Autism - needle phobia

[Nellie65]

My 17 year old daughter has ASD with PDA.
She has not had any blood tests or vaccinations since junior school.
She is terrified of needles. Last time we tried to get a blood test she was 11 and she had 3 phelbotomists try to hold her still and they had to give up.
Problem is...she wants to go to college to do Animal Welfare and this means she will have to have an anti-tetanus booster.
She asked me if it was possible to have some sedation or anaesthetic to have all the jabs she's missed and a blood test.
Does anyone have any experience of local health care providers allowing this

Would Emla Cream be of any help?

Totally agree with Emla. I am in exactly the same position as you as my DS1 turned 18 on Monday and still has not had the Year 10 injections due to severe needle phobia.

I have asked if he can have them at the GP surgery instead as he knows the team there really well, but apparently they are not allowed to do them, it has to be the immunisation team. They are currently trying to organise something for me.

If I get offered any solutions I will share them with you, just in case you can adapt them for your daughter.

I am watching too as ds (14 LD/ASD) has needle phobia. He did however manage a vaccination with the rest of the family getting theirs too (in a relaxed atmosphere) a few years back. Recently we had to get a blood test done (and will have to do more due to a medication he is on!) and it took 3 staff and myself and several attempts with panicked screaming that the whole hospital must have heard. It was horrible! In the end the freezing spray helped and gave more confidence than the emla cream ( which had to be wiped off so ds thought it was no longer able to help IYSWIM). He must have been very numb by the time the blood was actually taken. It helped that he choose the sight - he seemed to really fear the crook of his arm and wanted it done lower down his arm. I think that element of control helped. Goodness knows if we will ever get follow up tests done. Ds has also asked if he could be 'put to sleep' for needles. I will send dh next time as ds is braver with dh- either that or hijack a phlebotomist whilst he is next 'out' whilst under nitrous oxide sedation at the specialist dentist!!
I think if it becomes a huge issue I might speak to the GP about possible sedation for blood tests although I am hoping it won't come to that.

I spent a day last week getting my daughter to have her annual blood test.
She has cystic fibrosis, and probably PDA, and is 14
We saw CAMHS about CBT for needle phobia and she refused to discuss it, sat under the table and then growled 'Its All Crap' at the psychologist. Needless to say the CBT hasnt been scheduled.
However Im not sure she is actually needle phobic as when they talked about the gradual desensitisation I realised that she doesnt care at all about the needles and the paraphenalia - she is happy to sit next to someone else having needles inserted and watches gory operations with glee.
Its the loss of control, the voluntarily handing over of her arm to do something she doesnt want done. She goes into meltdown, full on panic, along with the usual PDA diversions, 'not yets' whys, leading to physical and verbal assault.
We had to use numbing cream, Gas and air and 3 nurses plus myself. She had to micromanage every last movement of it.

Zombie thread update....

My daughter has now done 2 blood tests without too much fuss, and one with no fuss. I think because they were close enough together that she still could clearly remember that the last one hadnt hurt.

We still went into the hospital for it, they still used the specific cream she wanted, which she put on and took off, at precisely the correct time.

She used Entonox gas and she was fine.

she also did a handful of finger prick tests. although those have ground to a halt. I dont know what switched, it certainly wasnt anything we did, and she hasnt had any treatment for it.

she has just been diagnosed ASD, many AS traits, some sensory and PDA traits, plus ADD.