Saturday, June 27, 2009

I promise, I am NOT a squeamish person


But apparently I really am prone to what's called a vasovagal episode as a response to some stressors. It's happened too many times now just to be coincidental.

This morning, they were having one of those low-cost vaccination clinics for pets at the Tractor Supply Company store in Gainesville (TX). We needed to have Bijou tested for heartworm so we could give her the heartworm preventative medication, so I toted her up there to have it done.

It was already in the 90s, of course, so we were kinda hot. They had set up tables outside on the parking lot, under a tent thingy, so we stood in line and waited. When we got to the table, they put the little rubber-band thingy on Bijou's little arm and wiped her down with some alcohol. I stood and held her; she was not pleased, but she's not very big so she's not difficult to hold down. They drew the little blood sample. And I blacked out right then and there.

Thankfully there was a chair right behind me and a table in front of me, so I didn't go far and I didn't crack my skull open on the concrete parking lot. I immediately came back to, but I was dizzy. The vet took Bijou and held her, and several others grabbed some ice out of a cooler and put it on my neck and gave me a Gatorade to sip. When I could, I went back to the van and sat in the air-conditioning for a little while.

I've done this quite a few times now. It isn't always needle-related or blood-related, but that does seem to be one of the things that sets me off -- particularly when it's my child or, in this case, my dog. I passed out in the ER once when Alice broke her finger and was having it set. I got dizzy sitting by my BFF when the nurses were starting an IV. I even keeled over once after the hand specialist gave me a steroid injection in my wrist for carpal tunnel syndrome. I've done it lots of other times, and even once lost bladder control in the process, to my great consternation and humiliation.

I feel rather silly, really. I'm not a squeamish person and I don't know why I do this. I just do.

And the weird humor in the situation is not lost on me... I texted my BFF a little later and told her I'd just fainted at Tractor Supply. Who faints at Tractor Supply? Maybe someone overcome by the beauty of the latest John Deere baling attachment, or overexcited by the abundance of creep feed, or even perhaps bowled over by round pen panels... I dunno.

1 comment:

weasel5i2 said...

I have the same thing! It's so frustrating, because it is completely subconscious and I cannot do anything to prevent it when it happens. I can receive an injection, I can even watch them stick the needle into me, but within five minutes, like clockwork, my BP drops and I get very dizzy.. Vasovagal syncope, they call it.

It even happened to me once when I was at a friend's house and he was flipping through channels and came across a liposuction procedure being done. All I can say is, "Holy. Crap." and I ended up asking him to change the channel before I passed out!