Some years back I'd faint giving blood. I could look at the needle, see it going in and it wouldn't bother me emotionally at all. But still my body would react very strongly. I'd start to sweat, get nauseous...it just felt like my body was reacting to being invaded somehow. And then I'd get light-headed and just...check out. No meditation I could do helped because in my head I really didn't think or feel like it bothered me emotionally. Then around seven years ago I had to start giving myself a weekly injection. With a big, long needle. At first it was so bad I'd sit on the floor or couch to do it so that when I was finished I could just lie down on the floor in a cold sweat with the room spinning, hoping I didn't vomit. Ten or twenty minutes later I'd feel wiped out but better. Same thing happened when I had to do blood tests, at first. But over time it lessened. And now it's a complete non-event. Clearly desensitization, but to what, I wonder? So much of my childhood is blocked in my memory & my folks won't talk about it or claim to not remember...
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“For small creatures such as we the vastness is bearable only through love.”
―Carl Sagan