Faint around blood

[tokugawa]

The blood that makes me queasy is MY OWN!!! Seen too much of it I guess!

[Perd Hapley]

Primary thoughts must be focused on breathing through the mouth. 

Why would you have to focus?  I do that naturally.  Doesn't everyone?  Me go watch Dog the Bounty Hunter, now.

[Tallpine]

Blood itself doesn't bother me.  Open wounds on people or pets with pieces of insides hanging out bothers me.

Deer are no problem after the first cut.  After that it is just hard work and you have to concentrate on what you are doing.  Seeing lung tissue turned to soup does make me not want to get in the way of any rifle bullets, though

[CNYCacher]

The first time I gave blood, I decided I was in a race with the guy next to me to fill the bag.  Don't ask me why.  I squeezed and pumped that little squeezy thing they make you hold on to and willed the blood out of my body.
Pretty soon the nurse came over.  "That was fast.  Let's get you unhooked."
Unhooked I was and whisked to the front of the "Bloodmobile" where cookies and juice were offered.  Cookies were Oreos in a little snack pack.  Juice was in the form of a juice box.
While I struggled to open the cookie pack, a nurse said "Let me get that juice for you."
As she withdrew the straw from it's wrapper on the side of the juice box, I couldn't help but notice that the shape of the straw was very reminiscent of the needle which they use when drawing your blood.
I sort of forgot about the cookies in my hand as she started grinding the point of the straw again and again into the little silver spot on top of the juice box.
The periphery of my vision started to become blurry and washed out as I watched that pointed straw twist and grind against the top of the juice box, making a dent in the little silver dot which is meant for a straw to go into.
Hypnotized by the straw and starting to feel kinda funny, I observed the nurse draw the straw back in her fist and stab downward into the juice box.  It pierced the top of the box finally, and a short squirt of Welch's best flew through the air past my face.
And then the floor flew up and smacked me hard in the face.


That experience ruined me for needles and the sight of blood for many years.  If you had told me I needed an IV or I would lose my leg, I likely would have had to think about it first.

Three and a half years ago, I was diagnosed with Crohn's Disease.  Since then I have had at least 30 IVs, and probably had blood drawn 50 times (and 3 colonoscopies ). It's to the point now where I am completely desensitized to the whole thing.  I'll watch the IV go in, watch my blood flow up the tube, and then back down when they turn the pump on.  I'll hold the needle steady when they are taking blood, etc.  Absolutely no effect on me anymore.  You just need to desensitize to it all, that's all,

[Thor]

Come deer hunting with me, you'll soon get over it.

I'm quick and dirty when I field dress a deer. The stimulus overload should make you less queasy.

I was cutting open a deer I killed down by Albert Lea, MN. I nicked the intestines. Damn, that smell was nasty. We had to be careful from there on as to not get any of that crap on the insides. I found the shotgun slug down by it's anus as we removed that. I had shot it in the neck and apparently the slug travelled down the spine. That was kind of neat and the slug looked almost like it was never even fired (except for the blood on it)

[Iain]

blood doesn't bother me
needles don't bother me (getting shots/tattoos/etc.)

but needles going into veins makes me sick to my stomach - can't even watch the scenes in, say, Trainspotting, where someone's shooting up. Thus I've never given blood (and thankfully never needed an IV).

I'm very similar, although watching needles go into my own veins isn't an issue. Can't watch it on TV though.

I did some work experience when I was at school in a histology lab. Soon got over the smell of formaldehyde, but the aftermath of the masectomy almost ruined breasts for me.

[French G.]

We can help you get over this. Just post your address. I'll be up the street passing out water balloons and cow blood to any APS'r that comes by. Look both ways before you pick up the paper. 

I know kind of what you mean, years ago I passed out on a big blood draw and it was not really psychological, I walked around for the next 4 hours seeing in black and white with no peripheral vision. Ever since then I am a wuss about blood draws.

Needles no problem, my own blood tastes pretty good. I like watching someone stitch me up, no problem with other blood.

