Someone I know has a #blood/injury type #phobia—the kind that causes full-on #fainting, not just stress/fear.
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Someone I know has a #blood/injury type #phobia—the kind that causes full-on #fainting, not just stress/fear.
I'm trying to help them get through a blood test. (The phobia is so severe that just *discussing* the topic can cause a faint.) If anyone has advice, *especially* from direct experience of this, I'd be grateful.
Looking to address both the fear and the faint response.
(Before offering advice, remember to check the full thread!)
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Someone I know has a #blood/injury type #phobia—the kind that causes full-on #fainting, not just stress/fear.
I'm trying to help them get through a blood test. (The phobia is so severe that just *discussing* the topic can cause a faint.) If anyone has advice, *especially* from direct experience of this, I'd be grateful.
Looking to address both the fear and the faint response.
(Before offering advice, remember to check the full thread!)
For people who have never seen a faint like this, it can look pretty scary, and might seem like a seizure. The most dangerous part is just the risk of the person hitting their head if they don't get safely to the ground in time. But they should recover from the faint in a minute or so.
The most unpleasant part is the loss of bowel and bladder control during the faint. Also there's often disorientation, etc.
Very different from the media portrayal.
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For people who have never seen a faint like this, it can look pretty scary, and might seem like a seizure. The most dangerous part is just the risk of the person hitting their head if they don't get safely to the ground in time. But they should recover from the faint in a minute or so.
The most unpleasant part is the loss of bowel and bladder control during the faint. Also there's often disorientation, etc.
Very different from the media portrayal.
My late wife had a possibly milder version of this. Most blood testing places were sympathetic to this and would provide a place to lay down, would do the blood draw while lying down, and would have a glass of orange juice or other high sugar drink for when she recovered from the faint.
She never lost bladder/bowel control, though.
Good luck!
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My late wife had a possibly milder version of this. Most blood testing places were sympathetic to this and would provide a place to lay down, would do the blood draw while lying down, and would have a glass of orange juice or other high sugar drink for when she recovered from the faint.
She never lost bladder/bowel control, though.
Good luck!
@wanderinghermit So in her case, did you just go into it expecting a faint, and just do support around that?
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@wanderinghermit So in her case, did you just go into it expecting a faint, and just do support around that?
Yes. I would go with her, together we would explain to the staff that she would likely faint and things would go better if she were horizontal. Then I would be there to hold her glass of OJ and catch her if she was unsteady when she got up.
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Yes. I would go with her, together we would explain to the staff that she would likely faint and things would go better if she were horizontal. Then I would be there to hold her glass of OJ and catch her if she was unsteady when she got up.
Looking at some of the other replies: we never treated it as a fear, just as a fact. "If you stick a needle in me, I'm going to pass out." So then we just planned for what to do when she passed out.
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