Fainting/Blacking out while have blood drawn

[FoundMyPrince]

I've never "donated blood", but have had blood drawn a few times. And, passed out a few times. I warn the tech drawing the blood each time and always ask to lay down. It seems they do better if I give them a heads up that I may pass out.

 

[Carpenters]

How do smelling salts smell? I always wondered.

The ones we used to use were basically a strong ammonia smell. The people generally jerk their heads away to get away from the smell and wake up in the process.

 

[sdarwkcabemanmy]

I've never blacked out during bloodwork, but I have hyperventilated and had something that is similar to a panic attack.

Ever since I was a young child, I've been absolutely terrified of needles. When I was very young, I had to have blood drawn for whatever reason and of course, I didn't want it done. So I'm kicking, thrashing, etc and the doctor finally has my mother and a nurse hold me down. But because I have veins that are somewhat smaller than usual, it's difficult to get blood out of either arm. So the doctor does things to make me cry as hard as I can and then when the veins in my neck start to stick out from all the crying, he jabs me in the neck. Ever since then, I've had this intense fear of needles and whenever somebody gets near me with a needle for a shot or a blood draw, I tend to start freaking out.

The last time I had my blood drawn, I closed my eyes very tightly and started singing "It's A Small World" quietly. The tech thought I was a bit loony, but whatever. It helped me to not flip out on her while she got the blood she needed.