Applied tension for the fainting response — what my nurse taught me

My GP took it seriously the moment I described the fainting rather than the fear. The physical detail was what got me the referral.

Perrine, answering your question directly rather than going round the houses.

I could not be in the room with the box for the first fortnight. That is where I started and I now do this weekly without difficulty.

What I would say is that this is not the same as squeamishness and you do not need to justify it as more than that.

I practised with the pen without doing anything, several times a day, for two weeks. Getting used to holding it was a real step and I nearly skipped it.

Applied tension helped my fainting more than anything else. It was taught to me properly, it is a specific technique, and it is worth asking about by name.

Nobody in this circle is going to tell you it is only a small needle. That sentence has never helped anybody with an actual phobia.

Read, understood, and glad you are here.

Coming back to say I did it alone, calmly, last Tuesday, and then sat down and cried a bit. Both parts are the update.

Please do not let anybody, clinical or otherwise, make you feel unreasonable about this. Mine was dismissed twice before it was taken seriously and the delay cost me a year.

Bron said something I want to sit with for a second.

I keep a small written plan of my own steps and I still read it sometimes, eighteen months in. It costs me nothing and it steadies me.

What worked for me was somebody else being calm. Not encouraging, not enthusiastic. Calm. That was the whole ingredient.

I worked with someone for six sessions, specifically on this, and it was the best thing I did that year. It is a treatable thing and it does not have to be endured.

Mine has a fainting response attached, which meant the advice aimed at anxiety did not work at all. Lying down first was what changed it.

I had one bad experience in the first month that set me back weeks, and rebuilding from it was slower than starting had been. Be gentle with yourself if that happens.