This is yet another confession (I must say, this blogging is really becoming handy. Saves me thousands on therapy bills...): yes, it's true, I am afraid of needles. This is more of an actual phobia than just a simple fear. Now you are now all pondering to yourselves, how can this be, especially in the line of work I am in?
The reality is that I am not afraid of using needles or other sharp instruments on my patients. As you can tell from my previous posts, I enjoy operating and performing procedures, and I thrive in the atmosphere in the OR.
However, it's a different story when it comes to me. I am afraid of any needles aimed at the general vicinity of my skin. I think it all stemmed from my childhood traumas arising from trips to the dentist. To this day, I still dread going to the dentist, even though I have the BEST dentist in the whole world, one who truly knows the definition of painless dentistry.
Nevertheless, call me a chicken, a hypocrite, a baby or whatever less-than-admirable name you want to think of, it's just the simple truth: hypodermic needles scare me. It's not really the pain (because I will grudgingly admit that there's not much pain involved with a shot...), but it's the whole idea of a hollow-bore metal spike being stabbed into my tender deltoid that sends me into a tizzy. I'm getting shivers just writing about it...
The most embarrassing episode happened right before I started college when I had to get a vaccination, and promptly fainted in the hallway of my PCP's office. I remember becoming "mildly" anxious when they told me I needed a shot, getting the injection in my arm, and the next thing I know, I'm supine on the floor with my feet in front of me, the doctor holding my head and my mom anxiously peering down at me.
My nurse has to chase me around clinic during the fall season, when it happens to be flu shot season... I always try to put it off as long as possible, and my flu shot sits in the fridge for several days, with my name in BIG BOLD letters attached to the syringe. Every morning my nurse asks me if this is the day, and I nervously squeak out a "maybe, but not right now", and the cycle continues until I finally break down and agree to have that thing jabbed into my arm. And everyone who knows me will attest to the fact that I am NO silent complainer...
Anyway, guess what? Flu shot season is just around the corner. One of my nurses has announced that they are now available for this year, and I have reluctantly signed up, once again with great fear and trepidation. Yes, I am a pathetic cowardly creature, but everyone's got a phobia... right?
Thursday, September 14, 2006
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20 comments:
Oh my!
Poor Uro Lady Doc... You should see if they are offering a nasal mist this flu season?
My husband and my son are both hugely needle-phobic. Not sure where this came from...
daughter and I plus all pets just take our needle- pokes with no complaints. But husband and son turn green and yelp a lot and scream.
They really can't help it... both are usually full of macho swagger. It embarasses them to be so needle-squeamish. But they are... how do phobias originate? Guessing you and my menfolks just can't help it. Maybe all prenatal origins?
Be strong Keagirl!!!
We are with you, just close your eyes and bite something (not a human)
When I was teaching first year medstudents, I showed them how to put a peripheral venous line in my own arm... a young female medstudent fainted! hehehe it was so funny
I hear ya! I can stick other people, cut, sew on others without hesitation, but HATE having my blood drawn and have to avert my eyes and avoid looking at needles coming my way.
Reminds me of the time I was infiltrating a laceration with lidocaine, and the grossed-out family member asked, her voice dripping with pathos, "How can you *do* that? It's so awful!" "Easy," said I, "it's not *my* arm."
When it is my arm, well then, it's a different matter.
Well, I'm happy that at least Dr. Keagirl would understand my physician phobia. Yes, I am one of those men, near 50, who will notgo to a doctor, and doesent intend to go while conscious.
I have seen grown men cry from fear of the needle while tiny, petite, healthy and elderly women will allow me to practice on their arms. I don't have the phobia, but it is sure impressive how scared some people truly get with just the mere mention of a "shot".
