I have an 11 year old stepson who has Crohn's disease. I've spoken on that before so I won't really go into it, but he gets blood drawn regularly. He hates having the blood drawn, but he tolerates it and gets through it fine. However, if you are talking about a shot or an IV that needs to be put into his arm, he absolutely, completely freaks out and goes crazy on the nurses/doctors/anyone trying to do it to him. The first time it happened, I thought he was just being a brat and his mom and I got seriously pissed off at him and punished him for being so beligerent (he grabbed an oxygen tank in the room and tried to hit the nurse with it). But it became perfectly clear after it kept happening that there was some kind of weird mental block about this that was almost out of his control. He becomes like a different person when that needle gets near him. It is something that developed too, because when he was diagnosed with Crohn's he was 6 years old. He hated it then too, but he tolerated it like he does having blood drawn. He would plead to not have it done, and cry while it was being done, but that was it. We have tried talking to him about it but he either does not know himself or won't talk about it. Anyway, it is something that absolutely has to be fixed. His condition isn't going away and there is a chance he will be changed to a medication called Remicade, which can only be administered via IV and has to be taken every 2 months. As he gets older, he will get bigger and stronger and he will eventually really hurt someone if he keeps violently lashing out like he does. Does anyone know of a specific type of therapist or counselor that can help with something like this? When he was diagnosed with Crohn's disease, he had to learn to swallow pills because some of his meds only came in pill form. The hospital sent a person around that specialized in helping kids learn to swallow pills, and he was absolutely great. In an hour he had my son taking those pills like a pro. I just wondered if anyone ever heard of anything like that with regard to needles? Any help anyone can provide would be appreciated. Thanks.
Would a regular therapist not work or maybe somebody who has to use IVs regularly, especially another child?
Sorry Raven, I don't know of any therapists to help with a mental block like that. Though I thoroughly understand the experiences your child is going through. I was diagnosed with Arthritis when I was 8, so I've had the (mostly) same experiences as your child, lots of doctors visits, regularly getting blood drawn, (weekly) shots, and an occasional IV. I was even put on Remicade (until I found out I was severely allergic to it). Does your child go see anyone through Texas Childrens Hospital? That's where I had all of my visits, hospital stays, lab work, you name it. I'm sure there has to be someone to help! Best wishes!
Is there a chance that your kid is just looking for attention, and that he knows he can be a terror because he knows he won't get punished? Maybe I was just raised old school, but I would have never acted like that as a child. No matter how scared I was of needles, I was WAY more scared of my parents and what they'd do to me if I acted up. Seems to me that the odds of this being a discipline problem are much higher than your son having an actual psychological problem. However, you may have completely exhausted the discipline angle, and if so I apologize.
Raven - two things come to mind... first, perhaps getting a prescription for EMLA cream. its a topical numbing cream with lidocain/prilocaine in it that you apply about 30-60 minutes prior to the blood draw. Significantly decreases the pain (but not completely). usually not covered by insurance but well worth it IMO. I had a patient (btw, I'm a pediatrician) about 2-3 yrs old that had every 2 month blood draws for problems with lead poisoning. she really, really hated us, until we started using EMLA cream... second, whenever we had this problem in the hospital we used the Child Life coordinators on the hospital floor, because there whole job is to be a patient advocate. Even if your child doesn't use a hospital big enough for their own Child Life coordinator, i would call Texas Childrens, or Hermann hospitals operator and see if they have an office of Child Life (or whatever they might call it). If the operator isn't sure - get transferred to the nurses station on a pediatric floor and usually one of the nurses can tell you. anyways, the child life people are usually able to help and likely give you hints, and resources to use.... sorry for not being more specific but its been 10 yrs since I trained in Texas. however do you mind telling me who your kids GI doctor is - curious if its someone I trained with?
not to butt in on your thought, but usually if its a discipline issue it will occur at the age of diagnosis and younger. Raven's kid likely truly can't control his emotions, and the tact of being more scared of parents than the needles might help suppress the fear, but I would hope Raven's kid could overcome the fear...
