Waiting for minor op. Googled and don't think I can do it..

[OrangeRabbit]

I have a phobia of injections, hospitals, operations, that sort of thing. I also HATE people touching my neck.

But I have a big lipoma in my neck, it gets bigger every year and I'm really self conscious about it. Decided I needed to grow a pair and get it removed.

Been waiting 6 months for an appointment. Resisted googling. Now I'm sitting in the hospital waiting room and I googled.

I thought it would be just 1 injection. This lady had over 10, and they felt like bee stings. I've never been stung by a bee, but I imagine it's bloody agonising. Especially in the neck!

I don't know if I can go through with it. I feel sick, can't stop shaking. I don't want to make a fuss to the nurses or doctors, I know they're very busy and deal with people going through a lot worse than me!

I really don't want to leave, I'll regret it forever (had to persuade my doctor over several visits to even consider referring me).

Please please give me some reassurance/ encouragement!

Sash that's the medication I was thinking of.

Thank you it was annoying me trying to remember the name.

Yes make sure they’re aware of your phobia. The worst is when someone doesn’t tell you (often men not wanting to be “wimps”) and then jump when trying to take blood and you miss so have to go again!

Have you ever tried mindfulness? It can help distract you.

They will sedate you if you have a phobia about people touching your neck, as they need you to relax and keep still. Make sure you discuss it with your consultant before they do the procedure.

I used to hate dentists' injections. I've told myself it won't hurt for more than a minute, so as I feel the injection I start counting the seconds, making sure to count nice and slowly, ie proper seconds. It's never been more than 30 secs and usually quite a bit less. A big part of pain is fear (that's the purpose of it, to make you afraid to stop you doing whatever you're doing before you get further damage), so reminding yourself this is a pain that will stop is good; and concentrating on counting seconds takes your brain away from the pain.

I've never been stung by a bee, but I imagine it's bloody agonising

Bee stings aren't that bad. And injections definitely hurt less than bee stings.

Oh, and bee stings don't hurt that much. Much prefer them to ants.

It’s probably not a good idea to cough as someone is injecting your neck. Ideally it’s best to be still and breathe slowly.

I don't think my gp will give me diazepam, I asked for a short course of benzos when struggling to sleep in the middle of a really serious dv situation and they said no due to having substance misuse issues as a young teen. But I didn't know that doctor; the GP I'm going to next week knows me better so he might be more open to prescribing just one, I'll ask him.

I haven't had any dental stuff done since I had braces as a kid, my memory's shocking and I can't really remember what that was like or if I had any injections.

But honestly, all your comments have made me feel loads better about it (or it might just be because it'll probably be a couple of months away ). But seriously, I'm going to save this thread and read it on the day and I think it'll help me so much.

GP giving you diazepam is different, that's a prescription, you walk away with controlled medication unsupervised. Some are unsympathetic and some just don't want to take risk that something will happen and they'll be responsible as they prescribed.

However it's completely different in a hospital environment, they give you a medication direction, so they are controlling how much you can take, when they give you it, then they supervise you for a few hours after and make sure someone collects you. Plus they'll be able to see you are uncomfortable by pulse rate, things like that, so know you aren't drug seeking (plus it would be a bizarre way to drug seek!). So they are fine. It's also routine for them to do this. They gave me temazepam, extra strong from the diazepam group even though has no tolerance, because I walked into the room, cried then couldn't stay. They decide what is appropriate for medication and dosage for each person. When I hadn't felt comfortable enough, they gave me another dose. I was then able to sit still for the brief seconds needed

Tell them when you arrive, they'll take care of you.

Plus, do it! I can't believe what a fuss I made over nothing, it was phobia reaction. Doing it makes you lose a bit of the phobia and be more comfortable in future, it's a type of therapy called exposure therapy.

As I said, I have since gone through so many surgeries I actually can't count, IVF which is needles, blood tests and more every single day for ages, now I'm comfortable. I broke my knee and needed a surgery, I was joking with the consultant and he was playing a Stevie Wonder song on his phone after we'd joked about it in a consultation. I was literally dancing and laughing with him as they did the anesthetic. The nurses said later that they thought I was reacting to sedation meds, they were laughing and surprised to hear that no, I was actually just laughing and messing around, in an operating theatre, with a surgeon.

When you have something serious, that's terrifying, trust me. When it's not serious, be relieved about how relatively easy it is (broken knee is not going to kill me, so I was lucky and therefore happy and fine) and go for it.

Benefit is you shake off the phobia.

I got every vaccination in the world (including helping the nurse do my own whilst we did several at once) and botox after all the insane amount of stuff I went through! I no longer cared at all about needles, so figured may as well get some tiny positive thing from difficulty lol:)