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midhaynight
180 M Embraced 1
PathStep 5 Compassion hearts7 Forum posts4 Forum upvotes5 Current upvotes5 Age GroupAdult Last activeJanuary, 1970 Member sinceMay 19, 2015
Recent forum posts
Phobia of Medical Needles
Anxiety Support / by midhaynight
Last post
August 8th, 2023
...See more I have a severe phobia of needles, specifically medical needles. Lancets, syringes, and blood draws freak me out. Normally this would be a problem for an average person, as they only need 1-2 blood draws a year or less, however I am a uncontrolled type 2 diabetic. My phobia has caused me to neglect medical attention as every time I go to the doctors they either force me to go get a blood draw (which is worst type of needle I can find) or trying to get me injectable medications. No matter how much I tell them of my fear they keep telling me my life is at stake and I should 'suck it up'. But that is the exact point. I'd rather die then go near a needle. I avoid pricking my finger and in fact haven't touched my blood meter in almost a year. I feel bad about lying to them, but I feel worse when looking at a needle. My fear has also caused them to believe that I have high blood pressure, as every time they check my blood pressure they mention an A1C test and my blood pressure SKYROCKETS, and when I tell them this they just seem to brush it off. My health while okay(?) for now is going to fail, my blood sugar (apparently) ranges around 450+ and my A1C is usually above a 8. Just for reference blood sugar should be less then 120 and your A1C should be less then 3. My doctors are baffled as I should be in a coma or even dead right now. Nothing I have done seems to help, as taking medication (That is supposed to make me numb to the world) doesn't work until AFTER the blood draws and taking a tranq seems excessive. I have gotten my blood drawn 5 times in the past 2 years and every time I have either fainted, thrown up, or both on the attendants. Listening to music doesn't work, and I have even tried emersion therapy which only has made it worse. The weird part of all this is the fact that neither sewing needles or tattooing needles freak me out like this. Just medical needles. Has anyone here felt something similar to this or otherwise have any advice to deal with this?
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