Anyone else squeamish?? Feeling stupid.....

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WandaMare

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Morning all,

Well I'm feeling really stupid today.....vet came to take a blood sample from my pony to test for Cushings. I was holding pony and reassuring him as we do especially as he isn't great with injections............when all of a sudden I came over really faint and had to abandon him and the vet and rush outside and sit down. Went all hot and whoozy and vet ended up attending to me rather than horse!!! Feel so embarrasssed and bad for leaving my boy when he needed me there....:(

I've not always been a wuss at the sight of blood but it does seem to be getting worse as I'm getting older. Is anyone else the same and do you have any advice?? I really want to be able to be there for my horses and dog and if necessary my friends if they are hurt.

Pony was fine btw, vet finished off fine without me, lucky I have such a lovely vet.

Any help much appreciated, I'm going to hide now feeling sooo stupid :)
 
No advice, but I'm really crap with stuff like this too and I'm ever grateful to Juooles at the yard who is always happy to assist (she likes to see it). I'm much better in an emergency but hopeless with needles/routine things :o

Only advice is if you can't do it don't faint! My ex used to faint when he banged his thumb and spent a lot of time being concussed.....
 
Don't worry i get like that at times and i work with horses! My horse cut his corenary band a couple years ago, blood pouring out leaving puddles where he stood and i was absolutely fine dealing with that on my own, few days later vet comes to change dressing and i had to go and sit down :P Also i used to be incapable of staying in the vets with pets for injections but i've injected horses myself, watched my horse being scoped, joint injections etc i think when they really need you something takes over and you're fine. Try not to get worried about feeling faint, tell yourself you'll be fine and if necessary look the other way, chat to the vet etc
 
I used to be squemish with things like that until I had my past horse. Who had a few health issues and I had to harden up fast on them. Now nothing bothers me at all and I end up having to hold and treat most horses on yard when the owners cant stomach anything. lol

I remember last year when my horse coliced and had to get scoped and stuff. It cured my hangover rather quickly ;) lol
 
Thank you for your replies, it gives me hope that I can get better with things like this, hopefully like you say sassybebe, if it was an emergency I would be able to just get on with it and help out. Oscarwild you sound as though you've done really well to get past feeling squeamish so it proves it can be done. My problem is that I don't have anyone to step in as I keep the horses at home so its something I'm going to have to get to grips with, I have the annual vacs coming up soon so at least I will get some more practise :D
 
Dont feel bad, I cant watch or hold my boy for the Dentist or injections have to have someone else do it and when he cut his leg badly and had to have part of it cut away i had to leave the yard till it was done as was taken really bad. I felt awful about it also ashamed to say I cannot pull manes as this makes me physically ill.
 
I used to be o.k and even lanced horses when yard I was at had strangles.

Then my horse was sent to AHT in Newmarket for colic surgery and I nearly fainted when his drip was leaking ever so slightly onto the shavings. I lost him unfortunately and now, the sight and smell of a fresh shavings bed makes me feel a bit sick and dizzy - funy how the mind works :o Mine is on straw lol.

Don't feel bad for not being there for your horse, they don't associate like we do and your vet does sound very sympathetic!
 
Im a bit like this with needles and blood, hopeless with my own, a bit better with the animals. I normally try to look away for the actual injection/drawing blood bit and Im normally OK. Either try looking the other way or just avert your gaze downwards if you can safely do so. Usually works!
 
Hi there, I can cope with blood and guts. Equine dentist? you can't see me for dust. My equine dentist is used to me so**ing off. Have to stay out of eye and earshot.

We all have our limits.

Jane
 
I'm like this and its getting worse as I get older! I did work experience in the vets when I was 15 and nearly passed out a few times. A neighbour popped in and was telling me about her husbands punctured lung and all the following complications and I felt so hot ill and dizzy i had to sit down. Really embarrassing but i don't know how to over come it. I'm worried one day if there's a crisis I won't be able to act. Someone close to me was in a bad car crash and I couldn't approach, luckily there were others to help :( I consider myself practical and stoic so this is a frustrating.
 
I work as a vet nurse, i'm absolutely fine with the most gory of proceedures for animals but show me a human operation now on the tv and I can't look! Always used to be fine but can't watch human stuff now!

edited to add we're quite used to people passing out! I can now tell when a work experience student is about to go (most are quite determined and won't sit down despite being told!) and should at them to sit down somewhere safe or grab them if I can!
 
I am a nightmare for blood!!
Always wanted to be a vet but when i was younger i went with my mum whilst she had a blood test and i fell out the door of the room we were in and left my mum with a needle in her arm whilst the nurses put a cushion under my feet and brought me round!!

Very embarrassing as i fell right in front of all the rows of people waiting for their tests LOL

decided at that point that maybe being a vet was not for me!!!
 
Thanks everyone for sharing your experiences, I don't feel nearly as bad now, knowing its not just me. Its such a weird thing because the thought of blood doesn't scare me but as soon as I see it, its a different story. I'm going to make a effort to watch all those medical soaps from now on just to practise seeing gore :D :D

Thanks for all your replies :)
 
I'm fine dealing with my horse, but when my husband snapped his achilles tendon last year that was a whole new ball game. There I am in A&E having to go out and leave him to be plastered as I felt sooooo queasy and faint and it was only a plaster nothing gory, but they held his foot down to get the position right and he was in agony .......... he doesn't usually make a fuss! Nevermind, I did get better as he had to have it done several times - 10 weeks in plaster was not fun.
 
I'm only squeamish when I watch something like this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P25VKM51Zv0

Blood/guts/smells don't appear to affect me (I got to watch an operation on someones appendix which had burst!) which I am very thankful for!!

You must say to yourself when next watching blood being drawn is either red ribena, or its for the good of the horse :D
 
I am really really bad!
I have fainted from:
watching lord of the rings 3 when he gets his finger bitten off!
at uni when we were on the yard and one of the yard techs was describing giving birth in intense detail.
In uni labs, was fine when we were looking at blood under the microscope but then the lady took us all to the front and was saying how she will have to prick her finger to get a blood count for herself and then was shaking some blood around in a tube and i was out like a light :P
Have also fainted during a piercing video lol.

have nearly fainted when:
watching a giving blood video
someone lying on the floor trying to shove their belly button piercing back in
a matron jabbing my thumb with a needle trying to get a splinter out
at uni health and safety describing to terrors of leaving piercings in when riding/ handling horses.

I am 19 (20 this year) and it seems to be getting worse as this last year i have fainted 3 of the 4 times i ever have. I dont know if its cos im worrying about it cos its horrible feeling! But i was FINE when dissecting hearts and was even ok this year when we were disecting a horses leg! im a bit werid you see ...
 
I'm the other way around.
I used to be AWFUL with stuff like that.
Now I am fine, a mare cut her hock and I was the first one there and had to try and stop the blood flow. Blood all over my hands, over me, all over the yard etc! Didn't bother me. A few years ago I would of run away and cried to my mummy!
 
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