child needle fear

Hi my name is Jean have only just joined the forum so have just noticed your post on emla.my grandson and i were in hospital in 2003 and they put this cream on him before injections but while in there i had to have a blood test and i have always had a phobia of needles even now but i used emla on my arm and it worked a treat hope he is ok now

americana, the injections do not hurt, or are a tiny scratch.

i think the problem here is more of a psychological one whereby your nephew hates the thought of his injections.

he has to deal with these injections (like the rest of us) for the rest of his life: i would be worried about validating this fear by putting cream on in advance...

how old is he? can he do the injections by himself? the new pens are very very easy to use and the needles are truly tiny. perhaps if he was taught to administer them himself (probably with supervision) then he might lose his fear a bit.

LJ

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by Lady J</i>
<br />americana, the injections do not hurt, or are a tiny scratch.

i think the problem here is more of a psychological one whereby your nephew hates the thought of his injections.

he has to deal with these injections (like the rest of us) for the rest of his life: i would be worried about validating this fear by putting cream on in advance...

how old is he? can he do the injections by himself? the new pens are very very easy to use and the needles are truly tiny. perhaps if he was taught to administer them himself (probably with supervision) then he might lose his fear a bit.

LJ
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

I completely agree! It is the thought and the fear that are the problem for me. It helped me to do my injection through my clothes...not bery hygienic, but it avoided teh needle going into skin thing a bit. A cream might help for one off injections, but as a diabetic, alas, you do have to get used to it. I feel for your nephew though.

Hello,

I found out that I had Type I when I was 17 and can not even describe how much of a fear of needles I had... which led to me being admitted to hospital on numerious occassions with DKA. Eventually I managed to find through parents and friends who through hypnotherapy made a real difference to my healthcare and life for the better.

Although I wouldn't say that I look forward to injecting, it has been made easier and bareable.... so there is light at the end of the tunnel

Guy

Being a type 1 for some 35 years now with a needle phobia myself i can understand your childs fears.If this cream will help, then use it! It dosent matter what helps, if it works use it!!!
( peoples pain thresholds are different so being told "its only a scratch" should read its only a scratch to me.Besides its not always about the pain ).
I myself tried to get this cream but my GP refused to prescribe it.I use a jet injector which hurt like hell, more than needles do, but i have never been happier and dont fear injection time.
My personal advise:
1) Use the creams.
2) Try hypno therapy i have heard it does actually work for a lot of people.
3) Try pens,syringes,pumps,jet injectors,try them all, or rather let your child decide which they want to use.If its their choice, then a huge amount of the "fear" might be overcome.Ask your diabetic nurse about all the forms of medical treatments and delivery systems available to you, if they respond with "you can only use what you use now" just respond to them with the names of the devices above, they are ALL available ( how long to wait is dependant on individual PCT's, but they are all in the n.i.c.e guidelines for the treatment of diabetes! )....If you sound like you know your facts you usually get a very different "helpful" reaction you see!

Sicko666,
Emla does not need to be prescribed, it is over-the-counter from your pharmacist so if your GP won't give you it, your pharmacist will.

A lot of people find ice works just as well to numb the area and works a lot faster than emla cream (and is free). Dragging the experience out can actually make it worse while waiting for the cream to take effect. There are lots of other distraction techniques to help with fear also...singing, wiggling toes or fingers, activities. Depends on the age what might work and whether the child is self injecting or someone doing it for them. Khaleb has blood tests every 3 months that he is held down for kicking and screaming but I give him 5 injections a day with no tears or hardly any hassle.

The good thing is if you use the 6mm needles you can pinch your skin together so you just inject into the fat and you don't feel a thing. But yeah, defo try him on some numbing cream as he may find it hard to accept it won't hurt without using cream. As he is young ide imagine he will be using the smaller 4mm needles in which case you arn't meant to pinch the skin (Don't quote me on that as he is young so he may still need to pinch)