Gore/Blood N' Guts.

[mlpbarrett]

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Ok.
So this is my big problem. I get soo sqeemish. I just want to know that other's felt the same way when they first started... right? I am sure as time goes on i'll just get used to it.... ?? 😕

 

[DocDVMD]

Personally I never really felt squeamish, but a medical doctor once gave me pretty interesting insight into the whole issue. When you first start out in a medical health field your thoughts go something like this: "OMG there's blood, what do I do? OMG!" Then, after practice and being exposed to it many many times and having learned what to do in certain situations, your mind and body change and it's more of a problem-solving outlook. Your thoughts might change to something like "Ok, there's blood. What is the source of the bleeding? What methods might I use to stop the bleeding?"

Eventually, with training and exposure, it becomes part of your thought process and you become able to deal with it effectively.

 

[bunnity]

Well, from my experience the first time I was watching surgery there was a particularly bloody spay and I thought I was going to throw up / pass out. I had to go take a break for a while. But ever since then I've been totally fine with that type of thing. So I think it matters less what your initial squeamish level is, but it is important that you are able to get desensitized over time.

So definitely don't feel bad about being squeamish because I do think it is something that you can get used to. I think that is one reason that they like applicants to have vet experience - what if someone made it halfway through vet school and then went to do their first surgery and hit the floor.

 

[mlpbarrett]

haha thanks for the response! Yeah, good thing ill be having plenty of experience before I apply. 👍

 

[thunderhawk86]

Yeah I agree with the others. I used to feel faint at a pig dissection or a cat spay and after shadowing I performed one under supervision myself. Newer things can still get to me like the first time I saw an eye enucleation, but I know I can get past it.

 

[mlpbarrett]

Yeah I agree with the others. I used to feel faint at a pig dissection or a cat spay and after shadowing I performed one under supervision myself. Newer things can still get to me like the first time I saw an eye enucleation, but I know I can get past it.

 

[DocDVMD]

Note: some vet students still DO hit the floor the first time they do surgery! Hey, it's hot under those lights, you're standing for a long time, and it's nervewracking... don't sweat it though, anything you feel or worry about tons of other people have gone through as well and made it 🙂

 

[incendium04]

I guess I'm was a weird child growing up 😳 I was one of those I-love-animals-I-want-to-be-a-vet 7 yr olds so I knew I had to get use to blood and needles as I grew up and conditioned myself to tolerate it (well, as far as a kid gets exposed to those things). But I guess that only goes so far... When I started working at vet clinics, abscesses were pretty disgusting! Blood has never bothered me but omg, maggots? After 2 years at an emergency vet hosp, maggots are still just horrible. If I absolutely have to, I will... deal... with them, but I abhor them.

 

[twelvetigers]

I love the nasty stuff. I am a bit of a nutter, though. 😀

 

[Pomona2006]

I always thought I would be squeamish, but it seems like I am only squeamish when it comes to things being done to MY body (I'm terrified of IVs, surgery, etc. but only on myself)

However, I am not even mildly squeamish when it comes to procedures being done on animals. I thought for sure that certain things would get to me, like standing with a doc in surgery to remove the eye of a cat, or legs of dogs from being hit by cars (I work in a shelter)...but nothing ever has. The only thing that has made me gag slightly was when a 5 year old chi/mix had HGE and had explosive diarrhea on the exam table, but not of actual feces, but rather of his rotting intestinal lining. That smell was the worst.

 

[philomycus]

I love the nasty stuff. I am a bit of a nutter, though. 😀

Me too! You're not nutty alone! 😀

But if it's human....I will completely feel ill. I am fine with the blood, guts, puke in an animal. But if i see my own blood being drawn, I pass out. Odd huh?

 

[dee vee emm]

Me too! You're not nutty alone! 😀

But if it's human....I will completely feel ill. I am fine with the blood, guts, puke in an animal. But if i see my own blood being drawn, I pass out. Odd huh?

Haha yeah I feel the same way... I could watch animal surgeries all day long with blood and guts everywhere... but the second I step into a 'human' hospital , I get so creeped out... though stuff being done to me is ok (like getting blood taken). It's seeing it happen to other people.. like if they have an IV in their arms, that's when I get squeamish! lol
But those kinda tv shows don't bother me either...

 

[sumstorm]

I can't really help...if I was squeemish, it would have been the first time I had to help with butchering on the farm...and I don't remember when that was.

If it makes you feel better, the SA vet I work with now can't stand to see amputated parts. She can do the amputation, but it must be immediatly bagged and disposed of. She gets sick if she sees it 'laying around' later.

 

[AgtOrange]

I will admit that the first time I observed a surgery (cat spay), I passed out. Not just feeling faint or dizzy...I blacked out completely, hit the floor, and took the Mayo stand and surgical instruments with me. They had to drag me out of the room. I don't know why I passed out - all I was thinking while watching was, "wow, this is COOL"...then...splat...

In my defense, I was 15 at the time 🙂

For me, at least, it wasn't that I was "grossed out" by anything, it was the effect of watching such an invasive and foreign procedure for the first time, I think. In fact, I love the gross stuff, but there's something paradoxical about surgery - it's both traumatic and controlled at the same time, and that can be a lot for the brain to take in. Whether it's blood or guts or surgery or whatever else, I think it just takes a little time to get used to if it affects you in a bad way - once you've seen it couple times, you don't even think about it anymore. You don't think about how gross the poop sample is because you're not focused on the poop, all you're thinking about is finding the parasites in it...etc, etc.

