The other day I had a minor medical procedure that required a brief blood draw. For whatever reason, the phlebotomist decided to use a different kind of needle, and she warned me to look away if I hated the sight of blood. She said some blood may ooze out when she removed the tube. I have no issues with blood, so the procedure went smoothly. (And there was in fact, no leakage. I admitted to be slightly disappointed at the lack of “fireworks”. Heh.)
But a thought occurred to me: if a woman has a blood phobia, how in heck does she handle her monthly menses? In my experience, my periods were pretty much “riding the crimson wave” - crude but accurate. If you faint or feel sick at the sight of blood, how do you clean yourself and change your pads/tampons every month?
I don’t, but I know someone who did. She would outright faint at the sight of blood. Here was the trick though: it had to be blood from a wound. The thing that triggered in her brain was a connection between blood and pain, so if it was a less painful wound like a papercut with only a drop of blood, she would feel a little woozy but ok. Someone’s head getting hit and lots of blood everywhere and she was down for the count.
As such, seeing her own menses and knowing that she wasn’t in terrible pain or going to die from it, meant that she handled it fine. She did much worse seeing blood from other people because you never know how much pain they’re really in. There’s also the: “I know this is going to happen” aspect vs the “I had no idea I was going to walk in on someone who accidentally slashed their arm” aspect.
I once met a woman who fainted at someone saying the word “blood”. Landed so hard on the back of her head that she started, that’s right, bleeding.
So her husband had to make it clear right away we weren’t supposed to say a certain word regarding her situation. He also had to keep the red liquid out of sight while cleaning things up.
Euphemism apparently makes a big difference in these situations. E.g., it’s not “blood” it’s “discharge” or something.
Yep. I get queasy at the sight of blood but it has to be under certain circumstances. Though I don’t like it I can handle my period, cat scratches, and my own bloody noses. I don’t do well watching my blood drawn, and anyone having an injury worse than a superficial scratch is upsetting.
My ex-wife (and her father as well) have really strong ones to the point that they can’t even take care of small wounds on children without fainting. I have gotten called home from work for simple cuts and had to take care of two people.
My ex-wife has her period and her father once worked as a butcher. I asked them how that was possible they didn’t even want to talk about it at all because even the conversation would make them pass out (it has something to do with human injuries only to them as far as I can tell). The only answer is that phobias are a weird thing and often very specific.
I get my blood tested frequently and the local lab typical has me sit in the chair with a padded cross bar that comes down over my lap. I often say something like “You don’t need to do that, I’m not going to run away” but there was a new phlebotomist there last time and she said she had to do it because I was too big to hold up if I started to faint. I appreciate they have to be cautious like that, someone fainting and falling out of the chair could crack their head on the floor leaving a lot more blood than they planned on.
No comment on the women’s issue but it is an interesting point in the OP.
Seems like 15% of humans experience syncope at the sight of blood (blood injury phobias). Some argue that it is an evolutionary mechanism that allowed our some of our ancestors to survive violent group encounters; if you faint at the sight of blood you might be overlooked by the opposing side and/or avoid bleeding out from an injury. These survivors would then be able to pass on their genes (NB: article doesn’t address blood injury syncope directly).
I look away when I have blood drawn. I’m not afraid and it generally doesn’t hurt, but the fact that it’s *my *blood coming out is the issue. I have no problem looking at the tubes full of blood afterwards. I dunno - I’m weird, I guess.
I went with my cousin to her birthing class when I was in my early 20s. They showed a film of childbirth. I ended up with my head between my knees as all these hugely pregnant women hovered over me with concern. Heck, in 10th grade biology class, we saw a film where they pithed a frog, and that got me all woozy!
On the other hand, my sense of responsibility is apparently stronger than my potential queasiness. As far as the blood (or other bodily fluids) of others, if I’m the only one there capable of dealing with/caring for the other person, I can do it, then I’ll get sick afterwards. But if someone else is present and able to take charge, I’ll step away and turn away. When my husband had spinal surgery, I was fine changing his dressings and cleaning up whatever had oozed out. But when he was actually in the hospital, even being prepped, I went to my mental happy place.
Needless to say, I did not pursue a career in healthcare.
