teen DD injection/meds phobia

[coolragdoll]

My bright and cheerful 14 yr old DD has developed a terrible fear of needles and general medical/dental treatment that seems to be getting steadily worse- even to the point where she is refusing to wobble a loose baby tooth because she is frightened of how it will feel when it comes out. She is behind on jabs and orthodontic treatment now. She has had some counselling arranged by the local paediatric hospital but it has been put on hold due to missed appointments. I've tried rationalising, sympathising and shouting but nothing works. Our 6yr old is picking up on it. Any advice? Anyone else had the same?

I have an adult friend with a phobia, I go with her for blood tests / hospital appointments. The staff usually think we are exagerating until she has a panic attack and / or faints.

The only thing I do, that she says helps, is talk calmly, reasure her it won't take long, make sure there is emla cream and a treat afterwards (we go to the pub, but I wouldn't recomend it for a 14 year old).

Is it needles or is it a pain phobia?

If it is pain, then one thing that helps with jabs is to cough. I know it sounds stupid but if you cough you can't feel the needle.

Thanks for that- she won't tell me if it is needles per se or pain- it's hard to get to the bottom of it. I guess I'll just have to persevere

I've got the same issue with my (sensible, sporty, "get on with it") DD ever since she fainted during a blood test. It's quite overwhelming how suddenly she went from being absolutely no nonsense/ fuss-free to a full-blown phobia.

Last time she had to have a jab she had Emla cream and was lying down. It was beyond stressful for her but, even though she was crying and white as a sheet, she got through it and didn't faint. I think she's getting worse though - even a conversation about needles now horrifies her and makes her cry and shake.

I did wonder about hypnotherapy (bit it's an expense I could seriously do without) or a GP referral for CBT.

I'd be interested to hear any more ideas or advice.

I had a very similar thing about the same age-I wasn't bothered by needles in the slightest until I fainted after a vaccine, and after that, I just went crazy around them, to the point where I once fainted when my medical student cousin just told me a story involving needles! This went on for a couple of years, until somebody suggested trying the following, which hopefully might help your daughter.

Get your DD to lie down on her bed, or on a couch or somewhere else she feels safe, and to imagine she's about to have an injection. Then to imagine the needle going in, and then coming out-chances are she'll feel faint and sick, but she can rationalise the fact that even though it makes her feel funny, she isn't going to come to any physical harm. The thing that helped me was that it was a horrible image, I felt weak and dizzy, but in reality I was fine-it wasn't doing me any damage ultimately, IYSWIM? The lying down means she's far less likely to faint, and if she does, she's safe. She could do a similar thing with her orthodontic treatment, too. A glass of water next to her can be helpful too.

Over time, this improved the phobia massively, and I then started making myself watch YouTube videos of injections and blood draws, and again rationalising that whilst it was a slightly painful procedure, in the grand scheme of things I was fine. It took a while, but it improved massively over time and I now work in a hospital, on the other end of the needles, with no problems whatsoever! As for your 6-year old, when we get younger children in the hospital who are a bit nervous, we let them "inject" one of the staff with a syringe tube without the needle in-could you let your DC practice with a toy doctor's kit or similar?