anxiety, bloodwork and seizures

Welcome to the Coping With Epilepsy Forums

Welcome to the Coping With Epilepsy forums - a peer support community for folks dealing (directly or indirectly) with seizure disorders. You can visit the forum page to see the list of forum nodes (categories/rooms) for topics.

Please have a look around and if you like what you see, please consider registering an account and joining the discussions. When you register an account and log in, you may enjoy additional benefits including no ads, access to members only (ie. private) forum nodes and more. Registering an account is free - you have nothing to lose!

coxfamily

New
Messages
11
Reaction score
0
Points
0
After 7 yrs. of medical tests, etc. my adult son is starting to experience strong anxiety attacks with M.R.I. (I.V.) needles. The last test, we had to quickly leave the medical building after my son had painful (I.V.) needle attempts and went into heavy breathing, sweating, trembling, crying. It looked like a seizure was possibly about to occur. This was shocking to see him react this way as he has always felt kinda comfortable with needles and any tests. One month later he made a 2nd attempt for the M.R.I. appt. but went into another full blown anxiety attack one hour prior to us leaving to the appt. This also had to be cancelled. My son knows that a person needs to be relaxed during any bloodwork, i.v.'s, scans, etc. and he always has been, but I think he's getting fed-up with the constant life of hospitals, etc. and it is having a rough go on him. Has anyone felt the same way and does anyone have advice to overcome this new feeling?
Thanks,Colleen
 
Is there anything that relaxes him, listening to music for example? When he's getting testing done with needles would he be to listen to it? Is there any type of med that he could take to calm him down? Ask the dr if he'd be able to take some, I'm not going to recommend any because it might effect blood work or the testing.

I'm very hard to find a vein when they're drawing blood or getting an IV. They've told me drinking a lot of water the day before helps finding a vein easier. There have been many times that they've had to poke me on both arms several times to find a vein to draw blood. This has also happened when I get an IV too. I've had to have the IV put in very uncomfortable places which would hurt when I moved because that was the only place they could find a vein to put it.

I don't watch when they do any type of needle work on me either, I know I'd probably get scared or nervous if I saw someone sticking a needle in me. I also like to talk to someone when I'm getting needle work too, it helps getting my mind off of what they are doing.

Try to get the appt for the earliest in the day as you can, the first would be the best, most of the time it's 9am or earlier. Not having to spend a lot of time thinking about what is going to happen might help.
 
Last edited:
Hi Valeriedl - Your suggestions are all good ideas and I will encourage him to try
something new. Appreciate it.
Thanks-Colleen
 
coxfamily

valeried has some good ideas there, its not really surprising to me anyway that this has happened him, I am sorry to say. You get fed up of hospitals fairly quickly, went you have been there often enough and the needles, God that is so sore at times, it really depends on who you get taking the blood or anything else, some of them tend to wiggle the needle about to get a vain and it hurts but you don't mind after a while, you just expect it or at lest I do, if it was me I would try some of valeried tips.
 
Sometimes the doctors or dentists will give a very small dose of valium (or similar) to relax a patient before a procedure. (I was given one before I had laser surgery on my eyes). Maybe that's an option?
 
Hi Fedup- My son has these doctors-family doctor, neurologist, liver specialist and thyroid specialist who all want tests. It's never ending and they all want their tests done on their agendas. l get it and so does my son, however, it's worn him out and he gets his back up and then wants to give up. He will eventually find that he has to work it all out. I will continue to offer positive ideas from you great folks who obviously have been down this road before. Thanks kindly, Colleen
 
Hi Nakamova- Thanks for your input. It's wonderful to have other opinions to ponder. We will look into taking a med prior to bloodwork appts. He takes Lorazapam to stop his seizures quickly as he stops breathing and has before taken this for anxiety. He also has a medical cannabis prescription, although the drive to the doctor is 1 hour and meds wear off and cannabis is challenging to take publicly and is still frowned upon even in medical facilities. He will find his way one way or another. Thanks, Colleen
 
Is there any sort of group or website, similar to CWE, he could join for people with multiple medical problems? Being able to talk to other people and knowing he's not the only one who deal with all sorts of different drs, testing, meds and who knows what else might make him feel better.
 
Hi Valeriedl - Perhaps there is a website out there to help with these multiple issues - will research. I know that talking and sharing has helped me throughout my life regardless of the hurdles one has to face....my son is more reluctant even though I've told him about CWE and another epilepsy website. I also know that he hangs out with a friend who is compassionate towards his epilepsy and circumstances of my son's life. There are things that I find between my adult son's thoughts and my thoughts of living with illness are like a barricade of sorts. Things are not simple but are rather complicated in communication when we do speak about epilepsy reality. In my family life as a wife and mom and living through diseases like cancer with my husband and depression and anxiety, being open-minded to be able to speak freely for the better cause of healing has been met many times with comments in the long past of "don't tell anyone that depression is in our family. It's nobody's business." What have I done-shared my sadness and difficulties with my friends-thank God for them. This problem with not being able to share freely is a carried down syndrome or attitude among family members for various reasons (valid or not). I will continue to roll model the great need to share with my son regardless of the hardships that come with trying to encourage someone to open new avenues. You folks I have begun sharing with through this site and another have freed me from the horrors of having no one to talk to other than doctors, psychiatrists and counselors who don't seem to have a clue about epilepsy, or directing one to a qualified epilepsy advisor. I'm finally able to share with people who know what epilepsy and its compounding health issues attached to it are really like to live with. I will continue my own journey as a parent learning what I can about epilepsy and I will continue to encourage my son's journey to grow to be more positive by connecting with others. I thank you again for keeping me tuned in.
Colleen
 
Back
Top Bottom