I have learned over the years that when one’s mind is made up, this diminishes fear; knowing what must be done does away with fear. – Rosa Parks
MOMM-EEE!! She shouted at the top of her voice from the doctor’s consulting room. The shout reverberated in the waiting room packed with people waiting to see their own doctors, and I jumped up and dashed in the room. Two faces turned to look at me. My adult, 21-year-old daughter’s face was marked with terror, and the doctor’s face registered shock. In his poised hand was a hypodermic needle, held rigidly.
My daughter and I were scheduled to travel abroad and we needed to be immunised beforehand. We went to the travel clinic which was housed in a medical centre and the waiting room was full. I was called in and had my injection first and then sent my daughter in to get hers. I had completely forgotten that she had a needle phobia, and was busy with so many things to prepare for the journey and with work. She was always a healthy child and only had her childhood immunisations and the one at 12 years that girls were given as protection against rubella, so it didn’t cross my mind that I’d need to reassure her and stay with her during her treatment, and I thought it wouldn’t be a problem.
Fast Forward to 2020
I had a telephone call from her…”Mommy, you never guess what?’ (how both my daughters begin to impart information to me from since they were children) ‘I’ve donated blood and registered to return and do it again in November”.
“What!” I said in surprise. “How did you manage it?” “Have you got over your needle phobia?”
“No”, she said, “I’m still afraid of needles, but S’s illness and my inability to help her – due to COVID and the distance between us – prompted me to do something that will benefit others, and also I wanted to get some information about my blood type”.
I was very proud of her and told her so. Then I asked her “What did you do to prepare yourself to do this?”
Her strategy was this:
She had to undergo examinations and blood tests etc during her pregnancies.
This was not a choice, It had to be done.
Giving blood was a choice, but she had the experience of previous needle intervention in the past – HOWEVER, she still has a deep fear of needles.
She mentally prepared herself to do this, days before and leading up to the event.
Whenever she began to get panicky she did deep breathing exercises.
During the preparation, and when it was being done she didn’t look at all, and took deep breaths before the needle was inserted.
As soon as the needle went in she relaxed with deep, steady breathing which helped to further distract her.
She took a book to read which was also very relaxing while the needle was still inserted.
She said afterwards, “I was so relieved that I did it, and so proud of myself that I made an appointment to do this again in 3 months”.
What Motivates You?
The primary focus of overcoming your phobia is to find what your motivation is. This will galvanise you to develop strategise to face and work through your fear, to ride through its ups and downs; and you’ll come out the other end with a great sense of achievement.
I wonder why she never told me about this before she did it?
Click HERE to see the previous post in the ‘Fear’ series
References
www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/recovery-road/201405/what-is-fear
https://edition.cnn.com/2015/10/29/health/science-of-fear/index.html
https://kriscarr.com/blog/how-to-overcome-fear
www.paulekeman.com/universal-emotions/what-is.fear
https://m.wikihow.com/Stop-Living-in-Fear
Feel The Fear And Do It Anyway by Susan Jeffers
Wow!! That’s a huge fear to face!! I’m not too fussed about needles unless they go into my mouth for dental work – I absolutely hate that but I figure that the pain of having the dental work (no fillings, only crowns) without the needles would be worse than having the work done after? That’s how I’ve coped before.
Phobias are tough though.
I used to have arachnophobia but had to get that resolved when I saw how it was affecting my young son. I really didn’t want him to have the same irrational fear that I had for spiders. I got a referral from my GP and was sent to the Maudsley Hospital in Denmark Hill for phobia consultations called “exposure therapy”. That helped immensely and whilst I still don’t particularly like spiders, I certainly do not have a phobia for them anymore. It’s liberating.
What a lovely piece! Thank you for sharing.
Phobias are real, debilitating and are often difficult but not impossible, to overcome – or at least manage.
Feel the fear and do it anyway…especially when you know deep down, that it’s safe enough for the vast majority of people to handle in everyday life.