There are an endless number of phobias in existence with new ones being added all the time. Anything that you are afraid of, anything that makes you feel faint or makes it hard for you to breathe can be called a phobia. These feelings are very real for many people out there. Medical phobias make up some of the most common fears, even in those you think wouldn't be afraid of anything.

All medical phobias are interrelated with each other. If a person has one of them, he likely has others as well. Though I'm not afraid of the medical profession, I will admit that I absolutely hate going to the doctor and will do everything I can to avoid doing so. I wasn't like this until after my near-fatal car wreck back in 1991. I didn't have any really bad experiences while in the hospital, nor was I mistreated by anyone in the medical profession. Actually, none of them will ever forget me. I have just had enough of doctors and hospitals to last me a lifetime.

Hemophobia, hemaphobia, hematophobia - all of these are different names for the fear of blood. This fear can be relatively minor and just cause a person to faint at the sight of blood. I experienced this as a young girl. This fear can be so severe that a person may refuse to seek medical treatment when injured. In the mind of those with this fear, blood is associated with death, disease, and injury.

Dentophobia and Odontophobia - Dentophobia is fear of dentists. I know many people who have this phobia, just as I am sure you do. You may even have this one yourself. Why on earth would someone be afraid of going to the dentist? Mouth pain, fear of gagging, the way a dentist's office smells, and probably one of the biggest fears -the injection in the gums to numb the mouth. This phobia might not cause too much of a problem, unless the person with it doesn't take proper care of his teeth. Add to this a fear of needles and the person may never again step into a dentist's office.

Odontophobia is the fear of dental surgery. This could be a serious problem that could cause a lot of pain if one needs any kind of dental surgery, especially surgery to remove wisdom teeth that are impacted.

Nosocomephobia is an excessive fear of hospitals. People with this phobia are afraid that if they go into a hospital they will be trapped inside one forever. Sounds kind of like a horror movie. Could be this person has seen loved ones go to the hospital for treatment, only to have the loved ones die without ever being released. Or maybe this person has seen too many movies where a psycho of some sort is running rampant in a hospital. From one who was 'trapped' in a hospital for 5 weeks and 2 days, then walked out very much alive, sometimes a stay in one of these places is necessary.

Pharmacophobia is the fear of taking medicine. This could happen because one has had an adverse reaction to medication at some point in the past or could have seen someone having an adverse, fatal reaction to medication, prescribed or not.

Trypanophobia, aichmophobia, belonephobia, enetophobia - these are all different names for the fear of needles. Those in the medical profession don't normally use any fancy names to describe this condition, they just call it what it is – needle phobia. This fear alone will stop people from visiting a doctor or dentist when the need arises.

Tomophobia is the fear of abnormal fear of surgical operations. Perhaps the person is afraid the doctor has made a misdiagnosis. Could be the person is afraid of the doctor not knowing exactly what he is doing and seriously messing up during the operation.

Radiophobia isn't the fear of radios, it is the fear of x-rays. A person with this fear is simply afraid of being exposed to so much radiation that it will cause him physical harm.

There are steps and treatments to overcome any of these phobias, but first the person has to want to over come whatever phobia it is he has. I know a guy who once had a pretty serious needle phobia, but overcame it just from sheer determination to do something he really wanted to do – become a paramedic in Long Island,New York.

Now take any one or more of the above phobias. Since they are all medical phobias, a person could easily have more than one of them. Write a story around the phobia or phobias you choose, what caused your character to develop this particular phobia, and how your character manages to overcome it. Perhaps your character couldn't manage to overcome his phobia. How does he live with it? How does it disrupt his life?