Hi!
So tomorrow I have to get a blood test to test if certain levels of something are too high- reasons why are unimportant. What is important is that I have had two blood tests before in my life- I'm 16 by the way- and I fainted once I had walked out of the doctor's office on the first one, and the second one I walked into the lobby afterwards, and had to sit down for five minutes, as I was constantly fighting the urge to simultaneously vomit, pass out, and fall to the floor because I was so dizzy. So, I came very close to fainting. I am dreading this! And the nurses are not very nice where I go, they just sit you down next to a bunch of other people and take your blood without even talking. I'm super scared. I don't want to faint, but that feeling after my second blood test was just as bad, and basically was how I felt the moment before I fainted the first time. Does anyone have any advice? Has this happened to you before and what did you do?

I'm so scared!!!
Dancing4everr

Hey, I always faint at the sight of blood, so I definitely sympathize with you! What I found helped was telling the nurse before anything happen, or even saying so up at the desk when I check in. Even if it's a place like you described, I have had good luck with being upfront about my likelihood of fainting. Normally they will take me to another room and have me lie down before taking it, and that helps. Or, at least, they will have some juice or something prepared to have me take right afterwards to help. I doubt the nurses are out to get you or anything, so if you bring it up calmly before hand, they should be able to help it go smoother and hopefully avoid it!

Make sure you're well hydrated. I find blood drawing always goes better when I'm hydrated.

In the past when I used to give blood semi-regularly, I used to eat constantly through the day. Not a proper meal, just little bits and bobs of stuff. That way I could be sure that my sugar was high, and consistent throughout the day. That helps too. The one time I didn't do that, I passed out cold. :/

You may be experiencing a vasovagal response. www.mayoclinic.com . . .
My dd goes through this every time she has to have blood drawn in recent years. The first time it happened the lab freaked out and called an ambulance. We've learned that she does better if she's in one of those reclining chairs so that she's not quite lying down but not quite sitting up but kind of in between. Also as Theresa mentioned, it's key not to have an empty stomach. My dd also finds that if she has apple juice or orange juice before she tries to get up again she does better. Also I talk to her while the blood is being drawn to keep her distracted.
Good luck!

1. Go with someone, not alone.

Tansey wrote:

it's key not to have an empty stomach. My dd also finds that if she has apple juice or orange juice before she tries to get up again she does better.

Not always good advice as a lot of the blood tests done these days need you to fast for 12 hours before hand. You need to check up on this one before having the blood drawn.

A standard blood test actually only requires very little blood. Around 20ccs, generally speaking. That's not enough to make you feel dizzy or queasy. You're probably just making yourself unnecessarily nervous, so relax. Breathe normally, look away, and bring someone with you who'll be willing to talk to you while they're drawing the blood so you'll be better distracted. I always talk to my patients while I'm drawing their blood - keeps their head elsewhere.

^ It's enough to make me feel flushed and a bit woozy, especially if it takes them more than one try to hit the vein.

Tell your doctor and nurse and the lab tech. They want to know if you are nervous or get dizzy and will do their best to keep you calm. They don't want to pick you up off the floor. Ask for time to sit still after and breathe slowly and deeply til you feel like getting up. Drink some water or juice. When you do get up, take your time, move slowly at first. Take someone with you and let them drive.

Good luck, kk~

^Yeah, that. Donating a pint of blood makes you feel queasy. Giving a few vials of blood for testing does NOT. I used to have my blood drawn every month, and it's no big deal. Just don't look, and you probably won't even notice. It does NOT hurt. Most of the time, I didn't even feel it. They had to tell me when they were done because I seriously didn't even know. And do not confuse drawing blood with getting a shot. Injections hurt, but drawing blood does not. Bring an iPod, and you probably won't even know when they've put the needle in your arm. Seriously, it's THAT painless.

SaraTheGrouch wrote:

A standard blood test actually only requires very little blood. Around 20ccs, generally speaking. That's not enough to make you feel dizzy or queasy.

