Anybody with a needle phobia had the COVID vaccine? How did you find it?

[Glitteryfox]

I’m early to mid thirties and still not had my jab. Feel very, very scared about it. I fully agree with vaccinations and want to be vaccinated but my fear of injections has overridden this so far. I‘ve been pushing it to the back of my mind but know that I just need to book it now.

My phobia is pretty severe and specifically seems to be about sitting still and allowing a person to stick a bit of metal into my flesh. I don’t like injections at the dentist but have nothing like the same reaction because I don’t consider gums to be the same. Crazy, I know. People keep telling me it doesn’t hurt and it’s really annoying me. I have a phobia of needles, not pain. I have become extremely panicked and desperate in the past and lashed out at nurses. A nurse in the maternity ward sprung a rubella injection on me and I flung it to the ground and wanted to run away. Obviously, I just told her I didn’t want to have it and that was accepted, but my reactions are pretty embarrassing and severe. I have fainted just at the thought of injections in the past and reliably faint every time I have one. I try to power through and tell myself it is fine and done and all over but I can still still faint up to half an hour later. It’s as though my body will force it to happen no matter what I am mentally telling myself. Everybody laughing and acting as though I’m just a wimp makes it worse and it seems to be tied into not liking people touching me or doing anything to my body. I get aggressively defensive about it.

Anybody else similar and have any coping mechanisms or anything? Or positive stories of having it done?

I should say that this is not at all my usual personality. The whole thing is extremely embarrassing. It’s like I turn into a completely different person because I feel so desperate.

A friend of mine has a needle phobia, was in the middle of explaining this when the person vaccinating her interrupted her to say she was done. My experience was similar, it was over before I had even realised it had started!

Mine too was over before I knew it. However I don't have a needle phobia. It sounds awful though and I hope you manage to have a calm experience if you can

I was petrified as a child, similar to the extent you have described. I've not had any injections (bar the very occasional dental one) for many years so I was unsure of how I'd be. I was very, very nervous in the run up but was completely determined I was going to do it. The best thing I can suggest is letting them know that you are feeling apprehensive and scared. The people doing mine couldn't have been more patient and kind. I was just really honest. Do you know what, I was absolutely fine! As the previous poster said, it was the tiniest scratch then I thought she'd finished and actually, it was still in. The needles they use are very fine and I hardly felt it. The feeling of achievement afterwards was incredible, I'm really proud of the way I handled myself. I wish my mum was still around for me to tell her after the hell she went through with me as a child!

Be honest, be determined and you'll be in and out before you know it, I promise. Good luck!

I'm not as severe as you, but I don't like needles either.
Like pp says, it's so quick, I looked away and it was already done.
I think it's because it's a muscle injection, it's not like they need to find places to inject, they can do it so quick and over in seconds.
If you can cope with dentist, which takes waaaaay longer , it's nothing like it, just look away.

I didn't feel either of my jabs. I just looked away while she did it, chatting away and then stamped my card and said I could go.

I use Emla cream (can order online from my local pharmacy ) to totally numb the area (numbing spray doesn't cut it) so that I can't feel when they do it. I use headphones with music playing to take me elsewhere, take a fidget toy like a stress all and close my eyes. I wear a sleeveless top so I don't have to feel undressed or trapped. I was nearly crying before mine but the nurses were so good, kind and quick. Not looking forward to the second one though!

Didn't feel a thing :)

Don't know if it will help, but you can stand to have it done.

Dh. Terrified. Despite having a tattoo.
As he said about being terrified she wiped arm he was continuing to talk and she said 'done' he said he didn't feel a thing

He wore his sticker with pride alll day, even put on to his lounge wear that evening. And I had to hear the story umpteen times of how he was mid sentence and didn't feel it!
Haha

Explain this when you go in, you won’t be the first or the last x

I don’t think anyone enjoys going to the dentist or having injections. Could be wrong I suppose.

I have a real needle phobia. I have fillings at the dentist without numbing. I avoid blood tests and anything that involves needles. I know it is irrational but just can't help it. It is not the pain, it is just the thought of a needle. I went for my first vaccine because I knew it was the right thing to do. My dh was shielding due to medical condition so as a family we were really cautious. I explained to the person and started some deep breathing and really didn't feel much at all. Thinking about it was far worse. I went for my second and went through the same. This time they kept me talking so I did not anticipate it. I think I felt it slightly more. I am so proud that I was able to do it. You can do it too!

Yeah I’m not happy with needles but genuinely didn’t feel it

I am terrible. I have, on more than one occasion, passed out. The anxiety is just awful.

Honestly, I was fine. The two people I was with were great. One went through some things with me. The other was doing the jab.
He told me he was about to do it and the other one asked me a question about myself. Then it was done.

