Welcome again to everybody! Make yourself at home. Sit down in that chair over there. Take off your shoes. I’m not cleaning mud off the floor. In the time-honoured tradition of our group, here is our weekly discussion thread!

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  • DankZedong
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    1 year ago

    Had a medical today at work, for which they have to draw blood. My only fear in life so far is needles, and I can’t handle them (except for tattoos for some reason, my fear is unreasonable). When the doctor said she had to draw blood, I lost all the color in my face lmao. I almost fainted afterwards. But I survived. Now let’s hope everything is well.

    • Ratette (she/her)
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      81 year ago

      Having blood drawn makes me giggle uncontrollably. Like I just burst into manic laughter lmao 🤣 wtf is wrong with me 😖 I get super nervous around needles so I assume its an anxiety and fear reaction.

      • DankZedong
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        71 year ago

        Yeah that’s a reaction to fear, I have it as well. I’m scared of things of course, but needles just trigger a huge fear in me. I giggle, I talk a lot, I have nervous movements, I start sweating and my vision starts to go black. I have 0 reason for this, it’s like this for as long as I remember. People that don’t know this are always amazed when they see me like that, as I’m normally a calm and composed person. Needles throw all my control away.

        • Ratette (she/her)
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          51 year ago

          Awwwwh 🫂 it’s just one of those fears that is kinda totally rational. Why would you be okay having metal pierce your body?

          For me it’s the fact you can feel it go in and I got told a horror story of someone tensing their arm muscle and trapping the needle inside one time as a kid so now that haunts me 😱

          • Arsen6331 ☭
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            1 year ago

            I only have a reaction when I can feel the substance under my skin after the needle is removed. This usually only happens when I have to get injected in my face because the skin there is extremely sensitive. The needle itself does nothing, and nothing happens if it’s injected anywhere else, but specifically when I get injected in my face, I get a vasovagal response within 1-2 minutes and go into bradycardia. I already know precisely when it’s about to happen because I’ve experienced it quite a few times now as it was triggered by pain caused by my genetic condition

            Anyway, I certainly don’t have good luck when it comes to genetics. At least I don’t have any allergies.

            • Ratette (she/her)
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              61 year ago

              Oh damn I don’t know how you cope, the anticipation alone would have me shaking.

              My nurse knows I’m a coward so she just gets me waffling about how much I hate tories and then stabs me when I’m distracted the fiend.

              • Arsen6331 ☭
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                41 year ago

                I’ve gotten desensitized to it due to years of constant injections and blood draws. I used to be scared when I was younger (lasted until I was around 10 years old) to the point that I would literally physically fight the nurses and doctors, though I was too young to actually do any harm to them. Even when something has to be injected into my face, the vasovagal reaction is not due to fear, at least not consciously, it’s just kind of a response to the weird sensation of feeling a liquid under my skin.

    • Arsen6331 ☭
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      1 year ago

      I am used to it at this point, I have a condition that can cause amyloidosis as well as a medication for it that I have to take daily that has the potential to cause severe liver issues in some cases, so I have to get my blood drawn at least twice a year. I also had one of the worst possible cases of acne (my dermatologist said he’s never seen a case that bad before), so I have to take a really powerful medication for that as well, and it has side effects such as highly increased cholesterol levels, more liver issues, depression, etc. Anyway, I have to get my blood drawn at least 4 times a year right now. I used to be really scared but I am used to it now because I have to do it so much. I think it helps that the sight of blood does nothing to me, so I don’t go unconscious from seeing it.