Ok this is a somewhat personal post but I need some guidance...

I have a blood phobia, I have been known to pass out at the site of blood and at times I feel that if I don't walk away from a conversation about an injury that I could pass out at the thought of it. It makes me crazy, its frustrating and it scares me. I'm afraid that if something would happen to my hubby when we're out on the trail that I would be absolutely worthless. When it happens its not as if I'm thinking Oh my gosh I can't handle this, it just happens. Does anyone else on here have a problem like this or does anyone know any kind of psychotherapy <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" /> that helps or anyone that has successfully overcome this...I'm desperate, I'm tired of feeling mentally weak. I consider myself strong emotionally in every other aspect but I just can't shake this and I've been this way as long as I can remember.

At first I thought this post must be a from a guy. But, no...it seems you are a female. I don't want to get personal here, but I'm wondering how you deal with the monthly--ahem!--issue?

Not as bad as you perhaps, but I have this. I never give blood; I'd be happy to, but find it takes too much out of me emotionally. When I have to give blood at the doctor's office, I always lay down and look away.

I'm getting better at it, but a phobia is exactly what it seems to be --- an irrational, disproportional fear.

I took a first aid course recently, and this wasn't as bad as I had feared.

From infrequent accidents, etc, I think that the reaction in a crisis situation is harder to predict. Adreneline kicks in, a sort of (hopefully mild) kind of shock takes over. Particularly if I'm the victim; part of me inside is hollaring, but I've found that I'm able to cope and take reasonable action when I'm bleeding a lot.

Like you, my concern is more about how I'll do if I have to be the caregiver. I'm pretty sure that answer is that I will dislike it more than average, but that I'll cope.

I think it's possible to develop a sort of mental attitude that helps us better deal with (not necessarily eliminate, but deal with) phobias.

I know that I can be a sort of emotional vampire (gads, that sounds awful) when it comes to fear situations. Many years ago in parachute school in the Army I found that I was *less* scared than some other fellows about jumping out of a plane, and while the contrast didn't make me not-scared, it made it much much easier to cope, and of course to show the external macho image that we males sometimes feel required to present (particularly at that age <g>).

In any event, good luck with it!

First, the "monthly" thing isn't a factor, don't ask me why because none of this makes sense to me. I know it sounds insane and people that are phobia free will see it as completely irrational and honestly I see it that way myself but I don't know how to fix it.

Thank you BrianLe for sharing your experience it makes me feel less "crazy" hearing it from someone else. I truly hope that adrenaline would take over and I would remain conscious if something happened but I'm afraid to rely on that thought.

The most recent event has made me and my husband look at this a little more seriously. He had to have a procedure that required stitches on his back, and of course he can't reach it so I had to clean it. Well the first time it had bled quite a bit and i was fine taking off the bandage cleaning it and then I walked away and got that feeling (things got dim, my ears were ringing)so I had to lay down for a few minutes. I wasn't thinking about the blood or the cut or anything when this hit me it just hit. Talking about it is embarrassing and makes me infuriated at myself for not being able to cope with this seemingly minor thing. Anyhow, thanks for listening maybe there's a pill out there for it <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

I think I know what you are talking about. I had an uncle who use to come to our house so my mom (RN) could give him an insulin shot, when we were kids. He was the toughest scrapper you ever saw, until presented with a shot needle or a little drop of blood. He'd go pale and feint!
Like any phobia, I suspect confronting your fears head on would help but a call to a shrink would be my first step. My uncle REALLY would collapse, uncontrollably.

If I'm reading your post correctly, your concern is whether, if no one else is around, you would be able to help your husband if he seriously injured himself.

Have you ever been the only one around when he has been injured (maybe a bloody nose or nasty cut)? If so, how did you react? That may give you some clue as to what you'd do if it was just the two of you on the trail.

I'm not saying you'll be fine, but I have found that an emotional attachment does help overcome phobias. I'm also a little unsettled around blood, vomit, or dirty diapers. If it's an acquaintance or stranger, I usually let them sort it for themselves, without my presence. I also get very squeamish watching the TV doctor-dramas, and look away while they show the gory parts. However, with my wife, children, or grandchildren, I found that I never had any serious problem with minor wounds, throw-up cleanups, changing diapers, or watching my wife give birth. In one case, my 7-year-old son had a superficial but visually nasty cut on his forehead. I was the one that went into the ER with him and calmed him while holding his head firmly in place during the suturing. I wasn't happy about it, but I was able to do it because it was my son and had to be done.

I think your concern is valid. You might talk to local EMT's or Red Cross first aid instructors. They may have encountered other people with the same issues you're having, and might be able to help. Also, you might try taking a basic first aid course - sometimes, a little knowledge and self-confidence can help control your fears - or at least let you function in spite of them.