Yep, and if they're only testing one thing, such as electrolytes, then they only draw 5ccs. No standard blood draw makes you pass out from decrease in blood volume (which is common if you're donating blood).

You're vasovagaling. I vasovagaled every time I got a shot or got blood drawn until I was 18 and studied up on why the heck I kept hitting the floor.

1) Do NOT try to make yourself relax. It sounds like it would help, but it actually lowers your BP further. Instead, cross your legs and tighten all of your leg muscles before, during, and after the venipuncture.
2) When you get up from the chair, get up slowly. Tell the phlebotomist that you tend to vaso-vagal and are just going to take a minute to adjust. Sit there for a minute, then stand up. Stand for a few seconds, adjust, then start to walk.
3) When you're walking out, bend your knees slightly as you walk.

If you can eat and drink before the blood draw, aka it's not a fasting blood draw, drink a ton of water and have a salty snack or two. This will help keep your BP up.

The worst that happens? You faint. O well. Seriously, that's the worst thing. You'll survive

If you are nervous about fainting, look at this way. Fainting in a doctors office is the BEST place to be fainting.

This happens to me when I am around needles. I usually just cringe my teeth and tighten everything up and it keeps me from fainting. Tension for some reason keeps me from falling flat on my face.
^ And Katie just answered why the tightening up keeps me from fainting

Going with someone and having them there to distract me through conversation or by holding my hand is the best thing for me. If I'm chatting about something it's a lot easier to not think about what is going on in the rest of my body.

I second what everyone else said about not trying to relax and deep breath while you are getting it done. Cross your legs and tense them and just remember it will always be easier than we make it out to be.

I work my self up every time and then I go, "Oh, that was it? Don't I fell silly..."

I just have to ask -- what happens if/when you prick your finger with a needle while sewing ribbons or elastics on your shoes?

I've known very level-headed, logical people with an adverse reaction to needles and/or blood. I think it can come from experiences when you were so tiny that you can't consciously remember. One such person is my husband, though he can remember. He was two or maybe three when his mother took him for some routine shots. He sat on her lap while the doctor inserted the needle in his arm. He didn't faint -- but she did! Of course it left a lasting impression which it took him a long time to get (mostly) over.

Dancing4everr wrote:

And the nurses are not very nice where I go, they just sit you down next to a bunch of other people and take your blood without even talking.

As others have said, tell the staff about your tendency to faint beforehand. Actually, the nurses may be trying to project a no-big-deal, business-as-usual type of atmosphere. Which it really is. So tell people what's happened before but then try to get in the spirit of things and try ACTING like it's no big deal. After enough times doing this in your life it really will be no big deal.

Its pretty much completley mental. Mind over matter, that kind of thing.

I used to be the same. I'd get so anxious and worked up about injections or getting blood drawn, I'd pass out before it even touched my skin.

Fats forward to 6 months of needing weekly blood tests and I got pretty good at them!

Tips:

Unless told to fast, keep up the hydration. It helps them find the veins easier, which means it's a lot quicker and less painful.

Ask to lay down. I still do it, and I'm 26. Days when I'm feeling ultra brave I'll stay sitting, but most of the time I'll just say "I have the tendency to faint, do you mind if I lay on the bed instead?" and they are generally fine.

Focus on sometime else. Don't look at what is happening. Look at an image on the wall, ask the nurse about her day, anything. It helpstake your mind off what is happening.

Breathe - THIS. So this.

Vasovagal syncope (fainting) is often a response to having a vein punctured, not to a capillary puncture. Minor pricks are usually capillary punctures, so won't elicit fainting in someone with a strong vasovagal response. I stabbed my finger with a 19G needle (I believe blood drawings are usually done with 25G needles-- larger gauge= smaller diameter), saw the blood flowing out, and was perfectly fine. However, I always faint when I have my blood drawn even though I make a point not to watch it.

