Help! my 8 yr old son refuses his allergy shots

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Does any one have any suggestions about how to get my son to cooperate with the nurses to get his allergy shots? His allergies are very bad and I think the shots will really help him feel better. My husband has allergies and has taken shots for several years, and they have helped him.

My son says he wants to try but when we get in the office he gets nervous and keeps jerking away. Two nurses tried to hold him, but that was fairly traumatic and they were not strong enough. I tried to get him to find a focus point so he is not looking but he just couldn't do it. I wondered about a blindfold?

Has anyone else gone through this? Any suggestions?

He has had immunizations before and though he didin't like them, he never refused like this before.

Thankyou

let him lay face down on a couch
make sure they shoot him in the back of the arm, as there are less nerves there
have him concentrate on a aspy level interest to distract himself during the process.

my aspy boy got the scratch test this week,
dust mites and cockroaches
just like me.


i have been on allergy shots for several years, and it is like a miracle.

Has he actually ever gotten an allergy shot yet, or are you still trying? If all he's had in the way of shots is immunizations, then he knows that those hurt. So it's only logical that he doesn't want to get that allergy shot, especially when he's got to get one (or more) at least once a week for a really long time.

I was absolutely terrified of needles when I was young (middle school and high school age). I remember in middle school I needed my MMR booster and I was literally running in circles around the exam room with the doctor, the nurse, and my mom trying to catch me. Most of the time, I would take my dad with me when I had to get a shot or blood drawn, and I would bury my head in his arm until it was over. My freshman year of college, I took my roommate with me and buried my head in her arm when I got my flu shot.

They finally persuaded me to get allergy shots for several reasons. After I went away to college, every time I came home and visited after being away from the cats, I had an asthma attack so bad that I ended up in the emergency room, which was just not fun. My college roommate got allergy shots and assured me that they weren't that bad.

Finally, I went to the allergist and got tested (which is really worse than getting shots, in my opinion). I still didn't want to do the shots, so the doctor asked if we could just do a "sample shot" to see if it was okay. He used the shot needle and some saline (they have it there, because they use it as the control in the allergy testing) and he gave me a very small shot of that. So I realized that the needle was really small, it doesn't go into your muscle the way an immunization does so it doesn't hurt afterward, and the shot itself isn't very big so it really doesn't hurt at all.

Of course, the shots do get larger as you move up in the dosage, but it helped persuade me that this really was just a teeny shot that really doesn't hurt.

Once I started the shots, I lost a lot of my fear of needles. A few months later, I went to get blood drawn, all by myself (a first for me). Now, I donate blood and platelets, still take allergy shots, get B12 shots every few weeks, get blood drawn, have gotten IVs, and went in for travel immunizations... all completely on my own and voluntarily. Of course, I don't really like getting stuck with a needle, but I tolerate it, and I've gotten to the point where I enjoy giving blood more than I dread getting stuck with a needle.

The big persuading factors for me, though, were first the mental acceptance of the idea of getting allergy shots. So first I decided that my allergies and asthma really sucked and I wanted them to not be so bad. And then I saw other people my own age who got shots (voluntarily!) and said that it wasn't that bad. Then once I had opened my mind to the possibility of getting shots, having that opportunity to try it out with no pressure to have to actually do the shots helped me to see that it wasn't a big deal.

Could you use lidocain plasters (local anaesthetic - don't know what they're called) so it doesn't hurt?
My son has a lot of blood tests done. To begin with, we visualised the whole process, including an ice cream afterwards, and used plasters, so it wouldn't hurt. We told him it would feel like a little pinch, and pinched him - carefully!! ! He was pleasently surprised when it didn't hurt at all!! Now he has had several "good" experiences he doesn't even worry about it. We follow exactly the same routine every time - visualisation, plaster, and an icecream afterwards, although I think he would do fine without by now.
Good luck!

When my daughter needs to have a needle stuck into her, I tell everyone in the room how brave and wonderful my daughter is for fighting her high anxiety as she tries her best to cooperate. When my daughter sees that everyone respects her efforts, she gets motivated to try harder to cooperate. It really works. She is so happy with herself when she is able to take a shot or bloodtest.

I taught my kiddo to meditate and when he goes for anything like that, he starts on his own..."take a deep breath...and let's go floating in the water, floating in the water, etc..." It's actually pretty darn cute, but it does calm him down and he's able to get shots/blood drawn...Also, an IPOD with slow music helps him...

Wonderful suggestions everyone! Thanks so much. I myself have high anxiety levels with shots. I would much prefer to have blood drawn than get a shot. I am paranoid about "foreign" stuff entering my body. I have birthed three children though and have had to get used to needles with all the tests and blood draws they do while you are pregnant.

I think I will try to talk to my son some more and see if we can have a plan before we get in the office. If he will just stick to the plan. I will try to let you know how it goes this week.

Again, thanks!

Amy

If he doesn't want them don't force them into him. >.>

If he clearly says that he doesn't want them then leave it a few years maybe? Depends how bad the alergies are.

Yeah! My son got his first shots this week! It took us three tries, but I am soooo glad we did not force/ hold him down, etc. to do it. I came up with the idea to borrow his friend's gameboy. My son does not have one and I notices when he played his friend's he got really focused and into it and he really liked it. So, I suggested we borrow it and he play it while the nurse gave him the shot.

The other thing was that the other two times we had tried were when he was off or coming off his Daytrana patch (stimulant). So I ended up taking him out of school in the middle of the day when his meds are most effective. This probably helped too. We also had a different nurse ( a large more imposing one) who did a wonderful job. She did have to chase him around the table a little , but she was very calm about it and it got done. The first shot hurt a little and bled a little but he was wiggling and tense. He did better with the second one and I'm sure he will do great next week. He was so relieved when it was over. I took him to the store and let him pick out a toy. He chose a pair of spy binoculars that have mirrors in them so you can look sideways when it seems you are looking straight ahead.

Thank you all for you suggestions! They were greatly appreciated.

Tell him to be a man about it.

Otherwise, promise him toys.