{"id":285,"date":"2009-04-06T11:16:28","date_gmt":"2009-04-06T11:16:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/freshliving\/2009\/04\/facing-doctor-phobias.html"},"modified":"2009-04-06T11:16:28","modified_gmt":"2009-04-06T11:16:28","slug":"facing-doctor-phobias","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/2009\/04\/facing-doctor-phobias.html","title":{"rendered":"Facing Doctor Phobias: The Throat Culture"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Cotton<\/a><\/span>I knew this day would come…the day I had to once again face the scritchy, gag-gy nightmare that is known to most people as a throat culture.  <\/p>\n

When I was a kid, throat cultures were screeching, Mom-bribing-with-candy-rewards, “We need more nurses!” affairs for me.  I know I’m not the only one to feel this way (I heard screaming in other rooms at the pediatrician’s office….).  But I never recovered 100% from it, never emerged as a functional throat-culture accepting adult.  The sight of a nurse or doctor peeling back the plastic seal to expose the cotton swab sends me into a shaky sweat to this day.  <\/p>\n

To yester-day, in fact, when I had to have one for the first time in several years.  <\/p>\n

My doctor is a kind soul, well aware of my phobia and conservative with the swab.  But two things were different when I went to see her this time.  First, I really should have a throat culture – fever, gross tonsils, we must give strep no sanctuary.  But the second different thing is that instead of letting her talk me out of it, I insisted on having a culture.  <\/p>\n

It’s time, I said, to face this fear–coddling my anxieties is not going to help me feel better.  So just like my water aerobics friend<\/a> when she was facing the deep end of the pool, I asked the doctor to explain in advance where the swab was going, and for how long….and then I had her dive in.<\/p>\n

My inner monologue went something like this: I’m sweating and a little shaky, I will probably hate all 15 seconds of this….but that’s ok.  In 15 seconds I can tell anyone who will listen how much I hated it from right here where I sit.  Not on a stretcher on the way to some emergency room, not from the great beyond.  I am not going to choke, I am not going to swallow the long swab stick.  I won’t like it, but I will be fine.<\/p>\n

So today, I sit here waiting for the results of the test (probably negative – in a cute little irony, I have never actually had strep throat, not once in my life and dozens of throat culture disasters).  And I didn’t end up telling anyone how much I hated the throat culture.  Instead, I left the doctor’s office with a little “yay, me!”<\/a> smile on my face because I know that’s one more drop of water on the Wicked Witch of the Fear.<\/p>\n

How do you cope with medical phobias? Any advice or stories to share?<\/p>\n

<\/b>(image via: http:\/\/www.loscoltrahues.com\/<\/a>)
 <\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I knew this day would come…the day I had to once again face the scritchy, gag-gy nightmare that is known to most people as a throat culture.  When I was a kid, throat cultures were screeching, Mom-bribing-with-candy-rewards, “We need more nurses!” affairs for me.  I know I’m not the only one to feel this way…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,28],"tags":[215,41,380,379],"class_list":["post-285","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-by-holly-lebowitz-rossi","category-health","tag-doctors","tag-health-2","tag-phobias","tag-throat-culture"],"yoast_head":"\nFacing Doctor Phobias: The Throat Culture - Fresh Living<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/freshliving\/2009\/04\/facing-doctor-phobias.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Facing Doctor Phobias: The Throat Culture - 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A graduate of Cornell University and Harvard Divinity School, she has more than a decade of experience writing about religion and spirituality for Newsweek, The Washington Post, Spa Finder, Sojourners, Search, and many other publications. Her commentaries have also been heard on NPR\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00e2\u20ac\u0153All Things Considered.\" When not at her desk, you can find her baking, in her garden, or rockin' out in water aerobics class. She lives in Arlington, Mass. 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