the world can be so very scary. a good friend can help with this a lot sometimes.
alt image (blahaj zone, worse quality)
when i got my blood drawn last time, i had no one. they ended up moving me to the room with an open window for… especially scared patients. i hid my face and covered my eyes because i believed it would make things easier. they would draw three times over the course of an hour. i think it helped.
the nurse person said “you are doing this very well” which -… made me feel things at a point in time where it wasn’t needed, so i said “thank you, you are doing this well too.” which i did mean genuinely, i have had much worse experiences. but - it also just felt weird.
one thing that can help: if you noticed that one … arm is easier than the other, tell the staff about that! this way they wont miss-poke you since they are working with the easier arm. previously, a nurse got completely stuck on my left arm, poking three times and not getting it. then they tried the right one and it worked flawlessly, even calling it “easy”. this might be worth knowing about yourself.
maybe, after Blue over here is done getting the blood, White could drive Lilac to the next chili chee place because of how very brave they were? that would be very sweet, wouldn’t it? ~
i will make one more post today so that i filled the slots for tomorrow and the day after tomorrow as i wont have access to my laptop at that point. and i don’t wanna make low quality posts. so here i go making more posts.
i wish you a lovely and not-scary day <3
Needles are not fun…
gotta give my regular sacrifice to the vampires of est’ro’gen, though…
yesyes samsies… mine is in 5 days… scaryscaryscaryscaryyyyyyyy >o< nooooooooo
scary…
hehe yeah I just don’t do well in those situations at all, doctors office and hospitals put me on edge immediately, I’m not sure if it’s the sterility of the place or what so I get it. I was (I guess?) blessed with veins that you could hit from space so I don’t have a lot of trouble with needles that way, however, I have had a life long fear of being poked in the eye by a sharp object or needle or something so every time something sharp comes out anywhere close to my eyes I twinge
glad you got through it okay and good tip about the arm :)
lovely not-scary day to you too! 💜awww yeaaa u get it. yesss doctors places also put me on edge… but honestly, if there were
- no needles and blood stuff
- no scary poking devices
in a doctors place, i probably couldn’t care less.
e.g.: i have essentially no fear of dentist places. because so far… ive never been hurt there. it’s maybe a bit uncomfy, but it’s fine ~ i feel like i could have a fun talk with my dentist… well, as much as i can with an open mouth that is.
and awwwawaawaa thank you for the good day <3
I faint nearly every time I get blood drawn T.T. I tell the doctors that it’s an issue every time and every time they don’t believe me and every time it ends up causing issues because I either immediately pass out or become so weak that I need a lot of extra time lying down and immediate fluids.
yyyes samsies… u fall over and… u just hear “oh - bring a water and sugar, quick!”…
yea, it really really sucks… it’s bad…
however, i believe that over time it gets better. it has gotten better for me recently. it was done multiple times over some days and i really… got somewhat used to it.
at some point i started just laying there, being flushed, but not… u know… losing sight and hearing. they tell me “please wait a few minutes before getting up” but it’s gotten a lot better.
i hope it can get better for you to. i really wish that for you.
i’ve always had this as well, as a result of my very low blood pressure (i am tall and extremely skinny). since starting HRT and having to get blood drawn regularly, my strategy has been to drink an entire bottle of soda¹ followed by as much water as possible about 10 minutes beforehand. haven’t had to ask for a traubenzucker for the last few times now :)
¹ Tirola Kola my beloved
As a (training) phlebotomist (someone who draws blood), working with patients who struggle with needles requires an immense amount of empathy and a calm demeanor. I find that not all phlebotomists are great at calming patients, and some definitely don’t handle it the best. I don’t want to hurt or distress my patients, so I do my best to be as calm and collected as possible. Unfortunately, those are also the most stressful draws for me, as they could be accompanied by syncope (fainting) or panic attacks. For patients where that may be an issue, it’s best practice for them to lay down in an exam room so that they aren’t injured if syncope were to occur.
But I will certainly say that if you have a spot that you’ve found works well, communicate that to the phlebotomist! It helps both of us, because it helps us find a viable vein quicker, and it feels less stressful when we go for the poke. You also have the right to ask us to stop at any point. We cannot draw blood from a patient who doesn’t consent. It can help to have someone with you, but if you aren’t able to arrange that, I can at least say that I will do the best job I can to calm you and keep you grounded. You can also ask to be laid down if you prefer.
My experience is limited to that of the provider, as I have no trouble with needles myself, but I try my best to understand and be empathetic to those who struggle with it themselves. One of the people in my cohort actually has a needle phobia (but only when the needle is going in them), so I’m trying my best to learn how to best calm them so I can be better with patients in the future.
