t’s been a long time since I wrote on the blog. But I’m back, and I have news!! Something I already talked about in previous posts: Belonephobia; Belonephobia: solved!!
Well, more or less it was already solved, but I think now it’s even more so. So, for all those who suffer with the idea of having blood tests, we already have a solution!!! As I have told in other posts, this is a more or less hereditary problem, which I have suffered from since childhood and which has caused me quite a lot of trauma, due to fainting (sometimes including seizures) when I had to have blood tests (fasting+nerves of going to the health center at those hours of the morning when it’s cold+people who know you and watch+staying until the end waiting for the nurse to have the time to lay you down on the stretcher…). As I already said, I investigated what solutions there could be, because getting blood tests is something more or less mandatory that we should do at least once a year, like going to the dentist or the gynecologist. Here I have been very irresponsible, I have been up to 5 years without doing tests out of fear. And well, no matter how scared one is, better safe than sorry, it is necessary to have check-ups because that way if we have something it can be corrected in time. And they can also detect a deficiency, for example nutritional, and thus we can correct it. This is not like being afraid of snakes or the plane, you can more or less live with it without trying to solve it (although, how sad must be to be afraid of the plane and not able to travel…).
Two years ago I told you that I had found several companies that are designing devices that extract blood from the upper part of the arm, like leeches (with microneedles). But they still don’t market it completely, I suppose that one day they will. I also told that two years ago I had a rhinoplasty, and it went wonderfully. As for any surgery, I had to take blood tests, and also after the operation I was all night with an intravenous inserted (the first time in my case). I also told you that the surgeon gave me a tranquilizer to take on the day of the operation. I’ve tried that before for blood draws, and I think it helps a lot. My opinion is that it makes you feel like you’re a bit drunk, groggy and happy. I’ve never taken tranquilizers for anything other than that, and I’m not in favour of drugs, but I think it’s justified if you have a major phobia. For the rhinoplasty, I also applied Emla anesthetic cream to my forearm (both arms, in case the nurse preferred one arm or the other). I applied it about 45 minutes before the extraction, covering the area with cling film (that plastic one) so that the skin absorbed the cream well. The truth is that I didn’t even notice the extraction or the IV. When the IV was removed, it didn’t hurt at all.
Well, the news now is that a week ago I had a blood test and the nurse came home. I think this is also something that people with a phobia can do and it would remove a large part of the conditioning factors that make us nervous. For example, the health center/hospital itself kind of makes me nervous, the smell makes me nauseous. Then, having to go there very early in the morning (on an empty stomach and in the cold if it’s winter), nerves, seeing people leave holding their arms, being left until the end…If the nurse goes to your home, you avoid all that. I paid 40 euros, and well, yes, it’s annoying when you could do it for free, but if you do tests once a year, it’s not a fortune either. In addition, since you are paying for that service, the nurse surely treats you better (I think I already told you that the time I fainted in the health center of my town, the nurse had made fun of me, she had called me “soul of a pitcher “and he squeezed me in the extraction area making me pass out when I was already half dizzy, he humiliated me and treated me awfully). This time I did not take any tranquilizer. The nurse arrived, I was lying on my bed with my legs up against the wall (something you can’t do in the health center) and then I lay there calmly, I got up very slowly and ate a banana sitting on the bed. She had extracted a big amount of blood and I didn’t notice it, I didn’t get dizzy at any time (I think the trick for this is to lie down for a while afterwards and then get up little by little, first sitting down, then standing up). Like the day of the rhinoplasty, I had put Emla cream on the extraction site. And about the extraction site, I THINK THIS IS THE KEY: NOT ON THE INSIDE OF THE ELBOW, NO, NO AND NO. I DON’T KNOW HOW TO EMPHASIZE IT ENOUGH.
I had always suspected that this was the key, and it already seemed to me when they drew my blood and put the IV in my forearm during my rhinoplasty. But since I had also taken a tranquilizer and had put on the Emla, I didn’t know whether to attribute it only to that. This time I didn’t take a tranquilizer, so that factor can already be ruled out. My theory is that the inside of the elbow is not a good place, even though most nurses say it is. It is convenient for them because it is very easy to puncture there, the vein is very clear there to see. But guess what, when they put the tourniquet on you, the veins swell, and the one on your forearm is perfectly visible then, too. There it hurts much less, to say the least, also being a place that is not the hinge of the arm (as the inside of the elbow is) because, as happens with the hinge of a door, we are not constantly moving it ( as it happens with the inside of the elbow), so there is no bruising or pain. It’s just pure logic. The two times I’ve had blood extracted out of there, and they also put the IVthere, I have had absolutely no pain or bruises.
So, in summary, friends with belonephobia, this is what you can do:
*Take a tranquilizer the day of the extraction (expendable).
*Hire a nurse to come to your home (it’s worth it).
*Put Emla anesthetic cream in the extraction area (the non-dominant arm is better, but you can also put it in both arms in case the nurse gets picky when looking at the veins).
*ASK FOR THE BLOOD TO BE EXTRACTED FROM THE FOREARM, NOT FROM THE INSIDE OF THE ELBOW.
I am attaching a photo so you can see the exact place I am referring to:
Hopefully this helps you as much as it helped me, don’t be cowed by bad past experiences or idiotic nurses (stand up for your rights!). And remember that it is important to have annual check-ups.
By the way, some women also experience dizziness after their Pap test. It has a certain logic, after all, they also “extract” something from you. It has happened to me not to get dizzy the first time, to get dizzy the second time, and not the third time. And I think the key was in the time. The times I didn’t get dizzy was in the afternoon and I had eaten before. Go always having eaten and at a time when your blood pressure is not low (preferably go in the afternoon or if it is in the morning, never fasting). In my opinion, the Pap doesn’t hurt or anything, but it’s better that you lie down for a while and get up slowly afterwards, staying seated for a while before getting up to get dressed.
Until the next post!
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