Overcoming Needle Phobia

I went to the doctor to get a blood test. I was sitting and waiting for the blood to be taken from me, but I didn’t want to look at the needle going into my arm, so the doctor told me to lie down. He jokingly told me that I was behaving like a little girl. I did not appreciate his gender stereotyping. When the needle went it, it stung a little, but it wasn’t that bad. I closed my eyes and didn’t look at anything. Even with my eyes open I was just looking up at the ceiling but I didn’t want to accidentally see anything. I think looking at all those contraptions is what really hurts me.

Then I started to think about the similarities between injections and rape. Women who have been raped can be traumatized by orgasm because it is too painful. Similarly, when I get a blood test, I am being raped because a metal object is being shoved into my arm. The problem is that penetrative sex is not really necessary for survival while needles are necessarily if you want to detect potential diseases.

I would love it if some scientist could invent something that draws blood from a person without any pain at all. Preferably this machine would draw blood without any penetration. If some scientist could invent this machine, I would imagine that he or she would be extremely rich. I am willing to pay at least $500 dollars to ensure that my injections are painless. Statistics show that about 10 per cent of people are needle phobic. If we assume that everyone in Australia (20 million people) needs to get injection and if we assume that each of these needle phobes are willing to pay $500 just like me, then you can collection revenue of $1 billion. That is just in Australia alone. You will be absolutely rich if you export this technology all over the world. Given that the pay is so good, scientists really should work on it.