I have heard many badass statements during my surgery rotation. I have also heard a few jaw-dropping questions that anxious patients ask their potential surgeons, such as, “how many patients have died under your care?” #yikes#surgery#physician#badass#medicine#PatientCare
I’ve been going through a mental struggle/horrible increase of anxiety and I hate all the reasons for it.
For the past few weeks I’ve been struggling with this horrible guilt because I don’t want to get the vaccine at the very same time I really want to.
I suffer from Trypanophobia. Fear of needles. And it’s not, “I’m scared and I don’t like them” I physically cannot enter a doctor’s office without my heart rate skyrocketing. I think the highest it’s ever gotten, just upon entering the room, is 145BPM.
I have had doctors kick me out of their office for fear of me accidentally harming a nurse or them, when trying to give me a needle. I’ve signed papers to refuse blood work that could really alter decisions down the road, I’ve passed out, and I’ve gotten one state exemption for a vaccine because it wasn’t worth the trauma to try and give to me (I was one month shy of being the age where it was not mandatory).
It’s my ultimate trigger. I haven’t be able to watch the news because even seeing or hearing about people getting vaccinated makes me faint.
And I feel horrible about it. Because I really want to get the vaccine.
Most doctors have never acknowledged my phobia. Because make no mistake, it is not a “fear” it is a PHOBIA. I’ve been invalidated, belittled and made to feel horrible because of something I have no control over. Recently, I had a doctor tell me “oh I don’t like getting needles either, no one does, I’ll give you a little secret FREE OF CHARGE: So just close your eyes, take a deep breath, and think of a happy place”
I’m 22 years old. You don’t think I’ve tried that? I’ve tried visualization, cognitive reframing, putting my legs up in the air and laying down, snapping a rubber band against my wrist, even medication before an injection. None of which has ever worked. Everytime it was necessary for an injection, I’ve had to have at least three people hold me down. To me, getting an injection, is like a life or death decision. It’s sounds dramatic, but I would rather get every bone broken in my body than face a needle. When I go into a doctor’s office, I count the number of windows, doors, and people, and consider what’s locked or unlocked and where’s the nearest exit.
My mother and my boyfriend recently got the virus, and are thankfully alright and recovering. However, I struggle with thinking of how it could’ve been prevented and if it was some how my fault. I saw on the someone address the issue of getting a vaccine with a fear of needles and they said the best way to get over your fear: “Just get it, and prove to yourself you can do it”
…really?
I feel at a loss. I don’t expect a miracle answer, or any answers, I just wanted to get that off my chest and share it.
If anyone wishes to go into the medical field, please, respect the fears and phobias of your patients. I know sometimes it’s necessary and unavoidable, but don’t make them feel like you understand by grouping them in with a group of people that just finds it “unpleasant”. I struggle with this fear everyday and it has seriously effected my life. It is not something I can turn off, or fix with happy thoughts. It’s a disease, of my own minds making, and I know others struggle too.
I SUPPORT MEDICAL MARIJUANA. EVERYONE SHARE THIS!!!! LETS HELP THE MOVEMENT
Support the cause. Coincidentally my buddy knows the first little man in the picture that was having seizures and couldn’t properly speak. He is born and raised in Puerto Rico and was so happy when he heard about this post. Crazy what a small world we live in huh.
Hey evryone im felling lonely latelly and wish to find doctor to work on me in open to evry medical stuff from obgyn play to resus and icu play im a good patient please contact me if intrested im open to online had well has irl im in illinois usa and im a 21years old female
