CORAL GABLES, Fla. – In the midst of wide spread efforts to get people vaccinated against COVID comes an issue that impacts approximately seven percent of the population, Trypanophobia, a condition commonly referred to as ‘needle phobia’.
Psychiatrist Dr. Arthur Bregman said his patients with this condition would rather avoid procedures that involve needles, as well as vaccinations, even if it puts their own health at risk.
“This is on the spectrum of anxiety disorders so we would suspect that people who have anxiety disorders, generalized anxiety, those are the people that are much more prone to having needle phobia as well,” he said.
Bregman said therapeutic techniques and anti-anxiety medications can help ease the discomfort long enough to help patients get necessary medical care.
And the National Institutes of Health has started the final phase of clinical trials to into blood clot risk among adults diagnosed with COVID-19.
The ACTIV-4 trials will answer critical questions about the proper use of blood thinners in the treatment of patients infected with the virus, especially those who suffer from life-threatening blood clots.
Early in the pandemic, researchers noticed that many patients who died from COVID-19 had formed life-threatening blood clots through-out their bodies, including their smallest blood vessels.
This unusual clotting can lead to organ damage, heart attack, stroke and sudden blockage in the arteries of the lungs.