Injections

[severen]

I have a complete phobia of needles doea anybody know a good way of overcoming it, i heard hypnotherapy may work.

[newtron]

I too have a phobia of needles, and I had hypnotherapy as a treatment when I was younger.  At the time, I convinced myself that it did have some effect because I found it a little easier to deal with injections after that but I still didn't like needles one bit.  Now that I am older, I really think that the hypnotherapy basically just had a placebo effect on me.  These days, I still am very afraid of needles, but I can control this fear by controlling my breathing and relaxing while I am receiving a shot.  So my advice would be to practice relaxation and meditation techniques to deal with your fear rather than having hypnotherapy.

[nfn]

I stick needles into people for a living and know how terrified people can be.  If you explain your fear before the injection/blood test then you should be given all the time you need to steel yourself.  I have a man who comes to me who is given one low dose sedative before an appointment so he is less anxious, he also listens to music thru earphones (v v v loudly) and books a double appointment as he knows it might take him 15-20 minutes to build himself up!  A good nurse will always take into account your fears and you will NEVER be thought any less of for expressing them.

Sorry, but I don't know if hypnotherapy works tho!

[alphamale]

yes. Don't put up with the anguish. I have the same problem specifically with dental injections.

Just take 10mg valium about 30 mins before you have to have the injection, make sure you lie down for the injecting bit and you should be OK. It made a change in me from being a complete nervous wreck to 'do what you want, I don't care'. Try it try it - it really works.

Get someone to drive you home afterwards though.

[SublimeSelf]

Dear Severen

I am a Relaxation therapist and can confidently say that hypnosis can help but I do agree with what Newtron suggests: Relaxation techniques, Meditation and Visualisation should do the trick as well. Also NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming). It is a very effective way to treat phobias and you could be cured in 30mins...