You could try my desensitizing trick, as a kid I was around hunting and fishing, lived in the country etc. The biggest cure was living near a road and owning a cat. Every cat I had as a kid ended up flat. One dog too. Having to scoop them up and bury them makes you get over the squeamish thing. 

[charby]

Come deer hunting with me, you'll soon get over it.

I'm quick and dirty when I field dress a deer. The stimulus overload should make you less queasy.

I was cutting open a deer I killed down by Albert Lea, MN. I nicked the intestines. Damn, that smell was nasty. We had to be careful from there on as to not get any of that crap on the insides. I found the shotgun slug down by it's anus as we removed that. I had shot it in the neck and apparently the slug travelled down the spine. That was kind of neat and the slug looked almost like it was never even fired (except for the blood on it)

I haven't nicked a intestine on a deer yet, only twice on a bladder.  What I think smells the worst is a rabbit guts.

[French G.]

No, what smells worst is the ground squirrel your dog killed a week ago that you just hit with the lawnmower and plastered on the side of the house. Damn dog. Eeew. Quick, someone revive the OP!

[Headless Thompson Gunner]

Blood has never bothered me.  But a few years ago I cut my finger pretty good.  Sliced clean through the skin and exposed fat and bone and sinews and stuff.  Went to the ER where they numbed my hand, applied a small tourniquet (a little rubber donut ring sort of thing), and cleaned it out.  The doctor dude let me have fun with it, locking the wound open with clamps and letting me look around at the inner workings of my finger.  It was pretty cool, in a mechanical engineering gadget-geek sort of way.

After a few minutes of exploring the inside of my finger, I started to get a little queasy.  Doc said it could be either the anesthesia or the psychological blood/gore/I'm-looking-at-parts-of-me-that-should-never-be-seen effect.  I had to lay down, and I started to see the white blurry vision stuff creep up in my peripheral vision.  Never passed out, but I probably would have if I hadn't been lying down in a hospital bed.

[mfree]

Never did the blood queasiness/vision change stuff, though I have gotten lightheaded from pressure drop before.

The smell of death, however, makes me puke every time.

Now, that said, just to keep up with the joneses I can say that I do indeed know what the meat under the fat layer looks like on me, and what the tendons and bone in my fingers look like (clean cuts, easy flush and stitch both times). I also know a penetrating crush injury is neither pretty, clean, and throbs like hell. Guys, don't ever goof around with a Harris bipod when it's off the rifle, those springs are brutal and can sink the leg stop into your fingertip down to the bone.

EDIT: Ah! and I forgot the kid who flipped his daddy's car at 100mph in front of my house. Played first responder for a bit, got to see real live brain tissue, all pink and seepin' cerebrospinal fluid, even poked around the field for a missing ear for a moment afterwards. Kid lived, surprisingly.

[Sylvilagus Aquaticus]

The only time I ever got light-headed like that was during my first experience in clinicals with bone marrow extraction. It was warm and still in the room (no ventilation) and I hadn't had any coffee yet. I had to excuse myself and I sat on my haunches in the hall for 5 minutes.

When I was in nursing school I started an IV on myself. Then taught others behind me using myself. Nowadays I start my own infusions through a port in my chest. There's nothing like standing in front of the mirror with a big needle in your hand and poking yourself in the chest once a week.  I've sutured myself several times, too. Yes, I used local anesthesia.I ain't no Rambo.

I went on to do neuro. I never had a problem with being halfway up to my elbows in blood, brain tissue and CFS. I guess if you can disassociate or compartmentalize things they won't bother you. The only things I really found that bugged me in the OR were rhinoplasty (hammers and chisels up the ol' nose hole) and eye surgery, but SWMBO rather enjoyed those cases.


Regards,
Rabbit.

[Thor]

I've sutured myself several times, too. Yes, I used local anesthesia.I ain't no Rambo.


Regards,
Rabbit.

