years and years and years of debilitating anxiety surrounding getting my blood drawn. years and years of passing out at the dentist, seventh grade science class, in the hall of a hospital while a friend got a shot, at the eye doctor. you don't know the amount of thought i've put into this phobia of mine.
and today i went to the doctor. alone. and i let them draw my blood completely unexpectedly. and i didn't faint. i did turn grey in the face, got tingly fingers and broke out into a profuse cold sweat that wet the back of my shirt through. but i sat up five minutes later and drove myself home.
i'm so proud of me. i'm going to go crack open a big bottle of beer and try to not think about the experience for the rest of my life.
You done good! It's hard to deal with a phobia like that; congrats! I always turn my head away when they draw blood--but I like to the end result (the vials), which is kind of weird.
Posted by: OmegaMom | 20 October 2006 at 03:46 PM
CONGRATULATIONS!!!! And by the way, the BEST dentist I ever had is in Portland -- she's my old boss's sister and she works with people who have dementia and people who are inc*st survivors (fixed for bad searches) and are triggered by having things in their mouth so I figured she could work with run of the mill terrified (i.e., me). Her name is Pat Bade and she is so great. If you need a dentist, look her up! She was downtown when we were there. (I used to walk there from work.)
Posted by: dawn | 20 October 2006 at 06:07 PM
You should be proud!
I used to have a HUGE phobia about needles (for myself -- could do it to someone else easily!), and was terrified about IVF (and pregnancy) for this reason. Three things helped me: first, learning that you should NOT try to relax (only makes you more lightheaded); instead, clench the fist in your opposite arm, hard. Second, visualize a good pain that you don't mind -- lancing a boil, pulling out a hair, whatever -- and imagine that's what about to happen. Third, and convenient for infertility treatment: do it over and over. Habituation works, and for me it's been longlasting -- I had the option of pills or a GIGANTIC shot in the butt recently for strep, and I was like, eh, shot sounds easier.
Posted by: DoctorMama | 20 October 2006 at 06:54 PM
Totally awesome, my dear. :) I also get the tingly finger thing when having blood drawn which, fun, is on Monday. Yoi.
Posted by: Jenna | 20 October 2006 at 07:31 PM
:) Progress is good! Like DoctorMama said, visualizing another pain is good. Personally, I bite the inside of my cheek and look away so that I might not notice the pain right away. I didn't used to have problems until the day they needed three nurses to draw blood, each taking their turns torturing each arm.
Posted by: Julie | 21 October 2006 at 04:16 AM
Good for you!! I'm glad you were able to overcome your phobia this time. Congratulations!
Posted by: Lilian | 22 October 2006 at 08:03 PM
Congratulations. I have the same problem... fainting in biology class - even infant and child development in college. I'd been doing good w/ blood drawing for the past year... but then I went for my shots to travel to Ethiopia..... passed out so deeply I was dreaming before I came back.
Travel health specialist explained that passing out was quite common (made me feel better since I was the only person I knew w/ the problem) and gave me a name for it - if only I could remember it.
Posted by: 3+4more | 01 November 2006 at 04:18 AM
Found it:
Vasovagal syncope
you can look it up on wikipedia.
Posted by: 3+4more | 01 November 2006 at 04:24 AM