Did you ever have needle phobia?

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Specializes in multispecialty ICU, SICU including CV.

I don't know why I was remembering this, but it sure is funny now.... :lol2:

I was one of those kids they would have to lay down to draw blood so they wouldn't faint. I remember once in college (before nursing school) I toured a animal behavior lab for a bio class I had and there were rats with these implanted IV catheters, and I almost fainted. When I first started to learn how to do shots --- on an ORANGE, no less --- I would get tunnel vision and my ears would ring!

I guess repeatedly facing your fears as a treatment for phobias really does work...I'm living proof. :p

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Specializes in Hem/Onc, LTC, AL, Homecare, Mgmt, Psych.

One of my classmates in nursing school dropped out when we started learning about injections and practicing them! He couldn't take it.

On a different note, I was everyone's pincushion. I totally didn't mind being poked for the sake of learning.

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Specializes in rehab-med/surg-ICU-ER-cath lab.

I bit my MD's office RN when I was 3 y/o because needles freaked me out so badly! This was also back in the days of house calls & I would talk the poor busy GP MD's ear off just to delay my shot. Meanwhile, I was reading "Cherry Ames" books like they were the bible and knew even at that young age I wanted to be a nurse. When I was 12 I was so very sick with tonsilitis that I couldn't even lift my head up when the MD came for his visit. I just laid there with a temp of 104 and took my shot of Penicillin like a champ. Ever since then needles and I have been friends :)

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Specializes in ICU, ER, EP,.

always better to give than to receive. I'm a woose at blood draws on me... Need your IV started, I even do them in the thumbs, inner wrist, I'm the bomb.

Dare to come at me with a needle... whoa, we have issues

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Specializes in NICU, Nursery.

Yeah I think everyone has some fears of some sort before being fully immersed into this profession. I had a classmate who would get dizzy on the sight of blood (he is a guy) and would you believe that today, he already is a senior in a dialysis unit in a hospital. He told me that on his first try of inserting a needle on a patient, he felt weak and almost fainted. So I guess those who have fears should desensitisize themselves while early so that you can practice with confidence in the future! ;)

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Specializes in Geriatrics, Transplant, Education.
CNL2B said:
I don't know why I was remembering this, but it sure is funny now.... :lol2:

I was one of those kids they would have to lay down to draw blood so they wouldn't faint. I remember once in college (before nursing school) I toured a animal behavior lab for a bio class I had and there were rats with these implanted IV catheters, and I almost fainted. When I first started to learn how to do shots --- on an ORANGE, no less --- I would get tunnel vision and my ears would ring!

I guess repeatedly facing your fears as a treatment for phobias really does work...I'm living proof. :p

I'm one of those 24 years olds they need to lay down to draw blood so they won't faint :lol2:

I hate hate hate getting shots, blood draws are even worse for me. Guess I can dish it out but just can't take it LOL.

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Specializes in NICU Nurse.

When I was little, I used to cry leaving the doctors office if I DIDN'T get a shot:lol2: Don't ask me why lol

When I went through medical assisting school I always was the volunteer to get poked too. For some reason, needles don't bother me:p

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Specializes in student; help!.

I had to be held down for fingersticks, let alone draws. Until I was in my 20s. :lol:

I'm glad I got over it before I got pregnant, because boy howdy, do they like to play vampire.

I had a spinal tap as a toddler, so I think I came by my phobia honestly, but it was so hard to have this one part of my brain being all logical and saying, "Dude, it just doesn't hurt that much, chill out," and the lizard part going, "DANGER! RUN! RUUUUUUUUN!"

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Specializes in Geriatrics.

My Dr gets a kick out of me, he knows I'm a Nurse, so when he has to give me shots he places a Nurse to guard the door so I can't get out (I have been known to sneak out when he left the room to gat the shot)and walks me to the lab. He always says, "You give shots all the time! Why can't you stay still for your own??"

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All these responses are very encouraging...I want to be a nurse, but I have a terrible needle phobia. I can't watch when my blood is drawn or when I get a shot, I pass out about 15 minutes after my blood is drawn, and once my boyfriend at the time had to have an IV for a procedure and I watched the nurse start it, and I don't know what went wrong but blood started squirting everywhere and down I went. Next thing I remember I was in the bed next to my boyfriend and there were smelling salts being shoved under my nose... I gave up on my desire to be a nurse until a friend of mine (she's a RN) gave me some encouragement and sent me to this website.

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Needles never bothered me. When I was little, 7 or 8, whenever I went to my doc and got a shot, I would just sit there and watch as the needle when in, even when it was PCN. It would take so long cos it was so thick.

To give myself a shot, was a different story. I used to take B12 injections and would take me 45min to an hour to inject myself.

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Specializes in multispecialty ICU, SICU including CV.
studentmommakt said:
All these responses are very encouraging...I want to be a nurse, but I have a terrible needle phobia. I can't watch when my blood is drawn or when I get a shot, I pass out about 15 minutes after my blood is drawn, and once my boyfriend at the time had to have an IV for a procedure and I watched the nurse start it, and I don't know what went wrong but blood started squirting everywhere and down I went. Next thing I remember I was in the bed next to my boyfriend and there were smelling salts being shoved under my nose... I gave up on my desire to be a nurse until a friend of mine (she's a RN) gave me some encouragement and sent me to this website.

It wasn't my intention when starting this thread to help people out but I'm happy that it was useful to you! Many of us that are now practicing nurses had fears. If not of needles, it is of infectious diseases/bacteria (everybody knows a nursing student that gowns, gloves and masks to go into a standard precautions room at one point in time!), procedures, doctors, etc. It can ALL be overcome with a little patience with yourself and repetition/practice. Best wishes to you with whatever you decide for your future. :nurse:

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