“I Have Needle Phobia”
For as long as I can remember I have had an irrational fear of needles and all that comes with it. This is called trypanophobia. Especially vaccines. I blame my parents for that! I will explain.
When I was growing up, I never went to the pediatrician for vaccines and checkups like the other kids. Instead, my father was my doctor. It seems like a good thing but it wasn’t! My parents had the bright idea to “ambush” us kids when we needed an injection or vaccine. I didn’t get a chance to prepare mentally and it usually happened in the middle of playtime when I was entertained and easy prey. Or so they thought! I have vivid early memories of running, screaming, even once hiding under the bed for maybe twelve hours… obviously it was a losing battle. I don’t recall how my siblings fared because I was too busy saving myself. I do know I was always the last one to fall.
On one occasion, I may have been 7 years old, the health department was coming to school to administer the “Yellow Fever” vaccine. I lived in Venezuela then and apparently there was an outbreak of this malaria type disease going around. As you may imagine, this caused me a lot of distress.
So it happened that as my classmates were vaccinated one by one, they would return to class with a red blotch of antiseptic liquid on their injured arm. My legs started to feel weaker and weaker, I was feeling nauseous waiting for my turn. I was smack in the middle of the pack because my last name begins with an “M”. However, just when my turn came up, the recess bell rang! Saved by the bell! Suddenly, I had a reprieve.
I don’t know why I did it, except that the opportunity presented itself. I pressed my upper arm to the girl that had just come back weeping from this torture, and “marked” myself done. I knew that there was a chance that it wouldn’t work but as they say “Nothing ventured, nothing gained”. Well… it worked! When they restarted they just skipped me! I couldn’t believe it.
Of course I had placed myself in a precarious situation since I was developing “mosquito phobia”, because that’s how the disease was transmitted. At the end I did confess and eventually they had to drag me kicking and screaming to vaccinate.
I remember that when I was due to get married, it was mandatory to have a blood test. Well, we both fainted! Now, you would think that it was a match made in heaven, right? Wrong! I guess having the same phobias is not necessarily a winning combination. Haha!
Yesterday, I had to face my fear of needles and get the much discussed vaccine. The three workers in the vaccination mobile unit at the local public library, were Cuban Americans. One had tatooed arms, the other was a funny guy that thought my predicament was hilarious, the third was in charge of the execution…and a teddy bear. I was glad they were Cuban, this is not hard to find in Miami. Cubans have a way of making light of situations and making you laugh. In the middle of my traumatic experience, as my head is between my legs and I’m feeling like I will pass out at any moment, funny guy comes to me and laughingly says “Chica, me estás espantado a los clientes!” or “Hey girl, you are scaring away my clients!” I had to laugh! It was true. People were beginning to look uncertain.
I guess my fear of not being able to travel and live my life fully overrode my needle phobia. It was terrible. I almost fainted and I thought I was going to throw up. I think it’s funny how the executor of that horrible piercing always feels personally affronted by my irrational fear. It has NOTHING to do with their skill! Zero! It could be God administering it and I would still react the same way!
There’s got to be a better way. It seems very archaic to me. This piercing of my skin. When is the “Treknosis” hypospray technology that we grew up seeing in Star Trek going to become a reality?
Yes, I confess I had to go with an entourage to keep me from running! Well, I’m glad it’s over with.
