How are you with needles?

[Locut0s]

Recently I had something of a medical scare where I thought my heart was beating abnormally for a few days. After visiting the doctor prognosis is it's probably anxiety/panic related, though I had some blood tests and an EKG to make sure the results of which I don't know yet. Here's hoping that's all it is, touch wood. Anyway while having the blood test I was reminded of how much I hate needles, in fact I used an over the counter topical anaesthetic, yeah I know I'm a pussy but it's better than not getting it done at all. I know there are others who can't stand needles, some so much that they refuse to have them at all. Where do you stand?

For those who can't even understand why someone would hate them it has nothing to do with the pain. Most people who can't stand them know they don't hurt, it's all psychological.

[LynzM]

1. I'm a Type 1 diabetic....

Been giving myself injections for... about 15 years now. So I'm good with doing them myself. I don't really like getting blood drawn (won't watch) and I really don't like to watch other people get anything worse than a little needle. Weird!

[Skittles]

2. I donate platelets every three weeks

for years that meant 80 minutes with needles - BIG needles - in both arms; lately the apparatus has been changed to necessitate only one needle. In other words, they don't bother me at all.

[Spinzonner]

4. Apheresis donation is definitely not for needle Wusses

[Skittles]

16. I've only had one bad experience in all these years

they accidentally leaked saline into my arm - lord, I stiffened like a board and they squeezed my arm until it all spread away. I spluttered expetives at them but I went back because for some reason I have extremely high platelet counts, give triple doses at a time and they are used in cancer patients and sickle cell anemia victims. :D

[HamstersFromHell]

3. All I can say is that...

I'd make a lousy junkie. :)

[kedrys]

5. Not good

My current GP is the only guy I know who can stick me without having to try 8 times and bruise me to death (I have no veins, apparently). He has a light touch, and as long as I don't look, I'm okay.

I don't think I could stick myself even at gunpoint. I really can't deal with it.

[yellowdogintexas]

6. 2 gallon blood donor here, needles don't even phase me

[Skittles]

17. 25 gallons here!

those vampires salivate over my O negative blood! :D

[Lone_Star_Dem]

18. Let's hear it for the universal donors!

I am too.

:toast:

[yellowdogintexas]

22. Good on you!!! I just did not start doint it early enough in my life

and have had to take Leave of Absence from donating for pregnancy, post surgeries, anemia (mostly that)

I am an O+ so they call me a lot too.

[da_chimperor]

7. I've had a needle stuck though my tongue, so by that I'd say I'm great.

It hurt like the dickens, and the worst part is I felt it going though, ever so slowly. I felt quite manly afterward, and I don't regret it. :D

Edit: I've also donated blood twice, and it was always neat to watch the needle being stuck in my arm. They told me to look away, but I insisted being able to watch.

[Amfortas]

8. They tend to stick in my throat !

[Left Is Write]

9. I have no problem. My daughter, however, is another case.

She is seventeen years old. Last fall, she was sick enough to go to the doctor, and there they wanted to run a mono test. My seventeen year old daughter pitched a huge, screaming, shrieking tantrum over the idea of getting a needle in her arm to draw blood for the test. It took me, the nurse, the PA, a nursing assistant, as well as someone else to watch my younger two children, thirty minutes to get her calm enough just to do a finger stick. She has an absolute horror of needles.

Oddly, though, her needle phobia did not stop her from getting her navel pierced.

[ScreamingMeemie]

10. Funny story.

I had stepped on something a few years back and didn't realize it. Well, my foot started hurting so I went to the foot doctor, who is also a good friend. He took an xray and said it was close enough to the surface to "dig out" in the office. He went to get the lidocain/Novocain shot and stuck it in my foot. I've never been afraid of needles, but for some reason the sight of a needle sticking out of my foot was a bit much. I got woozy. MrG walked in to find me in the chair, head down, feet up. Such the drama queen. :) Only needles in my foot mind you. :hi:

[alwynsw]

11. I'm fine. 12 gal. + blood donor.

[baldguy]

12. I was about 7

It was Christmas morning and I was crawling around on the floor with my brother & sisters amid the toys & clothes & wrapping paper. I took hobbling steps on my knees, at one point I felt a huge pain.

I rolled over on my back crying & screaming, holding my knee. My dad came to help me, saying "What the hell is wrong with you?" (just like dad...) After about ten minutes, he finally got my hands pried away and saw a small hole right at the bottom of my kneecap and very little blood. He got me to lay down, and when he straighted out my leg, the broken end of a sewing needle came out of the hole. The other end was still in my leg.

The next Monday, mom took me to the doctors office. He decided he could get it out without too much trouble. For HIM that is. He strapped me down and had his nurse sit on top of me, while he cut me open and poked around in my knee. No anesthesia. Between my full-throated howls, I could feel him lifting up my knee cap and letting it *snap* back into place. After about twenty minutes of this, he gave up trying and stitched me up.

A few days later I was in the hospital. The x-rays showed the needle had jammed up behind the kneecap at the top. Again, the doc didn't think it would be too much trouble, but to accommodate me he agreed to use a full anesthetic and not just a local.

34 years later I still have a huge scar on my knee. And I really, really hate needles.

[psychopomp]

13. Got a long needle stuck in my nose and it pierced the sinus

and went to the bone...ouch! The doc telling me that that test was gonna hurt didn't change my reaction a bit.

Drawing blood is no problem, though.

[ohio_liberal]

14. Needles bad!

I have my teeth drilled with no numbing.

[radwriter0555]

15. I used to be TERRIFIED. After having my kid, and being poked weekly for

blood tests, it's all just a piece of cake.

Even dental needles, once I saw how little those suckers were, I was SO embarrassed by all the stink I raised all those years.

[REP]

19. Fearless

I have a lot of tests done involving needles. The only thing I get apprehensive about is the skill of the tech or doctor since I have 'delicate' veins and don't like being used for practice.

I hydrate a friend's cat every other day with an #20 needle, so sticking them in isn't a problem, either.

[Spinzonner]

20. Having blood drawn out of your knee with a large needle

is an interesting sight.

[Race4Peace]

21. I fucking hate needles

[Bouncy Ball]

23. I'm fine with needles. I even

(I KNOW this is weird) kind of enjoy them in a sick way. I know, it's twisted.

Glad you are ok!

[LiberallyInclined]

24. none whatsoever- & I've had to get shots IN MY EYE...twice.

now i get blood drawn about 6 times/year...the phlebotomists are always amazed that watch them put the needle in.
the eye shots came about from bad bouts of iritis.

[Beware the Beast Man]

25. Not as bad as I used to be.

Considering I needed a shot for the stitches in my finger last month, and last week's root canal, I've had my fair share of the needle and the damage done.

[MisterP]

26. not a-tall!