I guess the point of me making this comment is to say that, as medical staff, we empathize with you, and want to do our best to make the draw as easy, quick, and painless as possible for you. We (or at least I) want to make sure that we do everything we can to help you through a stressful situation ❤️
oh, oh wow thank you a lot for sharing this! <3
this was a very valuable read and really just - fun to see the the other side ~
and yessss it really does make a big difference if you get a phlebotomist who… at least pretends to understand and calm one down. but yessss i imagine these can be very stressful for you too. when someone is in distress this much… getting a poke on them just as they are in a calmer moment must be hard.
yeaaaa… you really gotta be very empathetic to work with patients like that about something you yourself don’t even experience. (i wanna be like that maybe some day)
anyway, thank you for sharing this. and also have a lovely day, again <3
You did so well.
whaaaa wwawawawawaaaaa whaat >o< na–.— nah- — nooooo i - i just layed down and andand waited and— hid my face ,…, and some of the staff started lookin at me thru the door and simled… not to laugh at me but… to smile at me… i smiled back… and … hid my face again…
maybe they noticed i liked it when the nurse said that… whateeverrr–
anyway >///< aawwawawaaaa-
You did well :)
Blood draws are the worst. I’m proud of you! <3 I have a severe phobia of needles, yet I have managed to get my blood drawn every 3 months for the past 2 years. Here’s some things that helped me get through it.
Drink water. Starting at 3 days before the blood draw, start a mega hydration routine. Drink tons, get those electrolyte sports drinks, and make a drinks schedule. Plan to finish a large water bottle 5 or 6 times per day. Doing this makes your veins fuller and easier for them to get on the first try. It also makes it much faster for them to get the blood they need once the needle. Doing this prep work makes it much easier.
Directing the phlebotomist to wherever is easist on your body is a good thing. Everyone is a bit different. You probably know more about yourself than them. The veins in my elbow are very shy and they usually struggle to get the needle in. I’ve had enough times where they’ve poked at my elbow a few tines, given up and switched to the back of my hand enough times that I just tell them to get it from there. There are more nerves in the hands, so it hurts more, which is why they tend to go for the elbow normally, but they’ve got the vein quickly on the first jab to the hand every time I’ve been properly hydrated, so back of the hand every time for me.
Breathe. Our breath is such a fundimential part of being alive, that its connected to everything. When you feel relaxed, you breathe slowly and deeply. When you’re anxious you breathe quick and shallow. These aren’t only effects of how you’re feeling, they’re also a self re-enforcing cycle. If you’re nervous you breathe shallow, which increases your heart rate which makes you feel more nervous which makes you breathe even shallower. You can elevate your heart rate to exercise or stress type levels just by deliberately breathing quickly and shallow alone. You can also do the reverse. Slow deep breathing cuts off that cycle, makes you get less nervous. I find it very effective when dealing with nerves and discomfort for blood draws or more recently getting face electrylosys. I close my eyes, focus on my breath. First make it deeper, then make it slower. Helps much with the coping.
Blood draws are awful, but I found these things have made it a more manageable kind of awful.
now that sounds like 3 years of hrt, hmmm? ~ i’m happy that you can make it through them <3
and yessss im very similar. it’s straight up the reason why… i started hrt… so late. i could’t do it earlier, i had such… death-fears about the whole thing.
but thank you for the tips!!! will definitely be taking the drinking and breathing advice. thank you very much for those! <3
I’m 1.75 ish years on HRT. I got a blood draw prior to starting to HRT to establish baseline levels and test other things. I hadn’t seen a doctor in about a decade due to depression reasons so there were other tests that were prudent to do at the time.
Since starting HRT, I had a blood draw every 3 months. We tweaked the doses slightly each time, so had to test again 3 months later. Finally everything looked good, so no change in doses, thus 6 months instead of 3 this time.
Blood draws are very unpleasant but very much worth doing to transition. I’m happy you’re able to do it now! <3
PS. Juice boxes. My place I do my blood draws always has little juice boxes for children to help with lightheadedness if they feel like passing out. I make them get one from the cupboard before we start, to have it pre-prepared, because I know I will need it.
awwwww omygoshhhhh juice boxes aaaa <3 thats toooo cutieeee aaaa omygosh— … i know it’s not meant to be cutie but im imagining it be SOOOO cutie omygosh----
just - wow. sitting there with a lil kid juice box.— wow… okay imma stop yapping now and-- do whatever… (think about juice boxes)
I get a severe vasovagal response from any needle to vein contact on me. I go grey, have a panic attack, pass out, and wake up crying.
Asked doctors and nurses for help, and apparently it only gets worse as you get older.
No punchline, just a shitty situation.
i have had a similar problem but at some point I got poked plenty times in a row (over multiple days) and… that made it go away, at least dir those days. no more going blind, just… getting flushed and waiting a bunch of time before leaving.
I am stillless scared because of that. I believe that it gets worse when you get older only when you still push it away like it is death itself. I don’t do that anymore.
maybe there is a way out.
![im here for you. CW: small needle. DAY 10 [OC, brainmade]](https://files.catbox.moe/puw4mr.png){kind=link}