ideas to calm panic before bloodwork

[dcmom]

I am planning bloodwork for Caroline, age 9. She really panics. I do the emla cream, but it is not enough for her. I know there was a thread on this- has anyone given any kind of calming med before testing. I want to have an immune panel, along with lyme, mycoplasma, pneumo titers, strep titers, etc. I can't even imagine bringing this up to her. The last two times she had bloodwork done (and her ocd and anxiety were much lower then)- she threw up and nearly fainted after.

[dut]

Sorry.. no advice on meds but I buy my dd, literally.. I promise her virtually anything she wants from cake to toys......

good luck

[momaine]

we gave our dd a mild sedative that I got through our family doctor. It took the edge off and after that time she was able to do it without the sedative. It's a hard decision to make but one that worked out well for us.

Angela

[dcmom]

thanks- do you remember what the sedative was?

[sf_mom]

Maybe Benadryl 45 minutes prior too blood draw. I am not looking forward to having an IV put in for our twins!

[peglem]

We use valium. But you may get some help from valerian root.

[momaine]

I don't remember what our dr. prescribed. Sorry. If you asked your doctor they could probably tell you the safest ones. I do remember that we used it once for a dental procedure and she started with half a pill but could take another half if needed. She didn't even feel any different on the half pill but she got through the procedure anyway.

 

So when we did it for the blood draw she weighed more and the dose was one pill, two if needed, but I gave her both of them spaced out 45 minutes apart because she couldn't feel anything from the one. With the two she was quite relaxed and it went well.

 

Angela

[Suzan]

I use L-Theanine (200 mg dose for my 72 lb dd) for calming plus a melatonin. It has helped us.

 

Susan

[FallingApart]

just an fyi... we used diazapram for this exact reason. it backfired on us. It did in fact make DD more calm, but somehow, it made the actual poke itself 900 times worse than without the drug.

 

I agree that buying her worked the best in our situation.

[wornoutmom]

Just a thought, but my non-PANDAS son was terrified of giving blood when he was younger. Then I found out he did not understand that the blood regenerated itself very quickly, or the small amount they were taking. He thought they were going to suck all his blood out and he would die. Once we cleared this misconception up, he was ok. My PANDAS son was also afraid to give blood after both passing out after vaccines and a traumatic blood draw that occurred during his hospitalization (in the wee hours of the morning being awakened from a deep sleep with a fever of 102+ by strangers poking him with needles - oh the compassion of these places!). We definitely used big rewards the next few times and after recognizing that I was with him the whole time and he wasn't going to pass out again, now he is fine with it.