It felt more like he pressed a biro, lightly on my arm. Its, genuinely, the least painful injection I have ever had.

I felt a bit rubbish that night and the top of my arm felt sore that night. As though I had strained a muscle. I was ok the next day and the arm was better in 2 or 3 days. Can't remember which.

I am not at all anxious about the next one, though I probably will be nearer the time.

Not a phobia but after blood tests and self-injecting for ivf I really really don’t like needles and have all kinds of tricky emotions tangled up with them, with the result I now have to lie down for blood tests and have an unused covid antibody test sitting on the bookshelf because the finger cut thingy horrifies me too much.

I just explained to the nurse I really wanted my jab and was so grateful for their hard work but I was also bricking it about the needle, and they were brilliant. It did hurt a bit but didn’t have that horrible sicky invasive feeling and was quick.

Dh has a severe phobia and regularly faints.
We now have a plan.

1. ensure people know he has a real fear and tell them what he needs in order to get the injection. 2). He uses tattoo numbing cream.
2. he asks the nurse/dentist for no small talk just to proceed as fast as possible with the injection. (He already has sleeev etc rolled up to go)
3. he doesn’t look at all. He’s perfected the art of looking at the top righty hand corner of whatever room he’s in and has all jabs in his left arm.

This was the first year he hasn’t fainted. We are sticking with this plan!!

While I don't have the level of anxiety about needles as you, I do get very anxious and have a history of fainting when anyone sticks a needle in me for any reason.

I told the person doing my vaccination and she had me lie down for mine, in a screened off area... really not a big deal and she told me that I wasn't the first that day either!

Turns out I was totally fine, the needle is tiny and can barely be felt.

Just be really upfront with them, that you don't want to see the needle and tend to faint so need to lie down for yours.
Take a book or something so you can sit in the waiting area after for a while (they encourage you to stay for 15 mins anyway but they're not timing you, you could stay for longer.)

Good luck!

My DS - we used the emula cream too - he didn't notice tbh

Honestly, the first time i hardly felt it, the second one was a tiny nip, that was it. I felt the flu vaccine much more.

I'm not anywhere near as anxious as you but also struggle with the whole needle being stuck into me thing. My Covid jab was the best I'd ever had, whole process was so smooth I was kind of just swept up in it, and like a pp said, I thought the nurse had only wiped my arm when she told me it was done!

I was speaking to the lady who did mine about this - she said that if you let them know when you arrive that you have a phobia they have a 'VIP service' as they call it, where you go to a screened off area and lay down to have it done if that helps. She said they will do absolutely everything they can to make it a positive experience 😊. Go for it OP!

I used to have a needle phobia, I've had so much exposure to needles it doesn't bother me as much anymore.

I will say this, the jab is extremely quick. Like blink and you miss it quick. Probably the easiest vaccine I've had from a speed point of view

I’m a volunteer vaccinator. Try to identify exactly what you need before you get there and tell the people on the door your concerns. Ask to be fast tracked. Don’t just say you’re ‘a bit nervous’, make it very clear it’s a lot worse than that.

We have lots of different types of nervous people. Some just want it done ASAP, some want things taken more slowly. Make it clear if you don’t want to see any needles.

The mass centres have screened off areas and couches to lie down if you need that. In all the sessions I’ve not seen anyone leave without being vaccinated.

Finally make sure you don’t arrive mid afternoon having only eaten an early breakfast. That seems to be a common situation with people who feel faint.
I had a nervous young bloke last week who was really proud of himself for not fainting, and told me that after a previous bad experience he now has a Mars bar beforehand.

I had a needle phobia. A fully grown woman crying like a baby and wrestling under a Drs couch with a poor but determined practice nurse was my memory of jabs for 20 years.
5 years ago I had the opportunity of a lifetime to go to Asia and needed jabs.
My then husband took me to our GP travel clinic. I had a diazepam before. Still cried but realised the 3 jabs I had weren't actually anywhere near as horrific as I imagined. Actually quite painless and so quick.
I needed the boosters done 12 months later and this time could not have diazepam and had to do it with only rescue remedy. I still winced and cried a bit which was a bit embarrassing but tbh, the jab didn't hurt at all but did make me cringe and wince a bit.

So then I had to have my covid jab. Went in said I was a bit of a baby but she'd done it. I gave a delayed "ow" out of shock rather than pain.

I've my 2nd jab later this week. I'm a bit on edge but going to grit my teeth and get it done.

Honestly it's faster then dental jabs. Less painful. It's over and done with in seconds.

I do sympathise I really do but it will be so worth it. Tell them you're severely phobic and they'll be sympathetic and get it done.