Phobia Support Group
A phobia (from the Greek "fear"), is a strong, persistent fear of situations, objects, activities, or persons. The main symptom of this disorder is the excessive, unreasonable desire to avoid the feared subject. When the fear is beyond one's control, or if the fear is interfering with daily life, then a diagnosis under one of the anxiety disorders can be made.
I am wondering if anyone out there has a severe needle phobia like me? If so, have there been any thoughts, exposure therapies, or experiences that have helped you on your road to overcoming the fear? I am seeing a therapist weekly and taking very small baby steps to try different exposures, but want to hear from others.
The phobia has gotten more severe since a few traumas where fainting became associated in my mind with needles, injuries, or the cardiovascular system in general. It's not the pain of the needle that scares me - it's the lack of control. It's the sense of fragility of veins, wrists, or anything where blood could come out of me, or cause a sudden drop in my blood pressure which would lead to fainting. Fainting feels like something I have no control over, like my brain just short-circuits. Seizures are very scary to me for this reason too, though I've never had one, nor seen another person have one. Even the smallest needle, like a blood glucose finger-prick, made me repeatedly come close to blacking out. Just so much as reading or listening to accounts of people with blood clots or traumatic injuries has caused me to faint - once while driving. This phobia is a major health concern for me, because if I ever were to get sick, I would deny myself medical care if there were needles or IVs involved.
Does anyone else know what I'm talking about? What have you tried?
The phobia has gotten more severe since a few traumas where fainting became associated in my mind with needles, injuries, or the cardiovascular system in general. It's not the pain of the needle that scares me - it's the lack of control. It's the sense of fragility of veins, wrists, or anything where blood could come out of me, or cause a sudden drop in my blood pressure which would lead to fainting. Fainting feels like something I have no control over, like my brain just short-circuits. Seizures are very scary to me for this reason too, though I've never had one, nor seen another person have one. Even the smallest needle, like a blood glucose finger-prick, made me repeatedly come close to blacking out. Just so much as reading or listening to accounts of people with blood clots or traumatic injuries has caused me to faint - once while driving. This phobia is a major health concern for me, because if I ever were to get sick, I would deny myself medical care if there were needles or IVs involved.
Does anyone else know what I'm talking about? What have you tried?
deleted_user
I have the same Phobia. i have not been to a drs in years because of it and i am scared that something is wrong. i am also scared of going to the drs because i think somethings wrong only to find out nothing is wrong. I sometimes panic when i see needles aswell. i also pass out with needles.
Join the Conversation
-
My 6mo twin DD's are EBF and just started rice cereal on the first. Everything has been going fine except this morning one of them had a diaper rash (lots of redness around her anus). I read this as one of the signs of an allergy. BUT I did just buy a different brand diaper yesterday (which they have used randomly before w/no issues). Do you think its the cereal or the diaper? Im ready to start...