ITP BUZZY KITS
At ITP Australia, we're on a mission to donate ITP Buzzy Kits to kids living with ITP and help to reduce the stress and anxiety around ongoing testing and treatments.
Living with the rare disease Immune Thrombocytopenia can be daunting for adults, let alone kids. For many ITP patients and their caregivers, the necessity of ongoing blood draws, IV treatments, and more can be a very stressful time and we’re on a mission to help reduce this stress by donating ITP Buzzy Kits to kids living with ITP.
WHAT IS BUZZY
BUZZY® is a small vibrating bee with blue ice-pack wings. He helps block sharp pain and provides distraction when giving injections or other medical procedures.
Just like cool running water soothes a burn, Buzzy® uses a combination of cold and vibration to replace pain with temperature and movement.
Buzzy® confuses your body’s own nerves and distracts attention away from the pain, thereby dulling or eliminating sharp injection pain. In the same way that rubbing a bumped elbow helps, or cold running water soothes a burn.
HOW DOES BUZZY WORK?
Using both Gate Control and Descending Noxious Inhibitory Control (DNIC) at the same time, the ice pack and the vibration from BUZZY® help to effectively turn down the volume on other sensations in the body.
The idea is like putting your hand in a bucket of ice water. Whoa, it’s cold! But you can handle the amount of cold initially. Studies have found that when someone’s hand is in ice water, they can handle more intense pain everywhere else in the body, probably because the sensation of ice is so intense it doesn’t leave as much room for the brain to notice the pain as sharply in other places.
HOW TO GET INVOLVED
We can’t donate ITP Buzzy Kits without your support.
Each ITP Buzzy Kit is valued at $120, but the value to each child that receives one is invaluable. To help ITP Australia donate ITP Buzzy Kits to kids living with ITP, make a donation today through the PaylPal Giving Fund.
APPLY FOR AN ITP BUZZY KIT
Are you the parent of a child living with ITP, or do you know of a paediatric patient?
Does the warrior experience distress during blood draws or IV treatments?
Why not apply to receive your very own ITP Buzzy Kit?
ITP Buzzy Kits are funded exclusively through donations. Every Buzzy Kit costs ITP Australia $120, and funding for each kit is through the generosity of the ITP Community, many of whom are ITP patients.
Download the application form today. In addition to the completed request form, you will need a letter from the ITP Warrior’s treating healthcare professional. This letter must include the contact details of the healthcare professional, the child’s name and the name of the diagnosis.
Forward your completed request forms to buzzys@ITPAustralia.org.au.