Fear of Needles
What is Needle Phobia?
Needle phobia is a fear of medical procedures that involve needles or injections. It is very common and affects at least 1 in 10 people. When you have a needle phobia, coming into contact with a needle may cause you to feel:
Scared
Tearful
Hostile or agitated
Dizzy or faint
Like you want to run away
Many people with needle phobia may have had a lot of blood tests or procedures as a child. A fear of needles and injections often, but not always, results from bad memories of needles earlier in life. For many people, fear of needles is linked to fainting or feeling faint. When something triggers their fear (for example, seeing blood or thinking about an injection), their heart rate and blood pressure increase. They then rapidly drop. This fall in blood pressure can cause fainting. Other people do not feel faint or actually faint, but feel panicky when something triggers their fear.
Many people do not confront their fear because they are embarrassed. Remember, the needle is not unbearably painful. You might feel a scratch or a stinging sensation, but there are things you can do to help you cope with the anxiety.
How can I overcome my fear of needles?
Here are some tips to help you relax around needles. Everyone is different, so you may want to try a few of these techniques to see what works for you.
Tell the person who is undertaking the procedure that you have a fear of needles. They can answer any specific questions you have and help you to cope with the procedure. For example, they could chat with you during the procedure to distract you.
Try not to worry about other people's reaction. Staff looking after you will not be annoyed or think that you are weak or cowardly when you tell them about your fear of needles. It is useful for them to know about this because they can make things easier for you.
Avoid watching the needle or looking at the needle itself.
Take a support person, like a spouse, friend or family member, to medical appointments.
Distract yourself by wiggling your toes, looking intently at a pattern on the wall or chatting with someone during the procedure.
Use distraction techniques such as focusing on the other parts of your body (e.g. by focusing on what your clothes feel like), thinking or talking about something positive (like holidays), looking at something on your phone, playing a game, reading or thinking of a list of things that start with every letter of the alphabet. For example, an animals list would start Antelope, Bull, Cow…
Lie down before the procedure, especially if you have fainted or felt dizzy in the past.
Practice deep-breathing techniques, such as counting to four on each inhale and exhale (more below).
Relax the muscle where you're receiving an injection to decrease pain. Take slow deep breaths into your belly. This can help to relax your body and stop the release of stress hormones. Some people find it helps to tense their muscles as hard as they can and then relax them a few times.
Request a numbing agent such as a freezing spray to numb your skin before the procedure.
Listen to a playlist of relaxing music or a guided mediation before and/or during the injection.
If your fear is linked to fainting or feeling faint, you can learn an applied tension technique (more below).
Build your Fear Ladder (more below).
Applied tension technique
This is a simple technique to increase your blood pressure to a normal level again and avoid fainting.
Sit down somewhere comfortable.
Tense the muscles in your arms, upper body and legs. Hold this tension for 10 to 15 seconds or until you start to feel the warmth rising in your face.
Release the tension and go back to your normal sitting position.
After 20 to 30 seconds, go through the tension procedure again until you feel the warmth in your face.
Repeat this sequence until you have practised the tension 5 times.
If you can, practise this sequence 3 times every day for about a week. You can then try to face your fear. If you get headaches after doing this exercise, avoid tensing the muscles in your face and head. Also, be careful when tensing any part of your body where you have health problems.
Breathing for relaxation
Sit in a comfortable position, with your back upright but not stiff. Let your shoulders and jaw relax.
Put one hand low on your belly. Take a long, slow, deep, gentle breath in through your nose and out through your mouth. Try to breathe right down into your belly, but do not force the breath. Just let your body breathe as deeply as is comfortable for you.
Do this for 5 breaths.
If possible, practise this exercise 3 times every day for a week. You can then try to face your fear.
Build your Fear Ladder
When you have practised these exercises, the next step is to face your fear of needles. Your Fear Ladder is a list of all the situations involving needles that you fear, arranged in order of difficulty.
Plan enough time for the exercise. You need to stay with the fear long enough to understand how anxiety works. Your anxiety peaks, stays at that level for a while, and then will likely gradually reduce on its own over time. Things at the top of your fear ladder may feel completely unreachable right now. Working your way up gradually will help it feel more achievable.
It is important to take one small step at a time.
Think of ten situations involving needles. Give each one a mark out of ten for how anxious each one makes you feel, where 10 is the most difficult and 0 is the easiest. Put the easiest situation at the bottom, like the first rung of the ladder.
Here is an example of a fear ladder:
Situation Distress Rating
Having an injection in my arm 10
Holding a needle 9
Sitting down to prepare for an injection / needle 9
Touching a needle 8
Watching someone else having an injection in real life 8
Watching someone having an injection on TV or online 7
Looking at photos of injections 6
Listening to someone talking about having an injection 6
Thinking about having an injection 5
Looking at photos of needles 3
Use the applied tension or breathing exercise.
Start at the situation with the lowest mark, for example the photo of the needle. Go into the feared situation and stay with it until your anxiety starts to reduce. Look at it over and over again until you are completely bored with it.
Take some time to relax, perhaps using the breathing exercise.
When you feel confident with this situation, move up to the next step of the ladder. You may need to practise a situation a few times before you are ready to move to the next.
Overcoming your fear takes time and practice, but acknowledge and give yourself credit for the progress you have made. You may still feel anxious, but in time you will feel better able to manage procedures with needles, and the more you do this, the more confident you will feel.
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