TheEmpireStrikesDak

Nice try, shark.

Wow, the adrenaline thing is crazy!

Thanks, my cancer scares both turned out to be non serious things. There is a cancer gene that affects the women in my family, so that’s why after the second scare I realised I had to do something.

I think there’s hope for you in that you’re still able to go through with it (unlike me, who just avoided them, even if it meant dying of cancer).

I had a panic attack just from my GP saying I need a blood test. He even prescribed by lorazepam to take for the test. I didn’t though.

I had a really good therapist for my phobia. In the first session she encouraged me to look at a picture first. I started crying and panicking but she got me to a point where I could look at it and not freak out. The next stage was videos, which took me a while longer to conquer. I felt at that point that I’d never get past it, but she really managed to calm me down to the point where I could. Then it was handling needles and she gave me some to take home, including the finger prick ones. I managed to get as far as letting my ex and my nephews stab me with it but I never got as far as doing it to myself. The third session was when I managed to do a draw. It took 45 mins to psyche myself up. I had her put the fan on me, have some baseball highlights playing on the computer and I had my Tamagotchi uni with me.

I asked her to just pierce the vein and take it straight out so I had a reference for the pain level. Then after more psyching up, I had her do a full draw from my other arm. And I didn’t even get dizzy or feel sick. She even gave me the vial to take home. It was so quick, I didn’t even have time to choose a date for my Tama.

The good thing about it was the therapist let me know I was always in control. If I felt uncomfortable, we stopped. I always felt safe, and that’s probably why your experiences haven’t helped, but probably just reinforce the fear.

I also get emotional flashbacks in certain situations (possible CPTSD, I’m still trying to get my head around it, I’ve blocked out a lot of my childhood), which my last therapist just dismissed as self esteem issues. I can’t adequately put into words just how useless she was.

I spent 25 years avoiding blood tests due to an intense phobia. After two cancer scares (the second I put off getting checked for a whole year, because of the fear of having a blood test), I decided I needed to do something about it, so I got CBT on the NHS. After three sessions I managed to get a stab in the vein first, then a full practice one without the usual panic attack I got just at the thought of having one. The guided exposure therapy was the bit that helped.

For me it was more a primal fear of someone coming at me with a sharp object. Rather than the “I’m scared I’ll bleed out” stuff on the fears checklist.

CBT sucked for my autism related anxiety issues (had a useless therapist for that one), but for my phobia, the exposure therapy worked really well.

I hope you’re able to find something to get you past your phobia.

Hmm. I’m starting to suspect you may be a shark in a man suit.