I've sutured myself, too. I DID discover that IF one gets to work soon enough, it doesn't hurt. (within a few minutes) I've had sutures since and they hurt like HELL!! But, it was a couple of hours after the laceration and the local anesthetic worked to an extent, but not well enough. I told the ortho just to wrap it up, as she only had two more sutures to go and another local anesthetic shot would have hurt just as bad as the sutures. (For some reason, that stuff just wasn't working that evening)

[Joe Demko]

Blood doesn't bother me.  Neither do other body fluids or effluvia.  I was raised in a rural area where animals were raised for slaughter and you gutted and butchered your own kills from hunting.  Then, too, when I got my biology degree we still did a lot of stuff with live animals that would get you up on charges of animal cruelty today.  Also had classes that involved picking through poo in order to find out what comprised the diet of that particular creature.  Predator poo is particularly foul.  The biggest desensitizer, I suppose, was the seven years I spent working at a mortuary.  The deceased were often kind of...messy...when they arrived or we went and picked them up.

[roo_ster]

I did the same course.  I kinda enjoyed it.

I really enjoyed giving an IV while using PVs-7 & PVS-14 NVGs.  MOre of a challenge.

I'd shoot anyone trying to stick me while wearing NVG's.  Freakin weirdos, I swear.  Get a freakin poncho and a red light!

Most guys who get them under those conditions are in no shape to complain about it.

The other guys I did with pvs7/14 were buddies who came back from some heavy drinking & were hung over.  I could have hooked them up under perfect lighting, but they really didn't care...and some appreciated the subdued lighting.  They knew once the ringer's lactate got into them, they'd be feeling much better.

I wish I had access to ringers lactate, nowadays.

------------

My dad loves telling the story about when I was a kid (4-6 YO) and ripped my pinkie nail off, except for a little bit of meat/cuticle/whatever.  Didn't hurt much, but bled like a stuck pig.

We get to the ER & wait for a while, 'cause the dude who sliced his foot with a lawn mower was in worse shape.

When we see the doc, he sits me down and looks at it.  I pipe up and ask, "Are you going to cut it off with a knife or a scissors?"  My dad says he just about lost his lunch ad the doc laughed his butt off.

(FWIW, they used a scissors.)

[cordex]

Blood doesn't do much to me.  Dressing deer has never been a problem either.

A couple of weeks ago I saw a little girl on a bike get hit by a car.  I was one of the first on the scene, and she was pretty torn up (deep five inch long gash along her right shoulder oozing blood, broken bones, bleeding from the ears, nose and mouth, lots of road rash and cuts elsewhere).  Didn't turn my stomach, but it was hard to put it out of my mind for a while.  I'm not sure whether or not she lived (I stayed until she was taken away by the ambulance and gave a report to the responding officers), but I'm hopeful.

Last Sunday I nicked a finger with a broadhead.  Took a little chunk about the size of a match head from the first knuckle on my left index finger.  Bled like crazy then, but is healing nicely.  No big deal - I let it bleed until a friend gave me a bandage, then wiped it off with a handy leaf.  Even took a few practice shots while I was waiting.  My finger had so much blood on it at that point that he had to ask where to center the bandage.  Suddenly those little broadhead wrenches make more sense.

Hmmm ... the last time I remember being really upset about an injury to myself didn't actually involve much blood at all.  I had just received a serious burn on my right leg and when I pulled up my pant leg, I saw skin dripping down my sock.  I vehemently expressed my disapproval and promptly replaced my pant leg.  Seemed like the best idea to just deal with it later.  FYI, a spray bottle loaded with rubbing alcohol is an excellent way to prevent infection on a large burn area ... as long as it is reasonably distant from concentrations of nerve endings.  Spraying it on a layer of clean cloth covering the burn actually felt nice as the evaporation cooled it.

I think the hardest thing for me is seeing badly damaged heads and faces.  Oh yeah, and peeled up fingernails/toenails are pretty nasty too.

[Werewolf]

[Sylvilagus Aquaticus]

pwn3d.

Rabbit.

[Werewolf]

pwn3d.

I have no clue what that means...

[Perd Hapley]

I have no clue what the picture means. 


pwn3d means "owned," which means that you made someone look really stupid. 

[Joe Demko]

The picture is of a little cat AKA a little pussy.