 

[NittanyKitty]

I really like the "gross" stuff, but I'm sure there will be a day when I get a little nauseous. It must happen to everyone at some point or another - bad headache, breakfast that isn't sitting right, locking your knees, etc. In lab, though, one of the post-docs was bleeding mice out by removing the eyes (they had just been sacrificed), and I asked her if I could watch. She was a little freaked out until she saw I was pretty good at collecting samples. 🙂

 

[shelterURIgirl]

I love the nasty stuff. I am a bit of a nutter, though. 😀

Me too! Hah!

When I first started working in a clinic, I was the naive victim of explosive diarrhea. One minute I'm cuddling with a cute cat, the next I was panicking and completely freaking out (SOMEBODY HELP ME, its in my pockets, I have diarrhea in my pockets!!)

Now, over 3 years later I find myself assisting with some RANK necropsies with no problem. Well, unless there's worms. I still freak out over worms. 😱

So the point is, its all about the journey, so don't get discouraged if you get queasy or grossed out over something. We've all been there.

 

[NittanyKitty]

When I first started working in a clinic, I was the naive victim of explosive diarrhea. One minute I'm cuddling with a cute cat, the next I was panicking and completely freaking out (SOMEBODY HELP ME, its in my pockets, I have diarrhea in my pockets!!)

Ewwww! I hope you don't mind that I cracked up at this. 😀 The one thing that makes me gag a little is watching a dog eat another dog's feces. Not sure why...it's just grooooss. We have a few notorious poop-eaters that come into daycare at work, and they stand around barely waiting for some to fully hit the ground before they pounce on it. Beating them to it is a full-time job.

 

[SHEEPRL]

I love the blood and cutting part(last night went with my mixed animal vet to do a C-section on a cow. she ended up having twins and they were both alive🙂!!) However when animals come in with fleas/lice that creeps me out, I think I use the whole bottle of flea spray on myself afterwards, lol.

 

[twelvetigers]

I cracked up at that too! I've had a dog poop in my pocket before, but it was solid. Just one little turd, lol. Wouldn't have noticed it if another hadn't gone on the floor. Can you imagine finding it later?

"What is that smell? Ugh. Where do I put my keys, I tho... OH GAWD WHAT IS THIS?"

 

[Badger Girl]

My friend is in nursing school at UW Madison and she was telling a nurse during her clinicals that certain things make her feel faint/queezy. The nurse gave her a helpful hint: when you start to feel that way, flex your thigh muscles because apparently it gets your blood pumping faster and it helps take away the faint feeling. I'm definitely going to try it next time I'm around something gory.

 

[AgtOrange]

My friend is in nursing school at UW Madison and she was telling a nurse during her clinicals that certain things make her feel faint/queezy. The nurse gave her a helpful hint: when you start to feel that way, flex your thigh muscles because apparently it gets your blood pumping faster and it helps take away the faint feeling. I'm definitely going to try it next time I'm around something gory.

That's a good tip - I don't know that it increases your heart rate, but squeezing your upper leg muscles does help to push the blood back up towards your head. It also helps to keep you from locking your knees in place while standing in place for a while.

 

[Skillet9886]

One minute I'm cuddling with a cute cat, the next I was panicking and completely freaking out (SOMEBODY HELP ME, its in my pockets, I have diarrhea in my pockets!!)

Haha, that one made me laugh as well. It hasn't happened to me yet, but it has happened to people I've been working with.

The blood/guts/poop never get to me, but needles do. I have been legit phobic of needles for pretty much my entire life. It bothered me a little bit when I first started. When I took my dog into my vet before I started working there (many many years ago) for her annual exam, the tech sucked at drawing blood and was fishing around for her cephalic vein for a while...while I was holding off. Yeah, definitely ran into the bathroom and lost my lunch over that one. The other time was when I first learned how to do IV injections on cats. Something about the rolling veins, I think. Nothing major, just a little queasy. Regardless, those were the only two animal-related needle events that have ever gotten to me. I give injections, draw blood, etc. now with absolutely no problem. It baffles my mom, because I still have panic attacks if I have to get a shot myself. And I can't watch needle scenes in movies or tv shows that deal with people.

 

[twelvetigers]

Needles + people skin =

 

[eep29]

Me too! Hah!

When I first started working in a clinic, I was the naive victim of explosive diarrhea. One minute I'm cuddling with a cute cat, the next I was panicking and completely freaking out (SOMEBODY HELP ME, its in my pockets, I have diarrhea in my pockets!!)

Oh. My. Gosh.

That made for a good laugh!

Although, now that I've admitted to this fact, I'm sure I'll get payback in the forseeable future And yes, the worms do me in, too!

 

[WildlifeSaver]

In HS we had to dissect a pig and a cat. The first dissection was on a pig and I will tell you when I did this my jaw just dropped. I was OK with the cat even though I was a cat lover. haha so maybe I got used to it after one exposure.

 

[RockStarKDub]

Dirty, dead, and/or disgusting? BRING IT ON.

Then again, I'm a pathology nut... At least I can take comfort in the fact that the world needs people like me!