I HATE NEEDLES

[mdocfuture]

So I'm a nontraditional student, 31 years old. I'm applying to medical school this year and anticipating possibly having to reapply next year.

Since I was a little girl I have hated and feared needles. Up until the middle of my teens my mother would take me for shots and to have my blood drawn and I would bury my face in her arms. Like it was bad. It was till 18 that I had to face it all on my own and at times it's brought on tears!

At 31, nothing has really changed. At times I feel somewhat desensitized to all, but just barely. As part of becoming a hospital volunteer, I have been pricked 3 times in the past week and each time was rough!


Has anyone experienced this? Did you get over it? How?!

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[Reckoner]

Become a phlebotomist.

 

[wiloghby]

Yes.. Phlebotomist or IV drug user... you'll get over it very quickly being either for only a short time.

Alternatively, you could just trust you will get used to it as you use needles in your medical training.

 

[aspirantmed]

You also have to keep in mind that in medical school you will rarely be on the receiving end of needles (unless medical students do IV practice on each other? We learned that way in EMS?). I think, through repeated exposure, you will eventually get accustomed to it. Personally, I don't like needles either, but I've done countless IVs, blood draws, intramuscular injections, etc., and it all feels like second nature.

 

[NorthernMav]

Yes.. Phlebotomist or IV drug user...

lol

 

[kyamh]

You also have to keep in mind that in medical school you will rarely be on the receiving end of needles (unless medical students do IV practice on each other? We learned that way in EMS?). I think, through repeated exposure, you will eventually get accustomed to it. Personally, I don't like needles either, but I've done countless IVs, blood draws, intramuscular injections, etc., and it all feels like second nature.

I totally agree! I don't like needles when other people are holding them but my work has required me to put in IV catheters and I can do that fine. That said I still hate getting flu shots and TB tests ....just writing about it made my heart rate go up.

 

[lmw312]

So I'm a nontraditional student, 31 years old. I'm applying to medical school this year and anticipating possibly having to reapply next year.

Since I was a little girl I have hated and feared needles. Up until the middle of my teens my mother would take me for shots and to have my blood drawn and I would bury my face in her arms. Like it was bad. It was till 18 that I had to face it all on my own and at times it's brought on tears!

At 31, nothing has really changed. At times I feel somewhat desensitized to all, but just barely. As part of becoming a hospital volunteer, I have been pricked 3 times in the past week and each time was rough!


Has anyone experienced this? Did you get over it? How?!

 

[Reckoner]

I still cringe every time an article on vaccinations pops up somewhere on facebook. The picture ALWAYS shows a needle in someone's arm! WHY.

I usually cringe because it's some pseudoscience anti-vaccine nonsense. WHY

 

[Planes2Doc]

I used to be the same way. I couldn't stand the sight of needles. Then eventually I took gross anatomy in medical school. That pretty desensitizes you to just about everything... You'll be fine!

 

[theseeker4]

I used to be the same way. I couldn't stand the sight of needles. Then eventually I took gross anatomy in medical school. That pretty desensitizes you to just about everything... You'll be fine!

Don't count on that. Seeing a cadaver laying there dissected is a lot different from seeing an open wound on a living person, and cutting through bone on a cadaver is a lot different than seeing a person with a bad fracture screaming in pain...... A whole new set of desensitization awaits you.

 

[The Buff OP]

Hahaha this kind of reminds me of me. I'm not afraid of needles, but sometimes when I visit the doctor I get white-coat hypertension.

 

[Planes2Doc]

Don't count on that. Seeing a cadaver laying there dissected is a lot different from seeing an open wound on a living person, and cutting through bone on a cadaver is a lot different than seeing a person with a bad fracture screaming in pain...... A whole new set of desensitization awaits you.

Oh great!

 

[mehc012]

Don't count on that. Seeing a cadaver laying there dissected is a lot different from seeing an open wound on a living person, and cutting through bone on a cadaver is a lot different than seeing a person with a bad fracture screaming in pain...... A whole new set of desensitization awaits you.

The only 2 things that really 'get' to me in the ED are ankle and finger injuries (these have bothered me my whole life). So I have tried to pick these up as much as possible, and I always make myself watch. For me, it helps just to mentally talk myself through what I'm seeing as clinically as possible. Plus, seeing it just makes it easier the next time. After seeing my doc reduce a complete ankle dislocation without any anesthetic, it doesn't stress me out so much anymore.
I don't know why fingers and ankles, though...literally nothing else I've seen or smelled has bothered me at all, but those?