Lived Experience Forum

[micuzzo]

Hi everyone,

Just a bit of background with me, although I have never been diagnosed professionally I beleive I have General Anxiety Disorder. I feel this has been triggered by some traumatic experiences I've had in my life. I am slowly starting to get a hold of it and my life has been improving.

However, I seem to have a really huge issue with blood, needles, or anything to do with that type of thing to the point where if I think about it, I'll faint!

For example, I was watching something regarding giving blood. I felt a little nauseous during so I skipped ahead. A day later it came to mind and I pictured what I saw. Within 3 minutes I was unconscious on the ground... This is not the first time it has happened and I'm concerned it will cause problems in future.

Has anyone experienced anything like this?

Thanks.

[Former-Member]

oh dear that must make it difficult sometimes! When I was younger I visited a friend in hospital after a car accident and fainted at the sight of him... and since then i don't really do well around other people's blood. But i never really thought of it as a fear before.. just figured it was some sort of response. I'm guessing that there would be ways to overcome it if you worked with a professional to help you. I have other fears of things that cause me to panic but they are related to past things that bring up awful memories. Sorry I'm probably not being very helpful!

here listening though, and I also think its great that you have been able to get on top of the anxiety on your own! How have you been able to do that? Do you have any strategies thatyou use?

LJ

[micuzzo]

---

@Former-Member wrote:

oh dear that must make it difficult sometimes! When I was younger I visited a friend in hospital after a car accident and fainted at the sight of him... and since then i don't really do well around other people's blood. But i never really thought of it as a fear before.. just figured it was some sort of response. I'm guessing that there would be ways to overcome it if you worked with a professional to help you. I have other fears of things that cause me to panic but they are related to past things that bring up awful memories. Sorry I'm probably not being very helpful!

here listening though, and I also think its great that you have been able to get on top of the anxiety on your own! How have you been able to do that? Do you have any strategies thatyou use?

LJ

---

Its quite bad. I mean its more understandable if I am seeing it in person, but in my case, simply thinking about it causes me to faint...

With regards to dealing with my anxiety, I'll elaborate here:

I have suffered from intrusive thoughts which have lead to anxiety, becoming introverted etc... I finally said to myself I needed to move forward in my life so I started researching. One of things that helped the most is knowing that its quite normal to feel this way. This was very reassuring as I felt the whole 'I'm going crazy' thing. Another thing I've done is confide in people. I had never spoken to anyone about it prior due to the stigma. I finally started telling some closer friends and family about it and that has helped tremendously. I have also been reading up on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. Some of the techniques used in this type of therapy have been quite good. The main point is to realise that anxiety is simply a thought, its irrational, and its unlikely that anything will actually happen to you. So you need to try to strive for that - when you feel anxious, try to understand its just a thought, its probably not real and let it brush over you, like any other thought you might have. The key is not to push it away, but rather accept it for what it is. I am also religious so prayer and things of that nature have helped too.

[Former-Member]

Thats great that that has worked for you. I have read about A and C therapy and my psychologist spoke about it a bit too. I find it really difficult at times to be able to stay present enough to be able to let things go. But im learning that after the initial repsonse.. that i can move on from the fear a bit quicker these days. I'm glad that you have friends to confide in 🙂

Hope you find the forums helpful!

LJ

[Appleblossom]

When my girls were younger ... the doctor said one was a fainter and the other had nose bleeds ... often the trigger might by heat .. so we became less active in the great outdoors. She, the doctor was very relaxed and matter of fact about it.

But I think it is pretty serious to find your self out to it, on the ground ... have you discussed it with a GP?

[micuzzo]

Well I know that many people will faint at the sight if blood but for me the image of it in my mind seems to be enough... I haven't yet spoken to my gp.

[Rockpool]

Hi @micuzzo,

Thank you for sharing your experience.

Its great to hear that reading about ACT has helped you to overcoming intrusive thoughts, it can be a really great therapy to help separate you from your thoughts, which can be quite overwhelming at times.

You are definitely not alone in your experience with blood, needles etc. It can be a common fear and I experience a similar thing with needles myself. I am not quite the same as I dont faint at pictures but I definitely cant watch people receiving injections on tv or in person and have recently started fainting when watching other people getting injections in person. I feel like a great way to overcome this would be to see a psychologist, as mentioned above, so that when the day comes that I do need to get an injection for whatever reason, I wont have the fear that I have now. May this is an option you can consider in addition to going to the GP. Often exposure therapy can be helpful. Ive also found that trying to distract myself with other things helps in the meantime, such as music or a friend to hold my hand.

Good luck trying to overcome your fear! It can be challenging at times but I believe you can overcome it, just like you did with the intrusive thoughts

Rockpool

[chookmojo]

Another option you may wish to consider is finding a good NLP practitioner and having them work through a Phobia Reduction with you. I have seen this used to EXCELLENT effect across a number of phobias.

If interested I can ask my NLP network if there is anyone they can recommend - which may depend on your general location and ability to travel.

[micuzzo]

Thanks for the interest chookmojo. Ill try speal to my gp first.

Thanks for the replies, I can see this is a great forum.