Trypanophobia - Fear of Medical Needles

Hi @gillibean1123

From one fellow needle fearer to another..

I completely understand your pain!

I also get sleepless nights and lose my appetite for days leading up to appointments.

I'm not sure phobias are inherited as a phobia is a learnt behaviour, and since you never knew that your dad has Trypanophobia too, it's unlikely you gained it from him, though you already came up to that conclusion yourself!

I find lying down when having a blood test helps with when I'm feeling like I'm going to faint. So if that has helped you too, and if there hasn't been any official coping mechanisms .. then I guess that could make us the founders 😂

I suppose with all phobias they say exposure is the best option. (I regret writing that too since I also struggle coming to terms with that horrible fact)

Though there must be more coping mechanisms, some may work for others and some may not. Seems like trial and error, maybe not overcoming the fear but atleast finding ways to cope better and maybe bring with you a strong set of teeth😬 to grin and bear it

Fingers crossed - we're much stronger than those needles 💪

Greetings fellow needle-hater. It’s always nice to encounter another person who experiences intense anxiety whenever they need to have a vaccine, blood test, or injection of any type.

I’ll be perfectly honest though, and this might be because I’m much older than you, but I don’t have as severe reaction to medical needles as you’ve expressed - at least not anymore. When I was a little kid, I would absolutely have to be held down or promised a lot of ice cream in order to receive a shot or to undergo a blood test. Overtime, even though my personal distaste and discomfort towards them remained intact, I was able to restrain myself and not freak out as often when given a medical injection or blood test. I still absolutely hate anything that involves pricking or piercing my skin with a needle and I always have to somewhat force myself into the doctor’s chair and promise myself some kind of reward for going through with it. So while I probably don’t experience the same level of fear and dread that you do when it comes to needles, I think I can safely say I still have trypanophobia to some extent.

Since I’ve been scared of needles for about as long as I can remember, just like you, I also don’t know how exactly I acquired this phobia. Perhaps it had something to do with my Asperger Syndrome? Perhaps it’s another aspect of my over-sensitivity to any form of stimuli, physical or mental or emotional? Maybe it is genetic? I don’t know. What I do know is that at least part of what makes me hate needles and injections is the fact that it’s piercing your skin, the one thing that keeps your body completely together and your last line of defense against threats to your insides. To me it’s sort of like having something crash through the walls of your home: your personal safe haven, your own sanctum has been breached, and you can’t help but feel a little violated or at least vulnerable. The mental image of a needle entering my skin is more than enough to put me in a rather uneasy, uncomfortable, “please make it stop” mood.

I also can’t stand to watch other people being injected with needles for any purpose - especially if drugs are involved. Trainspotters was one of the hardest, most uncomfortable movies I’ve ever forced myself to not stop watching. I honestly didn’t mind the jailbait character or the dead baby compared to constant scenes of the protagonist and his friends destroying their bodies with heroin and other illicit drugs. I don’t think I slept that night purely because of how many times I had to watch someone put a needle in their arm for a hit.

Ok ok, enough rambling about my experiences with trypanophobia, let’s discuss coping strategies and mechanisms. One thing I often do which I mentioned earlier is promising myself some kind of reward if I go through with the vaccine or blood test or whatever. It can be anything from a lunch at McDonalds, smoking cannabis after the shot, a movie with friends, or sometimes even a floatation therapy session (seriously, look up floatation spa therapy, it’s one of the most relaxing and rejuvenating experiences I’ve ever had).

But of course that alone might not be enough to help you get through the whole having a foreign object pierce your skin and sometimes put unfamiliar chemicals into your bloodstream thing. Another strategy I tend to use is bringing headphones so that I can listen to music I like while the nurse or doctor does their thing. I will also sometimes bring a blindfold or sleepmask so that I won’t be tempted to look at the needle going into me. In addition, I’ve found grabbing into something like a stress ball usually helps distract me from the brief pain, or perhaps doing something like stepping hard on my own foot or biting my tongue to focus my attention away from the needle prick. Anything you can do to keep your attention away from the shot or blood test could make the process go so much faster and smoother. By the time the shot or whatever is done, you might not even notice it ever happened because you were too distracted by the music or biting your tongue or the image of you just chilling out and watching Rick and Morty while stoned.

I hope this reply helps in any way. At the very least, you can know that you are absolutely not alone in your trypanophobia, and that it isn’t simply “something you gotta just grow out of”. While you can certainly learn to feel less overwhelmed with anxiety or not have a nervous breakdown whenever you have to go through with it, chances are you will always experience at least a little dread when it happens. And that is perfectly ok and normal. That’s what life is all about, in my opinion - not making our problems disappear or getting rid of our faults entirely, but learning to cope with them and making them not hold us back from enjoying life the way we deserve to. Thank you very much for sharing with us, mate, and I hope you’re able to make your next blood test or vaccine a little less nightmarish for you. I mean, if I could do it, so can you.