Yep I’m scared of em. I usually get lightheaded sweat and possibly pass out from shots. I can’t give blood. I really don’t even like talking about needl...,

quote:

Originally posted by Balzé Halzé:

quote:

Originally posted by FN in MT:
...but I never fainted.

FN in MT

Ahem...you mean "passed out" surely. Not fainted.

You and i by the way seem to have the exact same aversion. I can take injections/needles in my upper arm, hand, really anywhere...but stick a needle in my arm inside of the elbow and I start really needing a cookie.

Yes the same. Hate that draw in the arm.

DO try it in the hand, behind the thumb.

It made my life a lot less stressful.

As JALLEN mentioned developing medical conditions, and medical procedures over the years can get you over needles, injections, injecting yourself, pretty quick! Now MRIs that is a different story! Even sedation doesn't help with me MRIs!
For blood draws, some technicans, nurses, doctors,etc. should be banned! Other nurses, technicians, doctors, you don't even notice! When a nurse warns you that an injection is going to hurt, and that there is nothing they can do to prevent it, you better believe them and bite a piece of leather, bullets aren't allowed anymore!

Nope:



This is the last pin I got. I'll hit 46 gallons on my next donation.

I'm ok for injections or blood draws for lab tests or even IV's, as long as I don't have to watch it. Keep my eyes closed or averted and I'm fine. But if I try to watch, nope. Stomach starts turning upside down, the works. Even watching somebody else get stuck (like on TV) is a problem. I'd never make it as an EMT or paramedic.

No severe reactions, but I don't like needles. I will not look at the site when a needle is being inserted, for whatever reason. Once it is in place, no problem--I can look at it. I have an IV inserted once a week for a medical treatment that lasts about 4 hours.

flashguy

They don't bother me, which is a good thing, because as a kid I got a shot for allergies, one in each arm, every week for 5-6 years. I also had occasion to stick myself every day for several months in 2012. I'll cop to balking at that a little, at first.

I've had Type 1 Diabetes for 33 years.
I have no choice about needles if I want to
stay around longer.

Check blood sugar with a finger prick 4 to 6 times
per day. Have a couple vials of blood drawn every
three months or so at the Endocrinologist's office.
Used to take a couple shots of Insulin in morning &
evening (and three shots a day when I used an Insulin pen),
but I've now used an insulin pump for almost
8 years. I change the infusion site every three days.

Thank you all, I do feel a little better about this issue.

The weird thing is that I gave allergy shots to my dog (yes, my dog) for years, and it never bothered me. It doesn’t bother me to see my kids get shots, but when the needle comes towards me, I check out.

So frustrating.

It depends on where the needle is going. In the arm, it's not that big of a deal but I like to look the other way.

But when I hurt my back and was doing therapy, that doctor pulled out a safety pin and moved down the bed toward my feet.
Me: Whoa, whoa, whoa doc, what's that for?
Doc: I just want to check the feeling in your left foot.
Me: Uh, it's fine. I don't really care for needles.
Doc: Good, I'd be more concerned if you were perfectly fine w/ them.
Me: Is that a medical grade safety pin?
Doc: /laughs
Me: /cringes

I can not tolerate needles. I’ve only passed out once from a tetanus shot when I was 19, but I can’t stand the sight of needles. Can’t even watch them in movies. I have to look away. Went in for a colonoscopy a few months ago. Took tries from two different nurses to finally get the damn needle in me and probably everyone on that floor in the hospital heard me. It was worse than the prep I had to go thru the day before.

I remember staying up all night at a party back in the late 1960's. As the sun was coming up over the corner of Height and Ashbury, a guy asked me to tie him off so he could shoot something up. I was the only person in the room, so I obliged. I turned my head and waited for him to tell me to let loose and without looking at him, I left the room. To this day, I can still remember feeling his muscles in his arm flexing. It totally creeped me out. I just can’t get that scene out of my head all these years later. I saw a lot of that crap back in those days, and it just didn’t make any sense to me at all why people stuck needles in their bodies to get a rush. If no drugs were available, I witnessed guys injecting whiskey or what ever they could get their hands on. What a waste.

If it helps, needle technology has greatly improved over the last decades. For the most part they are now smaller, and more importantly, sharper, which means you actually feel them less.

They don't bother me at all anymore. Which is good,since I have to inject myself up to several times a day.
Oh, I've also had several courses of a treatment which required injections into my retinas. The first time was a bit nervous making but now it's not really a big deal.
(apologies if I made anyone ralph on their keyboard....)

Don't feel bad. Lots of patients are quite apprehensive about dental injections. It has nothing to do with being "tough". The most common syncope victim in a dental office is a young adult male.

This product is inexpensive and helps children with immunizations and allergy shots. I found out about it a week ago. It makes a big difference.

https://www.bionix.com/healtha...product/shotblocker/


The best place to buy these is on ebay, where they can be found for <$2 each in quantity.

Sorry for the size of the photo.

Never an issue for me other than I seem to get a big bruise in my arm if they don't stick me just right, it got to the point I quit donating blood at Red Cross drives because my arm would turn black, blue and yellow for a week or two.

Finally, somebody taking blood from me noted that I have very deep, hard to hit veins in my arms and once I switched to getting blood out of the back of my hand, with a butterfly needle, it's no longer a problem.

quote:

Originally posted by zoom6zoom:
If it helps, needle technology has greatly improved over the last decades.

At least into the 1960s hypodermic needles were routinely reused: an injection was given and the needle was placed into a disinfectant solution. I once saw an Army medic explain his method for determining when a needle should be discarded. He would draw the point through a cotton ball and if the burrs snagged any fibers, then it was time to be thrown away. At the time I was impressed by his concern for the patient, but also wondered about all the other medics who didn’t do that. And what happened to the discarded needles? As a kid at Fort Riley in the early 1950s my friends and I would find the ones that fell through the openings in the bottom of the dumpster behind the dispensary.

I don’t recall when I had my first injection with a new, disposable, and sharp needle, but my reaction was, “Hey! That didn’t hurt.”

Used to, not anymore.

14 years of Martial Arts cured me. Pain no longer holds mystery or apprehension. I don't seek it out, but I no longer fear it like I did.

Spend enough time being on a first name basis with real pain and you can prioritize how low on the pole needles rank.

Palate shots hurt like the devil, no doubt about that.

I suppose it's all about what you get used to in your life. I don't think most people accept injury well, so anything - like needles - is off putting.

^^^^

It's rarely a reaction to the pain. It's a psychological reaction that is very difficult for some people to control. You may have outgrown it, but it's not from getting hit.

The weird thing is that while dental injections can hurt like hell, I don’t react to them at all, and I can watch it happen. Bizarre.

I hate needles. Really hate them to the point that the last time I went to a dentist for work involving a drill I refused an injection and just gritted it out.

Do any of you know what it's like to have the heat from a drill set the nerve in your tooth on fire instantly transport pain all through you jaw and head? It's better than getting a shot.