n=1, but I have an immediate squick reaction to needles. Once vaccines were available, I appeared to procrastinate more than the average LWer about getting my shots, and had the same nervous-fear during the run up to getting the shot that I’ve always had. I forced myself through it because COVID, but I don’t think I would have bothered for a lesser virus, especially at my age group.
I have a considerable phobia of needles & blood (to the point of fainting—incidentally, such syncopes are heritable and my dad has zero problem with donating buckets of blood while my mom also faints, so thanks a lot Mom), and I had to force myself to go when eligibility opened up for me. It was hard; I could so easily have stayed home indefinitely. It’s not as if I’ve ever needed my vaccination card for anything or was at any meaningful personal risk, after all.
What I told myself was that the doses are tiny and the needle would be also tiny, and I would hardly notice it; I told my injector that I had a needle phobia and asked to be distracted, and using a topical anesthetic, I didn’t even know when he did it. “Hah—that was exactly as easy as I rationally believed, but emotionally could not alieve!” That made the second and third times much easier.
I used to have mild needle anxiety, but it is now greatly reduced (I don’t really feel nervous at all until I am about to receive an injection, rather than feeling nervous for roughly the entire day). I think two things have helped:
Just as I am about to receive an injection, I start to focus intensely on something else. Specifically, I recite the sequence 1, 2, 4, 8, … (doing the multiplication if I don’t know the answer by heart) in my head. (I say something to the person giving the injection so they know I won’t respond to them.)
I once had to receive several injections over a short period (something like 5 over a few weeks, with 3 on one day) for a trip abroad.
n=1, but I have an immediate squick reaction to needles. Once vaccines were available, I appeared to procrastinate more than the average LWer about getting my shots, and had the same nervous-fear during the run up to getting the shot that I’ve always had. I forced myself through it because COVID, but I don’t think I would have bothered for a lesser virus, especially at my age group.
I have a considerable phobia of needles & blood (to the point of fainting—incidentally, such syncopes are heritable and my dad has zero problem with donating buckets of blood while my mom also faints, so thanks a lot Mom), and I had to force myself to go when eligibility opened up for me. It was hard; I could so easily have stayed home indefinitely. It’s not as if I’ve ever needed my vaccination card for anything or was at any meaningful personal risk, after all.
What I told myself was that the doses are tiny and the needle would be also tiny, and I would hardly notice it; I told my injector that I had a needle phobia and asked to be distracted, and using a topical anesthetic, I didn’t even know when he did it. “Hah—that was exactly as easy as I rationally believed, but emotionally could not alieve!” That made the second and third times much easier.
I used to have mild needle anxiety, but it is now greatly reduced (I don’t really feel nervous at all until I am about to receive an injection, rather than feeling nervous for roughly the entire day). I think two things have helped:
Just as I am about to receive an injection, I start to focus intensely on something else. Specifically, I recite the sequence 1, 2, 4, 8, … (doing the multiplication if I don’t know the answer by heart) in my head. (I say something to the person giving the injection so they know I won’t respond to them.)
I once had to receive several injections over a short period (something like 5 over a few weeks, with 3 on one day) for a trip abroad.