Fainting

Back a few months ago I realized that my body doesn't do well when I give blood. I went into the doctor's office and was feeling pretty good until I walked into the room where the blood is drawn. The lady was so nice to talk to me and ask many questions about Bradley (who wasn't sure what was going on at this point.) I kindly informed the lady that I have fainted before while giving blood. She had me sit down in the usual chair and told me to let her know if I feel it coming on. While the blood is being drawn I have to look away or I get very tense. I was watching Bradley play with his toys during this whole process feeling great so far. After a few minutes and after I was totally done, my body started feeling dizzy - why do I feel great during the procedure and then after it is done my body starts reacting? I started to lay my head down and the next thing I know I am on the floor and had fainted. The lady was so kind and just made sure I stayed down until I got the color back to my face completely. The cold floor never felt better. At this point Bradley was hunched over me wondering why his mom was on the floor. I feel like a complete idiot and can't believe that giving blood can do this to me. After a while I am able to stand up and leave the office.

I have told myself that this is just the was my body reacts to needles. I probably need to lay down next time while giving blood and probably won't ever try donating blood. I really thought I had it all figured out until yesterday. Parker had a cleaning at the dentist. I decided to go back with him since I didn't really want to sit in the waiting room by myself. It was fun to see the process from a different view and being able to talk to the lady who was cleaning his teeth. Parker had to get a sealant on one of his permanent teeth so the dental hygienist quickly pulled out all that was required for this procedure. I had heard my children have these sealants put on their teeth, but never seen the process. As many different things were pulled out, including those that looked like syringes with shots on the end, I started to get those apprehensive feelings all over again. As I was standing there, my whole body started to feel dizzy again - an all too familiar feeling. I started to bend my knees and lean against the counter behind me. After this didn't work, I told Parker I needed to sit down in the waiting room since I didn't know if I would collapse on the floor (since this is what has happened before.) As I was walking away, the dental hygienist had one more thing to tell me. As she was talking I just knew that any moment I would be on the floor, so I slowly crouched down and told her I was sorry, but I felt like I was going to faint. I put my head between my legs and was fine after about 1 minute. Poor Parker wasn't sure what to think about his crazy mom at this point. I was totally embarrassed and couldn't believe that I almost fainted in a dentist office when I wasn't even getting anything done to me - there weren't even any shots given. Parker had fun running into the house after we returned home telling everybody that mom almost fainted.

So I have now realized that I need to stay my distance from dentist offices when I am not in the dentist chair and also try to not give blood too often. I am actually nervous that I faint so easily. Not sure what causes people to faint, but I guess my body doesn't handle certain experiences very well.