An estimated 25% of Americans have a fear of needles and 16% skip getting vaccines because of that fear, according to Harvard Medical School. Sometimes trypanophobia stems from a traumatic childhood ...

Chemotherapy infusions. Hemodialysis for kidney failure. Diabetes insulin injections. If you have a chronic illness, it can feel like every potentially lifesaving test or treatment requires a needle.

My fear of needles comes from when I was 9 or 10, I was making shag angels in my grandparent's carpet, and I found a needle. It drove itself into my wrist, and hit bone, and had to go to the hospital ...