Yeah, his GI doctor is at Texas Childrens. That is where we had the pill swallowing dude come and help. I'm going to check with them and see if there is someone they have that can help. We talked about just sending him to a regular therapist, but I don't know how effective that would be for something so specific, so I had hoped there might be someone more specialized. University Blue, I don't know if it would help or not. Intellectually, he knows it is not that big a deal. He's a smart kid. In fact, before the latest string of freakouts, when it looked like he would have to be put on Remicade, we sat him down and talked to him about the drug and how it was administered. His reponse? "That's okay, I don't care about IVs anymore." He really was cool with it, in his mind. But then when the moment of truth happens, and the nurse is preparing the stuff to put in an IV, he starts to freak out slowly saying he doesn't want an IV, doesn't want an IV, etc. Then when the moment of truth comes, he just loses it.
Yeah, the fact that this is something that developed as he got older makes me think this is not something discipline will fix. He has developed some kind of weird block here. The only time I have ever seen this kid get violent is here lately when we try to stick an IV or shot in his arm. I don't think he would have suddenly decided that he wants to kick nurses and hit them with oxygen tanks and used this as an opportunity to do that. bronxfan, his GI doctor is Craig Jensen at Texas Childrens. I'm going to contact their Child Life department today to see if they have someone that can help with this. When he was in the hospital in the past, when these people would come by and try to visit and cheer him up, he NEVER responded to them, so I am pessimistic that it will help, but we have to try something.
Does he not know that these things will help him live longer and healthier? Someone explain it to him. He needs to understand he can harm others AND himself if he throws that kind of tantrum. Until he sees the actual harm, or understands what could potentially happen, he will continue to do it. If there are no consequences for this behavior (you try to punish, but lift the punishment before he accepts it), he won't stop. You don't need medicine or a therapist for this. I believe a good way would be to have someone else either explain how they handled this as a nurse, doctor, or child with those needs. Is he a mature 11? He might be able to understand it if explained thoroughly.
Have you tried reasoning with him? Or the old 'Look that way', because seeing the needle coming close to the skin triggers it much more than if he looks away. Blindfold? He's only 11 though, and that's the time between child and teenager, and people tend to get less afraid of these as they get older, try reasoning with him.
He is very mature. He understands perfectly well that he can and is hurting people when he throws tantrums. Every time he does it, he feels terrible and apologizes to the nurses afterwards. But during the fit, he's like a cornered animal, he won't listen to reason. And of course he understands that it is for his own benefit. Most of the time, when he is getting an IV, it is to get him better from a malady already afflicting him, so he knows exactly what he stands to gain with medicine...and that's to get better again. It doesn't make any difference to him. If you can get him to actually respond to you during his tantrums, he'd just tell you he doesn't care about getting better, he'd rather die than have that needle in his arm. And to be clear, I'm not looking for people's opinion here as to whether or not we need to try different discipline. With all due respect, we have tried just about everything discipline-wise, and nothing really seems to have an effect. We want to try a different angle, and I just wondered if anyone has had any experience with therapists or child specialists in this area. Edit: And by the way, bronxfan, we looked into that numbing cream stuff you mentioned. Our current pharmacy said they can't get it anymore. We are going to try someone else. I hope it will help, but I fear it won't make any difference since this all seems to be in his head. He can be getting an IV of water just to clear out a line, and he will scream that it is burning him.
Have you asked the doctor directly for the cream? Whenever I was expecting a shot or an IV, my doc at TCH just handed me a pack or two and told me to put it on before I would come to see him next time. They very well may just have a supply of it in the office.
What about one of them "sugar" pills that will create a feeling that it will "hurt less" if he drinks it, but it's really a SKITTLE? "My momma said a little white lie won't hurt nobody." <- name that movie (difficulty: easy)
Raven, what exactly is it about the IV that bugs him? The pain? The size of the needle? The time the needle has to spend in your arm? Do you know?
From what we can gather, just the pain, and the idea of it. He recently had a TB test done, during which they take a tiny, tiny needle and inject some stuff just under the skin...it doesn't even go into the vein, from what I understand. He freaked out. I don't think the needle size, or even the specifics of what is going on, really matter that much. What does seem to matter is that something is being injected INTO him, though, because as I said, drawing blood he deals with fine. Personally, I can't understand how he so dramatically differentiates between the two, but he does.
How do you guys react to it? I know that this may be apples to oranges, but we try to downplay painful things to our son (who's two), and it really helps. We've been doing it since he was born. If you guys are getting stressed out about it when you bring your stepson in, he may be feeding off of it. Your behavior may be something that you can do to help. Also, you could sandwich the shots/IV in with two other fun things, like the zoo or a movie or whatever (zoo-shots-movie).
