When confronted with a needle, I...
 

Went to the hospital to get some blood samples taken today. I'll admit I'm not to fond of needles, but looking the other way, making sure I don't see the thing really takes the edge of. Last time I was in a hospital on behalf of my own health was like 18yrs ago, when I had to get a vaccination. I ran for the hills, screaming like a little girl. Sure, I was 5 or 6 years old at the time, but the memory stuck (actually one of my first memories), so I guess that's still lurking in the back of my mind. :D

Any brave stories?

*voters remain anonymous, don't be afraid to be honest. ;)

:p Well you just haven't been sick enough, or spent enough time in a Hospital.

Have a heart attack (like I did) and follow that up in a few months with a problematic angiogram and emergency open heart surgery. You'll think nothing of needles or IV's in your arms, back of your hands, your neck (after bypass surgery, I had one in my carotid artery - they have to flip the bed over so you are head down to remove it).

And since I take warfarin as a blood thinner (mainly because of a pulmonary embolism before the heart problems), I get my arm stuck every 6 weeks or so anyway for a protime (INR) sample.

I'm surprised they even need to stick me anymore. They should just wave the needle over my arm and the blood should just squirt out by now.

Needles are nothing - just think about a diabetic giving themself their own shots (I did my own shots of low MW heparin for a week after my PE, but that was easy). :p

Like all kids, I was terrified of needles. After a doctor completed a sentence, I would ask if I was going to get a shot. Sunburn, poison ivy, didn't matter, I followed up with "am I going to get a shot?" I went from ages 12 to 28 without facing a needle and had to get blood drawn for an employment physical. I was nervous as hell, but after it was done I felt embarrassed. After the the pain of broken bones, bruised ribs, and the like I had experienced between those ages, it was nothing. I can't believe I made a big deal out of it. It doesn't bother me at all at this point.

I despise needles!

I hope I wouldn't see another one again.

I have been hit with 2 suspected cases of dengue fever, one during I was nine and another when I was 18. The docs needed to run some tests: and they need to extract my blood using needles! Good thing I was young since the symptoms I had were: (from Wikipedia)

• rashes
• fever
• bladder problems
• constant headaches
• severe dizziness
• loss of appetite
• uncontrollable laughing <-never had this, although when I was 18 was extremely sarcastic about the thing since during that time, it was our college's foundation week celebrations
• extreme constipation

They suspected dengue fever because the my school had a fishpond that needed some attention. A student already died because of dengue fever! God rest her soul...

After 2 weeks in the hospital, I was cleared to go home and was immediately back on the computer!

My girlfriend has to have blood taken every month or two, she now hates needles :)

Well ... being 50 sumthin, the old family jewels are not so shinny anymore.

Sorry for being gross:

About a year ago, a cyst half the size of a marble on the left testicle eventually got inflamed by an in-grown hair gone wild and it had to be removed. The simple act of walking was total torture on the day of removal.

At some point the needle had to go in three times for the local anesthetic to be applied so it could be cut out.

I did "look" between the shear crys of pain. Man did that hurt. Needle did not hurt all that much, but when the good old doc pressed that plunger for the anesthetic injection ... I thought I was giving birth to triplets. ;)

When I was a child I was extremely scared of needles.
When I grew older I still didn't like them and tried to avoid them when possible (I only volunteered once for a sample of blood so that my genetically code could be examined for the purpose of finding some donator of bone marrow for someone who suffered from leukemia).

Now two years back when I was at my university of applied sciences (what a term in English:rotfl:) we had the Red Cross coming to us for blood donations. I read a pamphlet with the announcement and thought to myself "well, they can take all the blood they want, but definitely not mine...".
On that special day I came down from our canteen after having lunch and was approached by a nice fellow student who asked me with this irresistible smile to donate blood. I immediately said that I hated needles and wasn't going to do it... But she kept talking to me and all of a sudden I felt like a total whimp standing in front of a girl and telling her to be afraid of a needle.:rotfl: So I finally gave in and donated half a liter of blood... I survived.:yep:
Well this is now slightly more than two years ago and by now the Red Cross received a total of 4.5 liters from me in 9 donations. I still don't like the sting of the needle (the ones for blood donations are a bit bigger than the normal ones for drawing samples;)) but I don't mind it anymore that much, and it is a good feeling to know that one has helped others to survive.:D

I have a condition that reduces my sensitivity to pain...
I still don't like giving blood samples tho.

:hmm: Okay, that needle was NOT nothing :o I mean, I've had catheters in my groin (femoral artery), but to be stuck right in the nads - that's just nasty, times 3 even!!!

It is strange but when I was preforming phlebotomy on my patients, I obviously had no problems. But if I am on the "wrong" side of the needle, I look away and think happy thoughts.

Stuck a sowing machine needle blunt end first into the palm of my hand once. Other needles just haven't been the same since... :lol:

Scrotum Self-Repair

http://www-psych.stanford.edu/~pinto/scrot.html

A classic :up:

My uncle tends to faint when he gets a needle. Even back when they were going down the line vaccinating people when he was in the army, they had to arrange people behind him in the line to catch him. They stick him and he just goes out like a light.

Side trip - sorry:
Nurse at a senior care center is stopped by an old patient.

He says:
"What's that thermometer doing behind your ear?"

Nurse says after removing the thermomter from behind her ear:
"Gee, wonder which a-hole has my pen in it?"

:D