Needles

I was extremely needle-phobic. I actually passed out once watching one of my kids get a shot. The
one thing I knew I would never be able to do is to stick a needle in myself. I went nearly 12 years
on meds, refusing to try insulin. I was not going to look at those needles. Towards the end of those
12 years, when the pills were no longer working, I simply stopped eating the majority of the time. I
reasoned that if I didn't eat, my bg would not be so high, I wouldn't have to deal with needles.

My doctor and my husband ganged up on me and pretty much forced me to accept that nothing was going
to work except insulin. What a fool I had been! Yes, at first it was very hard. For months I would
literally sit there and cry before I could stick that damn needle in. It didn't really hurt, it was
just that the whole concept of doing it made me feel ill. I hated hated hated it. But then...
something odd happened. My bg started being in the normal range almost all the time... and I was
eating things I hadn't eaten in years! duh.

I began to think of the insulin as a good thing. I could eat, I stopped being over 200 most of the
time. I still watch my carb intake, keep it at 100 or lower every day, but I don't obsess over every
bite of food anymore. And sometimes... I actually eat things like a piece of cake, or pizza, or have
a full glass of milk. God I wish I had let my doctor put me on insulin several years earlier. Yes,
it is annoying to stick a needle in yourself 3 or 4 times a day. Yes, it's inconvenient to travel
and keep the insulin cold, etc. But... you get used to it. I stick myself without even thinking
about it anymore. It has given me a much more normal life. I feel better than I have in years.

Needles aren't really all that bad. :-) and my life is soooooo much better with them.

"Guy" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Anyone that refuses insulin because of needle fear is not thinking straight. You will not be
bothered long unless you get mentally hung up on it.

Guy, I recently went to the dentist (and there's a phobia for yu!!) and after him spending a few
minutes with his tool in my mouth, he announced that I had a loose tooth (Clever bugger considering
that's the sole reason I got tha appointment!! :-)

Anyway, he said he could yank it there and then if I wanted, but he said he'd use a needle. I said
"If you come near me with a needle, ONE of us is going uncosncious and I don't care which" :-) He
declined to pull it sans anesthetic (I suggested he just pulled it) so I got out of the chair and
got my coat on.

The tooth was left where it was and it's tightened up all on it's ownsome, thereby obviating the
need for either a needle OR a yanking. OR indeed, another visit to the place that is Hell :-))

On the other side of the needle coin, a friend ofmine from childhood once said to me that if HE had
to use a needle on himself, he'd die first. He didn't die though and now he uses one three times a
day to replace a hormone he's lacking following a bout of cancer.

Beav

Quoted message said:

I said "If you come near me with a needle, ONE of us is
going uncosncious and I don't care which" :-)

Funny thing........as needlephobic as I am, I am not very freaky when it comes to getting dental
injections. As long as they use the topical numbing stuff first, I can deal with the shots.

I've got to have a nuclear test at the hospital next Thursday, and I'm already getting nervous about
the shot......lol. I called the same day it was scheduled to be sure they wouldn't require an
IV......THAT would freak me out bigtime!

Bev

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On 19 Jan 2004 05:44:29 GMT, [email hidden]

(Bev) said:

Quoted message said:

I said "If you come near me with a needle, ONE of us is going uncosncious and I don't care
which" :-)

Quoted message said:

Funny thing........as needlephobic as I am, I am not very freaky when it comes to getting dental
injections. As long as they use the topical numbing stuff first, I can deal with the shots.

Quoted message said:

I've got to have a nuclear test at the hospital next Thursday, and I'm already getting nervous
about the shot......lol. I called the same day it was scheduled to be sure they wouldn't require an
IV......THAT would freak me out bigtime! Bev

I have a strange thing about needles which has been with me most of my adult life and I have no idea
why. I have been trained to take blood and give injections [long time ago now] and have no problem
with that, in fact I think I was rather good at it. However, when getting an injection or giving up
a sample myself.................I collapse almost right away. Embarassing really. So long as I
cannot see the thing then I am ok so when it's time for my A1c's I just turn my head away. I alway's
warn the vampire of the problem and there is a note to the effect on my med docs. Wonder why this
happens? I am not aware of any past 'hidden trauma' which might cause it. Lol .......... wonder what
I will do if I ever have to go onto insulin? Blind stabbing? Testing myself does not have the same
effect - fortunately.

