Scared of needles/blood Want to medicine

Hey guys.

Today was my last day of work experience. I was doing radiology but today I was just shadowing a Doctor in A and E. Ive enjoyed the experience thoroughly so far as I like the science side and the patient contact makes it all very interesting. However, when the Docotor did a blood test I began to feel sick. I looked at the needle going through and the blood coming out and it was fine. But after I sort of started thinking about it, my heart started beating faster and blood was rushing to my head.

My heart is set on Medicine and this experience has left me heartbroken. Is there anything I can do to overcome this fear? Would repeated exposure to this kind of stuff help me? How normal is this and are there medical students who have also experienced this? IS Medicine just not the career for me?

(edited 8 years ago)

Try CBT

Original post by apronedsamurai

Try CBT

Could you expand on that? What exactly would I need to do/Who do i need to ask?

Reply 3

User947387

Original post by littleheron

Could you expand on that? What exactly would I need to do/Who do i need to ask?

Speak to your GP who can make a referral.

Reply 4

HannahC-H

Repeated exposure will definitely help, don't give up on medicine because of it! Your response is quite likely to be have been due to your thinking about the needle sliding under the patient's skin and then subconsciously imagining how it would feel to you, which is sure to elicit a negative reaction! Med students adapt on their course and you will quickly learn to distance yourself from what you see, such as horrific injuries (should you be working in A&E) etc. It will definitely diminish over time, and there is no reason to throw away your dreams of doing medicine over this, as it is easily overcome!

Reply 5

littleheron

Original post by HannahC-H

Thank you so so much. I think ill try watching videos of blood tests and hopefully over time Ill get over it. And if I dont by the time I at Uni, im sure the constant exposure will help me overcome it or I may learn some techniques of overcoming the fear. Thank you again.

Reply 6

MonteCristo

I don't think this is something you need to worry about. We see lots of work experience and medical students faint on their first time in theatre. I also recall fainting on my first day of medical school when an occupational health nurse took a blood sample (at the front of a queue of all my future student colleagues...).

There is something about not eating enough, standing up for too long, being anxious about your surroundings, and then seeing an invasive procedure that makes people feel queasy +/- faint. I personally wouldn't over-react to this as a "fear" as you will just feel more anxious about it next time.

Reply 7

littleheron

Original post by MonteCristo

Thanks, that's good to hear. Ive had blood tests before but I always look away so this was I guess kind of my first time I properly saw one as well.

The reason I was worried about this though is a blood test is very simple compared to doing other things like dissecting a cadaver. Ive done dissections of pig hearts before so I hope its just needles which makes me feel this way.

Reply 8

MonteCristo

You probably won't have an issue at all next time you see a needle used - well maybe next time as you'll be worried about last time - but you get the idea. A medical student friend saw his GP with palpitations after dissecting a heart. There's nothing quite like seeing the heart as a simple pump for making a person abnormally aware of his own heart beating...

Lots of the things you see at medical school (and afterwards) will leave you with strange feelings and having to come to terms with what you saw. I don't think for a second that you'll have a particular issue with dissection etc just because you felt queasy when seeing blood taken.

Reply 9

z33

do a SAW marathon and watch all the movies in one go
you can't close your eyes
you HAVE to watch
do it with friends so they make you feel like a pussy if you do :lol:

and then when thats done, go to the butchers and just look at all the bloody meat so you can see it right infront of you

Reply 10

Ghotay

Original post by littleheron

This is completely normal. I was exactly the same the first few times I saw blood being taken. I still don't really like to think about needles that much, but in the day to day I'm totally fine.

Most people have something that they really dislike. I hate needles, but am totally fine with surgery and major trauma. I have a friend who's fine with blood of all kinds but flees the room at the first sign of vomit. I could do diabetic feet all day but know plenty of people who can't stand them. It's normal to feel that way, and you will learn to deal with it.

By fourth year the most common reason to feel faint is getting stuck in theatre or on a stupidly long ward round without having the chance to grab a snack!

Reply 11

nexttime

Its very different doing it yourself. Its commonly a problem before uni and rarely, rarely a problem after: You get desensitised to it. Just like you get desensitised to death etc