The vasovagal response slows blood flow throughout your body, including the brain, which is what causes fainting. There was a slight evolutionary advantage to this response- if you got bitten by a tiger (for example) in your jugular, your blood flow would slow down to avoid massive blood loss through the puncture (of course, then you'd pass out and be easy prey for the tiger... but in the event that the tiger ran off, you wouldn't additionally have lost all your blood). Of course, now that we're not usually in danger of tiger bites, the vasovagal response is mostly a nuisance. As others have pointed out, stay hydrated and ask to lie down/ recline for the blood drawing (gravity helps blood flow to the brain). Good luck!

I've known very level-headed, logical people with an adverse reaction to needles and/or blood. I think it can come from experiences when you were so tiny that you can't consciously remember. One such person is my husband, though he can remember. He was two or maybe three when his mother took him for some routine shots. He sat on her lap while the doctor inserted the needle in his arm. He didn't faint -- but she did! Of course it left a lasting impression which it took him a long time to get (mostly) over.

One day, I was kind of watching my son get shots and how the pediatrician handled it, and it occured to me that pediatricians basically breed fear of needles.

Our pediatrician has the parent basically pin the kid down, and they just fire 'em off as fast as they safely can, just to get done with it, obviously. But yeah, if someone considerably larger than me pinned me down so someone could jab me with sharp objects, I'd be afraid of getting in to that situation later in life too!

(Not to mention that James is a bleeder, and one shot makes him bleed like a stuck pig, much less five shots at a time, but that's neither here nor there...)

I'm not going to weigh in on any of the medical talk, because I'm nowhere near qualified.

But I've totally been in your shoes. I vividly remember getting my blood drawn, a few years ago now. It was done, I stood up, and promptly threw up a little. I felt really dizzy, too. My best advice is to ask if you can lie down while they do it. Don't watch, and stay horizontal until you're sure you feel okay. This seemed to work for me the next time I had it done.

Oh, I just realized I'm probably too late with this! I really hope it went okay. I agree that it's nerve-racking to have blood drawn, so you have my sympathies!!!

The general consensus is that lying down or in the recliner chairs is better. The nurse suggested it to me because I said I felt really dizzy.

I've only had a blood test once, and I'd chalk it up to the fact I felt sick enough to faint beforehand, so the blood test was nasty for me. But drinking lots of water beforehand, and having something nice and sugary to eat afterwards will perk you up. I wouldn't try to move too fast either. I slowly sat up and didn't leave the pathology place for about 5-10 minutes until I felt less dizzy. In that time I drank some water and ate some lollies.

But staying calm is important, it hurts more if you tense.

When they draw your blood ask the technician to lay you down in a reclining chair specially made for folks who might faint. If the place you are going to have the blood test done does not have one, try to have your PCM order the test a outpatient lab, hospital out-patient lab, or large clinic outpatient lab--their phlebotomy department will certianly have one of these chairs.

Nothing to be ashamed about, happens to a lot of folks, esp. big large college football player's --- I have personally seen it happen.

Meh, I don't watch the needle, get distracted by the nurse chatting to me, don't get bothered by the pain of the needle itself (because seriously it barely hurts) and I STILL get faint and queasy. I had a blood test today and nearly passed out. I always make sure that whoever is talking the blood knows that I'm likely to faint and they will either get me to lie down or sit in a reclining chair or have water for me to sip straight afterwards. Today, the doctor came in while the test was being done and as I got woozy, he pressed on the tip of my middle finger of the opposite arm to where the test was done, with his fingernail. Apparently it's an acupuncture point for resuscitation. That stopped me from going altogether.

Helen

I'm the same as Helen. I can look away, breathe, talk and be hydrated - bit I still pass out every single time no matter what. One minute Im chatting to the nurse, cool as a cucumber and the next I am out cold. People who aren't like this don't get it; sometimes it is just inevitable. Nothing be ashamed off, but not much you can do other than tell the nurse you're a fainter.

I need to get bloodwork done and I really have to psyche myself into it... and wait for my boyfriend to have a day off do that he holds me accountable for going. Walking into a situation where you know you're gonna pass out is kinda blah, so it's really best not to go alone if you can help it.