TRYPANOPHOBIA

I’m scared of a lot of things⏤the dark, spiders, failure, rejection, everyone secretly hating me, snakes⏤but most of those are fairly reasonable. One of my biggest phobias, however, is pretty irrational. I’m terrified of needles. I hate them. They’re horrible and icky and all around unpleasant. I’d rather be knocked out and vaccinated than actually face a needle.

I wish I could donate blood; it’s a worthy and admirable action. However, I can’t deal with needles. If my brother had the same blood type as me, he was dying in need of a blood transfusion, the hospital was somehow out of blood, and they asked me to give a little blood, I would have to really think about it. I also kind of wish I could get a tattoo. I already know what I would potentially get; it would be small and actually hold a lot of meaning (a discussion possibly for another time), but I couldn’t sit in a tattoo parlor as my body is stabbed a million times by a needle. No way. My fear is so bad that I can’t even see someone getting injected in movies or television. I’ve seen someone sawed up into tiny bits, but if the tip of a needle so much as touches another person’s skin, I freak out. Even the sight of a stagnant needle makes my hairs stand up.

Like I said before, it’s an irrational fear. Needles, unless they’re unsanitary, are not harmful. In fact, in the medical field, they’re extremely helpful. It’s strange though because I’m not associating the needle with pain, danger, or anything like that. They just scare me. I just don’t like the idea of them, I suppose.