I have to lie down when I have an injection - advice needed. (Possible trigger warning)

[Penguineapig]

I have severe vasovagal issues (sudden triggered blackouts) and one of the problems it causes is that I am unable to have injections or give a blood sample while upright. I also have to remain lying down for about 10 minutes afterwards. This is NOT anxiety, panic or phobia induced (which are also completely horrible things to have as well but the advice for those conditions won't work for me). If I can't lie down the blackout will usually occur at the time of needle/cannula insertion but can also occur afterwards and if I've blacked out once I'm also likely to blackout again without warning over the next few hours. Lying down at the time of the event and for a few minutes after prevents any blackout completely, without fail.

So normally if I needed an injection at my GP it would be done in the nurses station where I can lie down. However if I have to give a blood sample I have go to the blood test centre at the hospital instead where I can lie flat, as my GP surgery does blood tests in a room with just a chair. As I said, lying down at the time solves the problem without fail.

I've received my invite for the vaccine but it is at a mass vaccination hub which is just seated. I've contacted my GPs surgery twice to ask what they would advise but they've just responded with a stock email response saying they're not taking bookings for vaccinations, and haven't provided any other information. They're not answering the phone. They've been pretty poor at communication during the last year to be honest.

If I book my vaccination at the hub what do I do? Is lying on the floor an option? I'll have to stay lying down for a bit which i don't think is what they probably have in mind. The only person I know who's had their vaccination at a hub said there was a row of chairs where people could sit afterwards in case they felt unwell but that's not going to be much help in my case, I won't make it that far!

Has anyone else been in this situation or knows if I will be able to have a vaccination at my GP surgery at a later date? I was really pleased to get the invite so soon but now don't know what to do.

Don’t book it at the football ground in Leeds. A lady working there wouldn’t let me sit down afterwards.

Hi @Penguineapig

I've just been pointed to your thread, having started a similar one today. Please do update afterwards. I'm also likely to faint if I don't lie down, and have an appointment later next week at a mass vaccination centre, and was worrying that there are no facilities to accommodate this.

Hey there @GCAcademic - just cross posting on our two threads. I'll be going later this week and will let you know how I get on. In my case not being able to lie down means I'll be back to square one and will have to find an alternative way of getting the jab. However the responses on this thread have been really positive so fingers crossed.

When I went for mine on Friday at a pharmacy, there was the facility to lie down if I had wanted to. Hope you have the same option.

Reporting back - I've just had my jab.

The venue was actually a big sports hall. I explained at the desk when I was given the form to fill out about needing to lie down for the jab and afterwards and they said it would be possible and told me who to tell when I went in to have my jab. That was all fine but I then ended up standing in the room where people were having their jabs done (which I could see) for ten minutes while they found someone who could leave their station and deal with me somewhere else. I just stared at the ceiling but this might not have been great for some people! However no one tried to persuade me I'd be fine or to give it a go sitting in a chair, which is what usually happens so that was a relief. Also lying on the floor wouldn't have been an option where they were doing the vaccinations, the area was small and they'd crammed in as many screened sections as they could, people would literally have been stepping over me if I'd tried to lie down.

The area where you could lie down was two beds behind screens in a corridor round the corner. No one else around, all over and done with really quickly and I stayed there lying down for ten minutes and then slowly left. So all good. The only slightly odd thing was that no one asked why I needed to lie down, the woman left as soon as she'd done the jab and no one came back to check on me - I didn't want or need anyone to but if anything had gone wrong there was literally no one there and no one would've known at all, the area wasn't visible from anywhere else and I didn't see anyone when I left either. Also there was no area for people to sit after they'd had their jabs at this venue, people were literally just ushered straight out of the exit on to the pavement on a busy road. I'm sure they'd have found somewhere for people to hang around if they needed to but it wasn't part of the planned set up.

So my advice would be ask as soon as you get in to your vaccination centre and are given the form to fill out if you think you might need to do things differently in order to have the jab or after or both. It was a fast and busy process and so the onus will be on you to help yourself in order to get what you need. The volunteers were lovely, calm and super-helpful however and there were loads of them. It must be quite a relentless shift for them all. Also once inside the hall and sitting down filling out the form there was no time pressure, so my jab was booked for 10.20 but it was just a turning up time really, as soon as people had filled out the form they just pointed you through to the next room in any order. This will no doubt be different from one venue to the next but it did feel like they didn't care what they had to do, they just wanted to get you through the door and vaccinated.

So anyone considering not going because they have additional needs they're concerned about please go, you can always just walk away if it's not OK (I would have done) but with disruption to supplies it'd be far better to at least get the first jab done now if you can.

Great that you've had it done,