I haven’t given blood all that often, only five times in past few years, but the next to the last time, the Red Cross discovered that I am one of a dwindling percentage of the population who isn’t a carrier of this herpes-like germ(they named it for me, I looked it up and then promptly forgot the name again) so I’m one of the few people whose blood they can use for organ transplants, infants and people with immune problems. So now they call me and beg me to give as soon as I’m able and repeat every week or so.
But the thing is, I have this idiotic but very real phobia of needles. I’ve found that if I make an appointment to go give blood, it preys on my mind. I obsess. I get literally sick with dread, to the point of nausea. The only way I’ve been able to give before is to do it very spontaneously, on a day when I’m in a really good mood and don’t have much else to do.
I feel guilty for not giving more often, and I feel stupid and childish for being so freaked out by something that I know is mostly painless and pretty safe. I think the problem might have been aggrevated after I fainted and concussed myself three or four donations back, but mainly it’s my fear of needles. I can’t stand the sight of them, even on television.
Blah. I worried and fretted all day until I decided not to go, and now I feel guilty. I can’t win.
Well, at least you tried. The one and only time I tried to donate blood, the woman turned me away (this was at my high school blood drive) because I was so nervous I was practically hyperventilating. She was afraid I would faint.
Maybe I’ll try again sometime. Since then, I’ve had intervenous needles and while they pinch, they’re not THAT bad. Novocaine shots hurt much more.
I have never watched them put the needle in, and only ever barely glanced at the tube coming out of my arm. I close my eyes, I look away, nah, nah, nah, this isn’t happening to me, they’re doing a necessary thing and it stings a little, but only for a moment (okay, it aches a teensy bit for another moment or two, but I’m a big boy and I won’t cry) - but if I don’t see it, it won’t worry me any. When it’s done, it’ll be okay.
Denial can get us through, sometimes. Hey, I’m just sharing what works for me.
I think the virus you’re talking about is Cytomegalovirus (CMV).
As for the chickening out thing, I agree with not looking at the needle when they’re getting ready to use it. I’m not squeamish about needles (heck, I used to do blood draws on other people!) but I still look away when they’re getting ready to poke me.
Maybe you could try to desensitize yourself by looking at photos of needles for as long as you can stand to and then maybe work your way up to more nerve-wracking situations?
Good luck. It’s commendable that you still want to donate in spite of this fear.
As Civil Guy suggests try looking away from the needle. Just turn your head in the other direction. The pain isn’t that much, compared to stubbing your toe on a cinder block or something, it’s just the visuals that freak a lot of people out. Good for you to try though.
Don’t feel guilty, a lot of the people I work with refuse to give blood after having bad experiences with the process (carelessness, unnecessary pain, unprofessional addentants, etc.). We seem to have blood drives at least once or twice a year here at work. I didn’t believe the bad reports at first, but so many people seemed to have one.
I was turned away for not making their minimum weight (why can’t they just take less blood?), some of my friends were turned away for being gay… add that to the bad attitude and incompetance of the nurses and there’s really no reason to appologise for not giving blood. If you’re scared of needles, you don’t want to put yourself into the hands of people who may or may not treat you gently.
It’s great that you still donate sometimes even though you’re really afraid of needles. I just donated for the first time last week and I have no excuse for not going sooner. Needles make me nervous but they don’t freak me out that much. It hurt less than I expected; like someone upthread said novocaine shots are worse. At least now I know I don’t have any of the several diseases they test for (an irrational fear of mine), and I finally know my blood type. Anyway, I don’t think you should feel guilty for not donating since it affects you so much.
Incidentally, the SDMB is directly responsible for me signing up because someone bumped up an old thread on donating blood in the Pit.
Then, just do that. If you pass by a donor clinic, stop in and donate, if you feel up to it.
A phobia is a phobia, and nobody is going to punish you for it. You gave already, which is more than most people, so good for you. Thank you.
And yes, being CMV-negative is a really good thing in a blood donor. But don’t let that push you into anything you’re not comfortable with.
bluesmurf - technically they could just take less blood. The reason they usually don’t, though, is because the bag they put blood into as they collect it already has a certain amount of nutrient/anticoagulant solution in it. That’s the exact amount needed for the “standard” blood collection. If they take too little blood, the ratios are off.
It’s all academic for me, as I’m disqualified from donating on the basis of being a limey-lover, but is there any reason you couldn’t bring, say, a PSP or DS and play that whilst donating? When I could donate I was terribly, horribly squemish, but if I ever get the chance again I think I’d give that a try.
