Needle Phobia
Needle Phobia
How to overcome Needle Phobia? Here's info on the problem, and one woman's story.
-
"It's been amazing. My husband said that he didn't see ANY signs of anxiety like he usually does when I had my most recent blood draw (last Friday). I was cool as a cucumber. It's taken 5 [procedures] to get me to this point. It's not yet all gone, but I would rate it as significantly better. Since I got Buzzy I have almost entirely eliminated the flushing that I would get even with antianxiety meds. I also don't experience any of the dizziness.I would feel comfortable trying my next procedure without any antianxiety meds."
"You are certainly to be congratulated for having a product for needle phobic people that has withstood the test of time. Buzzy seems to be about the only really effective product for needle phobia that is available without a doctor's authorization." -Jerry, creator: The Needle Phobia Page.
What's needle phobia?
Needle phobia, also known as trypanophobia, aichmophobia, belonephobia, or enetophobia, is a extreme fear of medical procedures involving injections or hypodermic needles. For most people, it develops around age 4 or 5 with a bad immunization experience.
What are the health risks of needle phobia?
Needle phobia is not a laughing matter! 22% of adults fear needles enough to take serious risks with their health and not go to the doctor. 75% of people do not donate blood due to their dislike of needles, which affects our emergency safety system. Depending on the types and severity of the needle phobia, health risks may vary. Directly, needle phobia can cause a sudden blood plunge of blood pressure in patients when exposed to sharp pain. 3-5% of people faint in this manner, and it has been shown to be largely an inherited genetic trait. Indirectly, the needle phobia prevents patients from making good medical decisions. These bad health medical decisions can lead to serious health risks for the patients and other, such as in the cases where infectious diseases or pregnancy is involved.
What are the types and causes of needle phobia?
Needle phobia can be categorized into four types as shown in the table below (The Needle Phobia Information Center).
|
Needle phobia type |
Primary symptoms |
Patient fears... |
Cause |
Prevelance (% in population) |
|
Vaso-Vagal |
Fainting, sweating, nausea, initially high blood pressure and heart rate, followed by a sudden precipitous plunge in blood pressure; patient tends to react passively |
the thought, sight or feeling of needle-like objects (and sometimes blood also). |
Inherited Reflex |
5% |
|
Associative |
Extreme unexplained anxiety, difficulty sleeping and preoccupation with approaching procedure. |
sub-consciously associated traumatic event. This includes fear transferred from parents or siblings who exhibit intense negative reactions to needle/medical procedures. |
Emotional trauma (usually in childhood) associated with a medical/needle procedure |
3-10% |
|
Resistive |
Combativeness, high heart rate and high blood pressure, violent resistance, avoidance and flight |
being controlled. |
Repressive upbringing, poor handling of prior procedures (forced with physical or emotional abuse) |
2-4% |
|
Hyperalgesic |
Extreme explained anxiety and elevated blood pressure and heart rate at the immediate point of needle penetration or seconds before. |
Pain. |
Inherited pain sensitivity |
1% |
Why is it important to prevent needle phobia in children?
Protecting anyone from life-long needle phobia that may block them from necessry medical care must start from their first experience with needles early on in their childhood. This is because, even in case of those who are genectically pre-desposed to developing needle phobia, other factors other then the nature play an important role in the development of this condition. This means that needle phobia can be prevented if parents and professionals intervene early on in children's lives, and protect them from developing this health threatening condition.
Needle pain management is one of the most effective ways of such intervention. During the first encounters with needles, needle pain management can protect the child from traumatic experience associated with medical pocedures and the clinical environment and experience, and prevent the child from developing anxiety and even phobia later in her life.
How can Buzzy help prevent children from developing needle phobia?
According to clinical research, Buzzy Pain Relief can reduce IV needle pain by 50%. Used with Bee-Stractor Emergency Entertainment, Buzzy can reduce pain to close to 0 (0.53 on a 10 point scale). Buzzy is drug-free and side-effect free. The plain black medical device is unobtrusive for adults to bring to the doctor, or can be personalized with stickers to express how you feel about shots. Controlling as many aspects of a medical visit as possible is one way to control your fear of needles. 
For kids, the classic Buzzy bee design breaks the association of pain and medical procedures, and empowers kids to intervene and be involved in their own medical care. Bee-Stractor Emegency Entertainment distraction cards use series of original art to effectively distract attention from needles and pain to fun games. Used separately or combined, these Buzzy pain management solutions can effectively protect children from traumatic medical experience, and reduce significantly the possibility of developing needle phobia. Another perk about Buzzy Pain Relief and Bee-Stractor Emergency Entertainent is that they are reusable and highly portable. While many clinics across the country provide Buzzy and Bee-Stractors, kids do better when they bring a Buzzy. Knowing they have a secret weapon decreases the drama of the visit, decreasing that contrast between hyped blood pressure and low vagal bottoming out. If your clinic does not have them, it's easy for parents to carry them in a handbag and use them whenever kids get shots. Buzzy can help parents protect their kids any time, everywhere.