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Needle phobia for type 1 son.

C

Clairehannah

Member
Messages
13
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Can anyone help? My son has had severe needle phobia for ever. He is 20 and was diagnosed 4 months ago with type 1. With the help of capped needles he managed to start injecting but now his phobia is not allowing him to inject. His phobia is out of control and no kind of strategy will help as he can't physically inject now. It is affecting every aspect of his life and he has to ask family members to inject him because he is sitting there for ages trying to overcome his phobia but not being able to.
 
Has he seen a psychologist or someone similar? I had a needle phobia which I partly overcame myself, but a psychologist was mentioned before that.

And would a pump help?
 
azure said:
Has he seen a psychologist or someone similar? I had a needle phobia which I partly overcame myself, but a psychologist was mentioned before that.

And would a pump help?
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He can't stand the thought of a pump and I asked if he wanted to go to speak to someone but he feels as though he needs to get his own brain straight to do this himself. I spoke to him again tonight but he didnt think it would help him as he knows what the problem is. Thanks for your quick reply.
 
Clairehannah said:
He can't stand the thought of a pump and I asked if he wanted to go to speak to someone but he feels as though he needs to get his own brain straight to do this himself. I spoke to him again tonight but he didnt think it would help him as he knows what the problem is. Thanks for your quick reply.
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He really does need help asap if he is not injecting, without adequate insulin in the body DKA can soon develop, better he accepts he needs help and rings the diabetes clinic in the morning and gets an urgent appointment.

The pump suggestion by @azure would be much easier for him, pumps like the Omnipod Pump have a automated cannula insertion so there's no needles to look.
 
Thanks for your reply. We have looked into the pumps. He is getting his insulin but he is now dependant on close friends and family doing it even though he is really pushing himself to do it. It means that it is really effecting his independence now as he is timing everything around when someone is there to help him with injections.
 
Clairehannah said:
Thanks for your reply. We have looked into the pumps. He is getting his insulin but he is now dependant on close friends and family doing it even though he is really pushing himself to do it. It means that it is really effecting his independence now as he is timing everything around when someone is there to help him with injections.
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Well at least he is getting his insulin, but still its not ideal and he needs to talk with his diabetes team and mention the possibility of moving to a insulin pump.

Really hope it all works out well for you all. Best wishes.
 
Clairehannah said:
He can't stand the thought of a pump and I asked if he wanted to go to speak to someone but he feels as though he needs to get his own brain straight to do this himself. I spoke to him again tonight but he didnt think it would help him as he knows what the problem is. Thanks for your quick reply.
Click to expand...

It's good that he wants to sort it himself. I hope he's able to. I developed a kind of switching off strategy where my mind wasn't thinking about what I was doung but was focussed on the future a few minutes ahead. I'm sure I didn't explain that very well, but I'm basically saying he needs to think about mental strategies he can use to deal with it.

I also think that sometimes problems become worse if you avoid them. That's in NO way a criticism, but just saying that if he's able to get started on dealing with it sooner rather than later, it could be easier.

It's not easy and it'll take work, but if he's mentally ready then he can start dealing with it. Depending on his fears, the first few steps may be absolutely tiny, but any progress is good. He's lucky he's got you to support him. Tell him it is do-able, and that he's not the only one who has problems. Also tell him that the people who've got their phobia under control aren't any stronger than him, and so he can do it too.

Best wishes to him and to you.
 
azure said:
It's good that he wants to sort it himself. I hope he's able to. I developed a kind of switching off strategy where my mind wasn't thinking about what I was doung but was focussed on the future a few minutes ahead. I'm sure I didn't explain that very well, but I'm basically saying he needs to think about mental strategies he can use to deal with it.

I also think that sometimes problems become worse if you avoid them. That's in NO way a criticism, but just saying that if he's able to get started on dealing with it sooner rather than later, it could be easier.

It's not easy and it'll take work, but if he's mentally ready then he can start dealing with it. Depending on his fears, the first few steps may be absolutely tiny, but any progress is good. He's lucky he's got you to support him. Tell him it is do-able, and that he's not the only one who has problems. Also tell him that the people who've got their phobia under control aren't any stronger than him, and so he can do it too.

Best wishes to him and to you.
Click to expand...
Thats very helpful. Thank you for your reply.
 
noblehead said:
Well at least he is getting his insulin, but still its not ideal and he needs to talk with his diabetes team and mention the possibility of moving to a insulin pump.

Really hope it all works out well for you all. Best wishes.
Click to expand...
I will mention it to him again. Thank you for your reply.
 
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