The only other encouragement that I can offer is that in 25 or 30 years of recreational backpacking, including groups of kids, I've never been injured myself or seen anyone else injured seriously. We've had our share of minor nicks, scrapes, bruises, and twisted ankles, but never anything serious. We also play it very safe - no climbing, no axes, knives only for adults, adults light stoves and carry fuel, etc.

Good luck, and let us know how it works out.

Glenn
quote____________________________________
We've had our share of minor nicks, scrapes, bruises, and twisted ankles, but never anything serious. We also play it very safe - no climbing, no axes, knives only for adults, adults light stoves and carry fuel, etc.
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You don't sound like you'd be real fun to camp with <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> No climbing? I had a hiking buddy like that once... <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" /> And throwing axes has to be a real camp treat! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> Mumbley peg anyone. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" /> He earthling ever camp with machine gun fire over your head - oops never mind. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif" alt="" />

I pass out if they try to take blood, <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" />I'm an official needle phobe. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/ooo.gif" alt="" /> I can handle my own blood though it makes me feel a sick tighness in my stomach - emotionally I want to lick the wound and drink the blood so I don't lose it... <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" />

What I really can't handle though is other peoples blood. I would have a problem with first aid on a screaming person. BUT I COULD DO IT.
<img src="/forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" />
Jim <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />

I used to have acrophobia. Never in a plane. I guess I felt secure, even in a light plane with nothing but a sheet of plastic between me and several miles of atmosphere. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> But up on top of a high mountain, tower or tall ladder, looking down would give me the very sensations you report--mostly a weak, sick feeling. It occurred to me [maybe after reading a stack of mountain climbing books] that I either trust my body to support me, or I don't. When we moved to our present house, a log house with a very high pitched ceiling, I knew that I would have to climb a tall extension ladder to change light bulbs.* I just told myself that I could do it and MUST do it. Now I don't give heights a second thought. I trust the ladder and I trust my knees not to buckle and my hands to not lose their grip.

All phobias are similar in that they are based on irrational fears. My fear was that I would fall. Of course, there still is a slim chance I might, but there are always risks in every worthwhile pursuit. Maybe if you tell yourself that you DO have control over your body and its reactions, it would be a start. Having worked in a trauma center, I was exposed to some awful sights. There were a few that just about did me in, but I was able to delay my response, at least until my role was finished. Knowing we have that power is, itself, empowering.

Best wishes and God bless! Do keep us up to date on any progress you make. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

*My husband has Parkinson's Disease.

Nah....that's different. That's a well known reaction called "pucker factor". <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Oh. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/ooo.gif" alt="" />

I think it's worth noting that when you had to attend to your husband's back you did it and didn't run screaming from the room. Afterwards you got a bit shocky but the job was done. It might be helpful to look back at any emergency situations you've been in your life and how you reacted. If you could keep it together and do what needed to be done, even if it didn't involve a lot of blood and gore, you can probably handle yourself in an emergency. If you get the shakes later, that's not so much of a problem.

Without doing therapy via forum (I am a therapist)... you and your husband can do a technique called desensitization together to reduce your "phobic" response.

In short, it involves exposing yourself to various intensities of a stimuli (blood) while being coached by a partner to reduce anxiety. A brief example would be a half hour of thinking about blood while your husband coaches breathing, relaxation techniques, etc. until you experience no anxiety at the thought of blood. Next would come 30 min. sessions looking at a picture of vials of blood. You might progressively increase exposure to the stimuli until you are able to, for instance, sit in a Red Cross clinic with little or no anxiety while others give blood.

Now, this is best done in a very regimented, manualized fashion by a trained professional but you can achieve a similar affect by doing a self-directed approximation. Either way, it's important that you are able to successfully control your anxiety response (the neg. symptoms you've described) at a low level of exposure before moving to the next. This may take 10-20 sessions at one level, so it's hard work.

It seems to me, though, that even though it bothers you a great deal, it doesn't inhibit your day-to-day functioning. If this is accurate, then it can't be considered disordered in a clinical sense, which points to your existing ability to cope somewhat effectively. In other words, you may be a normal person that's just really freaked out by blood.

Of course another therapeutic technique you could try is flooding. It would be more work but would take less time, so it's actually a pretty popular option. Unfortunately, it would involve you "flooding" yourself with stimuli by doing something like sticking your hands in a tub of blood.

Upon reading that statement, I feel it's probably necessary to follow with...

