous.

I'm not cured, but I've got a coping strategy. Beta-blockers. They REALLY do work. They take away the vaso-vagal reflex which you're describing. (I'm not a doctor! Don't take this as instruction to take them without prescription!)

I wanted a tattoo and I wanted to be rid of the tryps. Took advice from my doctor (they DO take you seriously... Honestly!) and was prescribed the beta-blockers. I couldn't believe it, but I was then able to face tattoos, needles etc. Now, situations involving needles piercing my skin simply involve a bit of reasoned nerves and not the "I'm going to DIE get that AWAY FROM ME!" terror which only sufferers understand.

Right. Thus ends my rant. Forgive the length.
(yearsofpractice, Tue 15 Apr 2008, 13:31, )

Thanks for the tip
I'm actually hoping to learn some persyckerlogical techniques to help but might try beta blockers if all else fails. I'm also planning to never get ill and never go anywhere where I need an injection. Some might think it;s an extreme reaction, but you and I know it's the right way :)
(ancrenne made Tourette's do a moderate wee on, Tue 15 Apr 2008, 13:35, )