Can't say I'm *afraid* of the needle per se, but I have been known to pass out after vaccinations on occasion. Like this fall when I got my DPT booster. It's good to hear that it isn't a major impediment to practicing medicine, even though the nurses thought it was highly amusing that I was starting med school
When learning to be a flight surgeon, we had to inject ourselves with pretend nerve-gas antidote: shove a needle into our thighs, through our clothes. 'Bout half the group couldn't do it, making silly little stabbing motions and stopping in the air, or just not even trying. Couple got real pale. I was the only one heading to a war zone, so I made myself do it.
Ahh man! I thought I was the only one in the medical field who got dizzy from giving blood or even little blood draws. It was always so embarrassing - especially since I have no problem doing it to someone else! I'm so glad that you all came forward!
(SIGH) This is the reason I didn't pursue medical school. I love medicine and biology - but stick me with a needle and I'm a horrible baby about it. I can give injections, lance a boil, hold flaps of meat and skin back in place, splint a broken bone, get puked, peed, pooped on, hold pressure on a spouting wound but get a blood draw myself? Ha! My vision gets blurry, my heart races, mouth goes dry, I start to hyperventilate. I've lovely healthy O- blood and I get called a couple times of year to donate and I really, really have to psych up to do it. And those ladies at the blood bank get really anxious when I get woozy and nearly pass out. It's embarrasing.
A true phobia is not rational. It's an emotional thing with no rhyme or reason, by definition.
I read somewhere that from an evolutionary standpoint, it was useful by helping to avoid thorns. Makes as much sense as anything else.
I have a similar phobia. I can start IVs all day long, I can even give blood (which is good, considering how often I have to have LFTs drawn) and I have a tattoo (admittedly on my back, where I couldn't see it being done). But the other day we were being trained on the glucometer and had to fingerstick each other and I got that I'm-gonna-pass-out tunnel vision. The flu shot is mandatory at my hospital (without, say, religious reasons), and I'm terrified. I think it's the crunching, honestly.
I am totally in agreement. I am a doc as well, and can do injections all day, but when it comes to myself, forget it. Totally embarassing. I would love to get rid of this phobia and don't know how.
You are all the greatest medical professionals ever. Here I sit, humbly trying to look for information on the nursing field, all the while shuddering at needles, when I stumble on this post and it's fantastic comments. If you all can do it, then darn it, so can I! I have a raging needle phobia, but I am forever drawn to healthcare. Nursing, here I come! THANK YOU!
I would rather give birth than have a needle poke me in the arm.
I did, I went through 2 births and the pain, than to have a needle up my back and it took almost an hour to get the iv in my hand.
So I have been thinking abaout nursing for a long time now but needles and my fainting spells in hospitals have always held me back. Sometimes just the sight of needles makes me feel sick. I have way more confidence now that other professionals have shared the same fear. If nursing does not work out what other career could be an option in the medical field with no needles?
Oh thank god I'm not the only one with this fear. I come from a family of doctors. I would've have willingly followed, but when I found out that you had to get shots on your arm for practice....no thank you. This is why I'm a teacher instead.
Well... all I can say is that when I was going through my first labor, the nurses had to duck because I had a cup of ice as my defense. There was no way I would let them stick any needle on me. My poor husband looked so embarrassed. I fainted when they finally got the IV and epidural into me.
I am afraid of needles ...only when they are used on me...as well! I want to be a nurse... and am about to go downt he path to go to nursing school. I know they practice on each other...do you think i can do it? ! please email me at cbake016@vzw.blackberry.net
i found this blog searching "doctor afraid of needles" and i'm glad to see others in my situation. i have no fear of needles anywhere on my body except my arms...i wasn't afraid before but in my last experience, the doc put the needle in the wrong place and i bled a lot...i got woozy. now i get that feeling even BEFORE i get the needle! how can i undo this negative experience? i watching some venipuncture videos on youtube but got dizzy.
-Aspiring Doc?
I have the same exact phobia, I've fainted several times, once infront of the whole school. It's one of the worst phobias ever in my opinion because all these diseases spreading and for school and stuff. I really can't take it anymore, I wish I could just live my life without this phobia. I'm trying to find out how I can get rid of it without actually seeing one because I'll just faint.
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