<calm voice> Take a slow, deep breath in through your nose and then breathe out while saying "calm." Feel the stress and tension leave your body... </calm voice>

Jon Priest, MS, Licensed Psychological Examiner
(so you don't think I'm a quack <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />)

A good psychiatrist or psychologist should be able to help you (good is the key word). My experience suggests that your reaction will be different when there is a personal relationship with the victim. I barely kept from tossing my cookies when I saw my first emergency childbirth training film (several guys did have to leave the room), but it was entirely different when my wife gave birth to our children.

Also, everyone is affected if the situation is bad enough. You just focus on wheat has to be done.

Congratulations for taking on this problem and confronting it. I am sure your husband must be grateful. Best wishes.

I'm not a licensed therapist, but I've used this technique on myself <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

I used to be afraid of roller coasters. So one day I went to the local amusement park (Six Flag Over Texas) and rode the Shockwave (double loop roller coaster) until I wasn't afraid of it any more ( I think it was about 12 times).
Did I like it? No, but I'm not afraid of it any more.

Now, the weird thing is that I've flown in aerobatic airplanes doing stalls and stuff like that and it didn't bother me at all.

I have a friend that is a nurse (RN) and has worked critical care for over 20 years and seen all kinds of major trauma (worked burn unit, ER, cardio, nuero, etc.). There have been many times where she has been involved in a 'situation' and afterwards walked away and had to sit down and get the shakes to stop (adrenaline). Even threw up a couple of times. She just rinsed her mouth, brushed her teeth, gathered her wits and went on. Now, ask her to take a tic off the dog and that's a different story. She can't stand that so it's my job (doesn't bother me).

I teach first aid to our Scout troop and I had one kid have to leave the room one time when we started talking about how to stop major bleeding and I guess I got a little too graphic. He came back the next week and did fine.

So wld_rthr_b_rdng, after a rather long rambling post, I think you'll be fine. But, like I said I'm not a therapist <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />
Training, training, training - now you just have to figure out what kind.

Your'e not so 'abbynormal' <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Desensitization, and perhaps a little inquiry as to whether it is the blood, or the apparent pain represented by the blood. In the ER we see blood all the time. Sometimes we see rather dramatic examples of blood. It used to make my adrenaline start to pump when I had someone walk in covered in blood, now it's no big deal. I had a guy walk in with a splinter under his fingernail the other day and I was about ready to faint when he showed it to me. The nurse jumped too, and it was just a splinter! But we all know how painful splinters can be, especially under the nail!! One thing I've learned is that I really don't want to know how people became bloody... then I can disassociate the blood from the emotional shock of the suddeness of the event that caused the blood. Then the blood just becomes a red fluid and the flesh is just flesh and kind of interesting once you prepare yourself. I still can't imagine taking a scalpel and cutting into someone - the concept of doing that still floors me... but I'm sure as I go through school I'll eventually reach a point where it will be no big deal. Learning how to do IVs was terrifying because you don't want to hurt the person you're putting the needle into, even though they just finished putting a needle into you and it didn't hurt (even when they had to dig around to get your vein). We respond emotionally to pain, either to causing it, or to the shock that a person must feel when one minute they are minding their own business, and the next minute they are running as fast as they can for the ER. We assume something IS painful just because it LOOKS painful, even if reality is that it isn't. So I'm guessing a piece of your puzzle (and why you're fine with the "monthly") is that blood coming from anywhere else must have had its origin in pain, and that is what you're really responding to.

MNS

Thank you so much for all the support and information. I guess I really do need to try to desensitize myself (the fact that my heart is racing just thinking about it must be proof). I've always been able to justify avoiding situations instead of dealing with my response to blood but now I see that I have a serious need to overcome this. Thanks again and I'll let you know when I have a breakthrough! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

It is not easy to overcome, especially since it seems irrational.

I think that the situation is different where you have to be the sole caregiver versus when others are around. In the former, people seem to rise to the occasion and take care of the situation, while in the latter our emotional responses and fears are more likely to kick in.

I have never liked to give blood, but force myself to do so. I have passed out before because of it, but now I find that if I have an ice pack on the back of my neck to start with, then it is much better. But the best way is to think of other things. So if I can have a conversation with someone else while giving blood, it is an amazing difference.

I totally get the irrational thing. Me, I'm irrationally afraid of spiders. You can put a giant rhinocerous beetle or walking stick or snake on me to crawl all over me and everything is totally cool. I flip over spiders. Now, "flip" I'll put in context - I am really really uncomfortable, and scream like a little girl <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" /> At least insofar as big spiders up here go (fruit spiders in BC) I have my little flipout and gingerly find a way
to deal with it or avoid it. Not sure how I'd manage in the presence of tarantulas, I've so far managed to
avoid any enforced encounters with said beasties. Yes, this limits my hiking possibilities in the southwest, yes I know it's stupid. but like you said - it's irrational!

