Anti anxiety medication for needle phobic child?

[GabriellaFaith]

Sorry for the long post - desperately hoping someone can help me.

I am really stressing over my daughter's appointment for multiple blood tests Friday. She had bloods regularly fine for 7 years, then she had a bad experience at 8 and is now absolutely petrified of all needles. Last time 6 months ago she made herself sick she was so worked up, was sweating, crying, trying to run away, shaking, I had to hold her down in the end which was a horrible experience. I tried to speak to her GP today to ask if there was anything I could do that I haven't already tried but they had no appointments. I even wondered today about anti anxiety medication as a one off to help her?

She is immunosuppressed and the bloods are needed, missing them isn't an option.

She is autistic and adhd, so does really struggle with managing her emotions - think extreme highs and extreme lows.

She is incredibly clever academically and loves anything numbers. Her fitbit was the best purchase ever for her self managing her emotions as she has to think about getting her own heart rate to the right number! But this situation is way beyond fitbits help! She will be too worked up to listen or think rationally.

She does mindfulness, yoga, strict routine, exercises. She understands why she needs the bloods. But I don't know how to calm her down enough to have them.

Any advise, suggestions, thoughts on if asking the GP for medication for it is reasonable or unreasonable, anything at all, I'm grateful to you for! Thank you in advance x

@BertieBotts What happens to you when you are counting and realise that the blood test is taking longer than normal? Eg: dehydration, phlebotomist needing a bigger volume of blood.

I have thought about counting down til it is over as being a good option as well, but I get worried for DS when I know it could take longer than anticipated. For example, last week, the paeds took three attempts (a registrar had two goes and then the consultant). DS handled it well and then fainted 😬. He is old enough that we can debrief and figure out how we can improve it (he hadn't drunk anything to prepare as the test was spontaneous) and the next test went smoother.

I’m watching this thread as I have the same issue. DD has severe medical trauma and right now I can’t even say the word blood test without her starting to sweat! She had a blood test years ago which triggered a seizure and she hit her head and ended up in hospital overnight and ever since then it has been awful! She’s had specialist medical trauma counselling but that was only six sessions as that’s all they give and she made some progress but she’s still a wreck! We use Emla cream but the minute it comes out (we put it on at home so we have less time at the hospital) there is also LMX cream and lidocaine cream I saw you said she’s allergic to emla! She starts panicking. We always get an actual anaesthetist to do it because with DD you get ONE shot and she’s not got great veins and she will only tolerate one try.
I’ve got an appointment at the GP on Monday because she really needs help with her anxiety as she’s got a lot going on with her health and needs more surgery and is at the hospital regularly so we need to deal with it!!

Last 2 messages on counting in primes or counting in French or something are great suggestions! This is the exactly the sort of things she loves.

When we went Disney they can tell you the exact length of the rides. She would count on them all as a countdown in seconds to zero so if she didn't like it she knew home long left etc, so similar idea. Worked great, I couldn't believe she went on them! She hated almost all of them 😂 But she was so super proud of herself for trying them! 😍

I'm a needle phobic fainter for jabs.

You can get ask the pharmacy for some kind of numbing gel.

Also work at home to desensitize her if you can. Work your way up to watching people get injected. Roleplay it with a pointy pencil.

I personally have to lie down, have my hand held and have someone talking to me. I've also found the only real cure has been getting desensitized by having frequent blood tests through pregnancy,, but even so, I'm still not a fan!!

Erm, TBH it had not occurred to me that it might be possible for it to take longer. But for me, it's the bit where the needle goes in or out that I find difficult and so if I had to stop in the middle and wait for them to get something, it wouldn't be so bad. I also got better at having blood taken since I had two children (four pregnancies) in Germany and they are obsessed with taking blood and take it at every appointment, so I got more used to it and can cope better with blood tests now. I am still not great with injections, but again covid helped because it wasn't as bad as I remembered them being from school.

The worst one was when I was in labour with DS3 and they were trying to put a line into the back of my hand, which they do "just in case" you need a drip etc. It took forever, sitting through contractions when I wanted to stand was bad enough, let alone the needle torture, and then she said "Oh I'm so sorry but I have missed the vein and need to redo it". I wouldn't let her do another hand one, I made her put it in the crook of my arm instead, even though she said it would be more painful if I did get anything through it, at least it was easy to get it in. Then I had my (at the time) first ever lateral flow test (and that was when they used to tickle your brain through your nose as well!) I was SO pissed off about all of this, but especially that they never even used it, even when they took blood the next day and it hadn't been removed yet!