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