<img src="/forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />

Seriously, I think it's easy to almost unconsciously underestimate, or undervalue or just generally be too ready to dismiss someone *elses* phobia.

I have less than average fear of exposure, heights, that sort of thing. In certain contexts I do have it, and I have in fact literally frozen in place trying to climb down somewhere scary. But in general, I find that I'll be (carefully) walking around people at national parks sometimes who are clinging-for-life to an established safety chain that feels pretty optional to me, or I'm pretty relaxed walking across a steep ice field that others find very challenging (scary) to cross.

It's easy for me to be dismissive of that, or worse perhaps, to "feel superior". It's not being superior, it's being wired differently. I just have to think about how I feel if someone proposes sticking a needle into me to realize that they have as much right (and arguably more underlying logic) to their phobia as I do to mine!

I guess I do get a little impatient with folks that feel that I should apply their phobia constraints to what I consider adequate safety procedures in exposed places ("it scares me just watching you"), but that's another conversation ...

So Phat, do you want to see the picture from my younger days of the big, harry tarantula crawling up my arm? <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Now, black widows and brown recluse. Those give me the heebee jeebee's.

Hey, you got the cleaning of your husband's stitches done before you freaked out, didn't you? That's the important part, and you handled that just fine! Your reaction after that is understandable. If you weren't able to re-bandage right away (as I gather, perhaps incorrectly, from your narrative), that's no big deal. It was probably good that the wound was exposed to air for a while to dry out. I had a similar reaction when my children got hurt (as kids invariably do)--I bandaged them up, took them to the emergency room if stitches were needed, consoled them and then went off and laid down (sometimes for a considerable period!) to recover. I never look during medical TV shows when they show the gory parts, and I avoid horror movies.

I suspect that all of us have some kind of phobia or other and manage somehow to get through it. I also freak out over large bugs like cockroaches or spiders (yes, I know that spiders aren't insects) but have managed to kill them (when they're in the house) regardless (the killing freaks me out, too!). And I usually feel very weak in the knees and queasy in my gut afterwards. That's not important; it's what you do to cope with the situation up front that counts.

If you feel that this fear of blood (more common to big strong men than to women, by the way) is a handicap, then ask your primary care physician to refer you to a good psychiatrist. I suspect it will take only a few sessions before you have a lot more self-confidence.

In an emergency situation you'd be surprized at what you are capable of. The adrenaline starts pumping through your body and doing the task at hand becomes so important that your phobia will most likely disappear during this time. So if something were to happen to a friend on the trail, you'd probably be able to help them although later thinking about the situation might provoke the symtoms of your phobia.

I want to comment on this, but let me start by saying that I'm not a psychiatrist and likely have many misconceptions about the field myself. What follows are merely my impressions. At the same time, this is sort of a soapbox of mine because I feel that psychiatric medications and their intended use are somewhat misunderstood. Also, I hope that this post doesn't come across as preaching or being pointed at anyone in particular as it's clear that this quote from OM's post is well-intentioned...it simply sparked this thought process in myself.

Psychiatrists and the medicine they prescribe work very well for symptom relief in cases where a set of symptoms is pervasive to someone's life. For example, symptoms of depression (sleep and/or appetite disturbance, loss of interest in once enjoyable activities, depressed mood, irritability, lack of energy, etc.) effect the whole of one's life. Research shows that, due to this fact, antidepressants combined with psychotherapy (by a psychologist, counselor, or other therapist) is the most effective treatment. Similarly, if anxiety is a problem for someone in many areas of their life, anti-anxiety medicines can help psychotherapy be more effective. The situation with a fear of blood, however, is that anxiety is only debilitating in the presence of a specific stimulus, which encompasses a relatively small portion of the average person's life.

Bottom Line: Medicine (anti-anxiety) would address a much larger problem than someone with a specific phobia actually has, especially a phobia of blood rather than bridges or open spaces. Think of taking climbing and mountaineering gear on a low elevation loop hike.

Now, earlier I spoke of "symptom relief" which points to another issue regarding psychiatry that I feel warrants discussion. Any good psychiatrist will tell you that the goal of psychiatric treatment is for a client to function independently, without medication. The reason being that mental health symptoms are usually not the problem itself. If you fall in a cold stream, would you first add insulation to your body because you're cold, or would you first get out of the cold water. The problem is that you fell into cold water, a symptom of which is being cold. Likewise, anti-anxiety medicine may relieve anxiety as a symptom but doesn't increase your ability to cope with stressors, which may be the real problem.

Bottom Line: Desensitization and other techniques that will increase coping ability have the potential to solve the problem rather than merely relieving the symptoms.