Teenager refusing immunisations (phobia)

[Quellium]

Does anyone have any tips, please?

Due to take 14 yr old DS for injections. This will be the 3rd attempt. One at school, one at special clinic. This will be at the clinic again.

He's getting himself properly worked up already, saying he's going to faint and be sick. No idea what the trigger is as he can't say why he's getting so upset. He thinks it's the thought of the needle going in.

We have emla cream and rescue remedy. I've tried tough guy, sympathising, trying to talk it through as approaches to this. But he gets into such a state he can't listen to me. We tried music last time. He couldn't stay still enough for them to let them do it. Won't talk about techniques that might help because he's too stressed by it.

He has to have them though. I can't bear the thought of him getting one of the diseases.

What can I do if he refuses again? I guess we will be referred somewhere else? I'm looking for stories of hope, please! Or ideas that might help. I'm trying really hard not to lose my patience. I'm at the end of my tether with it! Much easier when they were little.

Thank you!

I didn't know that about coughing sashh, thank you! Very interesting.

He does know about the diseases tribpot and the horrible results, but it unfortunately doesn't make a difference when he's in the room. He can't control it. However, he is now paranoid he will get meningitis.

He couldn't even let me touch his arm yesterday to try a little scratch as an example of what it would feel like. He fell asleep really early on as he'd exhausted himself.

I'm desperate for him to have them done, I hope the GP will be helpful.

Poor guy. Definitely sound like a phobia (not a ‘I don’t like’). The doctor should be able to help.

Quite a few dentists are trained in hypnotherapy techniques for stressed patients and I know some doctors do the training too. Actually now I think if it, my brother had hypnotherapy via his doctor to get him to the dentist to have some horrible root canal work done (he would now merrily go every day if he needed to).

He also doesn’t have to remain stoic and silent while it’s done. My tactic now is to tell them in advance I have a phobia, go in talking nineteen to the dozen, hum, mutter to myself (CandothisIcandothisIcandothis.....etc) while they are doing it, even still cry. But I make myself sit there. I have never had a hcp mock me or be impatient about this (apart from extended hospital stay while pregnant and frankly that phlebotomist wasn’t helpful and shouldn’t be doing the damn job).

Could the GP or practice nurse visit you at home?

Or what about a pharmacy? I know they can give flu jabs and travel vaccines.

I have a friend who is needle phobic, I've been with her when her BP has crashed and she has fainted, I've also accompanied her to theatre where she sobbed in my arms while the anesthetist put a cannula in so I know it can be traumatic.

Could he be bribed?

Play a game on his phone?

On the extreme end could he have midazolam? I know it can be given in the cheek for seizures. It causes relaxation,drowsiness and short term memory loss. It's usually given IV for unpleasant procedures because after you have had it you don't care what happens to you and afterwards you can't remember the procedure.

I kind of get him. It's not something he can just shake off - I faint at blood and panic before getting blood taken etc... not because I'm scared of the blood but because I'm scared of fainting. This means my breathing becomes shallow, fear makes my blood pressure drop and the self-fulfilling prophesy is complete as I pass out in the chair.

It feels impossible to get away from because it feels like a physical reaction not a psychological one.

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy to overcome is what I would advise. Either that or don't tell him what the appointments for, warn the nurse and have her do it quickly. That way he doesn't have time to get worked up. Not sure about the legality of it though.

If the needle problem doesn't get sorted he'll have a hell of a time if he gets toothache.

My db and my dad are both the same: they always ask to lie down for injections. This makes them less likely to feel faint and if they do feel faint nothing happens.

Warning surgery in advance would be a good plan. Let him know this can be done, that he can be accommodated.

Other things is as BlackPrism said: CBT based relaxation exercises that he could look up online and practice in advance and then do in the waiting room and while he is getting the jab. Dd gets really bad panic attacks and she uses those.

You don't want to frighten him, but my dd was recently in hospital with suspected encephalitis and it involved a lot, a lot, a LOT of needles- meningitis would no doubt be similar (apart from the other unpleasantness).

Poor thing (and you!). Hopefully your GP will be helpful.
I was a needle-phobic teenager/young adult. Hypnotherapy got me to the stage where I could bear it, though I still found it very stressful, had to take a friend/parent along, would occasionally faint if it was a blood test (until I learnt to ask to lie down). But it did enable me to do it, which is what you really need. Agree with warning/discussing with whoever is going to do it - you don't want anything to throw him off (e.g. a hold-up in the waiting room) and you want someone who is very skilled at doing it quickly and painlessly.

If 'success stories' are helpful for either of you, I managed several rounds of IVF and difficult pregnancies, involving daily blood tests and self injections. I still have to work on my breathing and I'm nervous about the dentist, but I would never have believed I'd be able to come to terms with the phobia in the way that I have done. I hope your son finds something that helps him too.

My DD is afraid of needles. She’s 14 too but she is small so I think it makes a big difference. I can hold her. Also it’s probably better by now. It was nightmare when she’s younger.
Usually it’s one nurse is doing this, another is holding her hand and I’m holding her in a cuddle with her facing away from the nurse. Looks very strange probably but it works. We go to the main hospital as they are better in my experience, much quicker. I go a few minutes in advance to warn that she needs extra person. We do Elma cream for blood tests ( she needs them regularly for her health issue) but not for vaccination. I think as Emla cream’s applied nearly an hour before and visible in a way it makes things worse. She’s all worked up by the end but she wouldn’t go without it and Emla does help for this first scratch. She also complained about removing Tegaderm film being painful, which I think is true, it’s unpleasant. I do bribery, cuddles, and never tell her in advance that we are going, always at a very short notice. We never ever mentioned the possibility of not doing tests and vaccinations, only how it would be done.