Weird eh?

Pete

Diagnosed 20/03/03 Type II D&E + Metformin + Gliclazide
+ Asprin 210lbs at Dx to BMI 166lbs achieved. To mail: aspen at freeuk.com

"Bev" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I said "If you come near me with a needle, ONE of us is going uncosncious and I don't care
which" :-)

Funny thing........as needlephobic as I am, I am not very freaky when it

comes

Quoted message said:

to getting dental injections. As long as they use the topical numbing

stuff

Quoted message said:

first, I can deal with the shots.

My phobia isn't with needles per se, just dentists and needles. I think it comes from a terrible
expereince with rhe dental [censored] when I was a schoolie.

Quoted message said:

I've got to have a nuclear test at the hospital next Thursday, and I'm

already

Quoted message said:

getting nervous about the shot......lol. I called the same day it was scheduled to be sure they
wouldn't require an IV......THAT would freak me

out

Quoted message said:

bigtime!

I can live with the shoving soil pipe sized needles through my skin, but not my gums (I HATE that
bloody word!!!)

I'll do your shot if you do my next dental appointment:-)

Beav

Now, Bev....we have been thru this before, I told ya what to do...right?!! You said it worked....so
ya got the info and the experience , so you should have no problems!! Anyways, it is to far for me
to come and do it for you.....LOL....Good Luck and keep me informed....Mic

Always, be, and stay AWARE!

Quoted message said:

which might cause it. Lol .......... wonder what I will do if I ever have to go onto insulin? Blind
stabbing?

I dare say you'll end up like I did .... I always used to say that if I ever had to use insulin, I'd
probably end up dead because I wouldn't be able to stick a needle in myself ....

And then, horror upon horror, mid-2002 I was put on a small daily shot of insulin .... and guess
what ... when you have to, you simply do it, because the alternative doesn't really bear thinking
about ... and having just been in hospital for the amputation of a gangrenous toe, I was *very*
motivated at the time ...

I still doubt very much that I could use a conventional hypodermic, but the pens are not so bad,
especially with a very fine needle (and I get the smallest/thinnest that I can!) All the same, I
still have to work "blind" because I *cannot* watch the darned thing actually pierce my skin ...

Quoted message said:

Testing myself does not have the same effect - fortunately.

The modern "stickers" are so much easier - the first one I had was one of those clumsy big "push the
whole thing down to release the spike" things - I always had trouble preventing the "target" finger
from pulling away - I don't have that problem with the nice neat Softclix II that I have now ....

Quoted message said:

Weird eh?

Naah, just human !!!!

Frank T2 since 1988

--

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Hairy Antelope <[email hidden]> wrote in
misc.health.diabetes:

Quoted message said:

I dare say you'll end up like I did .... I always used to say that if I ever had to use insulin,
I'd probably end up dead because I wouldn't be able to stick a needle in myself ....

And then, horror upon horror, mid-2002 I was put on a small daily shot of insulin .... and guess
what ... when you have to, you simply do it, because the alternative doesn't really bear thinking
about ... and having just been in hospital for the amputation of a gangrenous toe, I was *very*
motivated at the time ...

I still doubt very much that I could use a conventional hypodermic, but the pens are not so bad,
especially with a very fine needle (and I get the smallest/thinnest that I can!) All the same, I
still have to work "blind" because I *cannot* watch the darned thing actually pierce my skin ...

If only injecting insuline was the worst problem of my diabetes.

--
CeeBee

"I am not a crook"

Quoted message said:

If only injecting insuline was the worst problem of my diabetes.

Yep, I can relate to that .... although mostly my problems are that missing toe, and two problematic
feet .... the rest of me, thank heavens, checks out reasonably well .... after my little jaunt to
the ER in December they kept me in a ward for a few days, and while I was there, they tested about
everything they could think of, and a couple things I asked for as well ...

My "blind" jabbing of needles I actually find quite amusing ...

--

]- "Lack of planning on your part does not ]- constitute an emergency on my part" ]-
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