Thing is, I’m AB. Which means that if I donate whole blood it’s probably going to end up being centrifuged for plasma anyway. So they want me to donate plasma. Which would be fine…except you can’t donate plasma at the trucks, I’d have to to over to the blood center…which given my location basically means taking a half-day just to give plasma. And I’ve got 2 small kids and a terrible commute and I absolutely need the weekends with them.
So basically it can’t be done. Can’t be done. See you in 5 years maybe.
I’ve been donating for years, now. As a matter of fact, I donated yesterday at noon.
I’ve come this close to stopping several times, now. Back in Austin I could just go in on a Saturday morning and donate without an appointment… but here, they’re only open during my work hours. Yesterday I felt so wiped out after giving that I had to take the rest of the day off. I’m also irritated with how often they call me if I haven’t been in for a while (usually because work is slammed). I can understand the need for donors… but why not be open on Saturdays?
The main reason I nearly quit, though… last year, we’d just finished the game we’d been working on. We’d been working tons of overtime, but we managed to finish in time for the holidays, so we were all looking forward to having some time off with our families. Suddenly, though, the artists got called back in- it turned out that we’d used the red cross symbol on the health packs in the game, and the Red Cross didn’t like that. We had to go back through and remove every instance of that symbol from the game.
I’ve seen many games use this symbol. Hell, it’s universally recognized as a thing that heals you in games. However, because the company that I work for is one of the big ones, with lots of money, the Red Cross went after us- and rather than get into a legal battle with such a well-regarded company, my company caved. Sure, it wasn’t a ton of work, and I respect that they have to protect their trademark from dilution- but that was just another irritation caused by the Red Cross.
Like I said, I almost quit. I didn’t, though… but every time I donate, I think about those holidays that I had to work through.
Just this morning I did cytapherisis. I don’t look at the needles (two in this case) while they’re in my arms, I don’t look when they’re putting them in. Other than that, I’m fine.
My friend went in (she has a much easier time at pheresis than I do) when the blood bank told her they had NO bags of platelets left on the shelf. :eek: The good phlebotomist is no longer there so my set-up always ends up not working out and they trash what they’ve collected. Big waste of time and money for everyone involved.
Thanks, lavenderviolet, Cytomegalovirus is what I was trying to think of!
And I do look away from the needle, definitely! But it’s the anticipation that makes me insane. It’s a phobia, totally irrational. I’ve never had a bad experience having blood drawn for tests or donation, though I have heard the horror stories about all the multiple sticks and giant bruises and that doesn’t help, but usually by the time they are ready to draw blood I’ve whined and cringed so much that they send out their most experienced(and patient) person. Most of the time they are really nice about it and not irritable and impatient at all. And I know, intellectually, that it isn’t that painful. I can’t explain why I get so anxious, with some deep-seated part of my brain convinced that this time it is going to be incredibly painful and harmful. I’m going to just go back to donating when I can, on my terms and when they call me, tell the Red Cross I can’t make promises about where and when.
I feel for you. I used to donate regularly. I don’t have a fear of needles, but over time I developed some…not phobia exactly…call it maybe an “anxiety issue” with knowing that my lifes blood was draining out of me, down a tube, and into a bag.
The last time I donated I got shocky (word?) enough that my extremities went numb and the blood quit flowing. I was starting to hyperventillate when they decided they better give up on getting the full measure.
They told me that since Apos is the most common type, and they almost always had a surplus of it, maybe I should give up on the donation thing.
It happens. I don’t like needles that much either, nor the sight of my own blood. And hey, I trained to be an EMT! For some weird reason, other people’s blood doesn’t bother me that much. I can dissociate better, I guess.
If you really do want to give blood and want to overcome your fears, work with the blood center people or a psychologist or something. You’re neither chicken nor childish nor anything else, you’re just who you are! You may be able to overcome it, though. Courage isn’t the absence of fear, it’s knowing the fear and knowing you want to do something anyway. Whatever you choose, I respect you for being honest about your fears.
I also tested negative for CMV, so I’m going to arrange to give as much as I can. But I absolutely never look at the needle.
Is it possible to donate directly to a hospital? When I was in highshool, the Red Cross did a blood drive at our school and I helped out, since I was in the National Honor Society. I felt like the nurses were incompetent, and I watched one kid have a seizure (literally- eyes rolled back in his head, arm with the needle jerked shut at the elbow, shaking), and I was the only one who noticed. Then it took a significant amount of effort to get the attention of one of the nurses.
I don’t feel comfortable donating blood through the Red Cross. I’d be willing to give it a try elsewhere, but I don’t know if that’s possible.
