Thread by @ClaireBerlinski

That's why people faint when they get their blood drawn. ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/P…

Primates have a few phobias in common: We're all creeped out by snakes and spiders, to varying degrees.

Most phobias give rise to a fight-or-flight reflex:Elevated heart rate, heightened blood pressure; your body gets ready to *scram* from that snake.

But BII's different: It's the only phobia in which the fight-or-flight chemicals dump only to be *immediately* followed by a massive dip in heart rate and blood pressure--a vasovagal response. Hence the faint.

Nature clearly knows what it's doing: If you're bleeding out, best you not go racing around like your hair's on fire. No other phobia causes fainting. About 3 to 4% of the general population--whether or not their nurses--will faint when injected or when their blood is drawn.

How do I know this strange, random fact? Well, one day I went to the doctor to have a non-malignant small growth removed from my arm. I felt absolutely no sense of anxiety about it, and asked to watch what the doctor was doing just because I was curious.

I felt nothing but dispassionate, clinical curiosity about how to remove a growth like that, and certainly felt nothing at all phobic, so it surprised me that when I stood up, I promptly passed out cold. But I felt no anxiety; no warning; I just toppled over. Bit embarrassing!

But apparently 2-3 percent of the population experiences this; and that includes the same portion among doctors and nurses--it has nothing to do with how many injections he's given, it's about her B-I-I phobia, which is probably genetic.

in the future, she should sit down and raise her legs.

So, no, her faiting is completely meaningless. I've done it too.

And of course, I meant: "Whether or not they're nurses." I do apologize.

I meant "fainting" of course.