Im glad she was able to get the vax. I do understand the fear of needles and it is real fear.

That she was able to face her real fear is admirable. Good to know the second shot was easier for her, too!

I always feel so bad for people with such irrational, crippling fears. I am happy to read that she was able to overcome it.

There's an additional component of WANTING to overcome a fear. I have a couple of fears that take a lot to overcome, mainly that I have no choice but to go through with it. If I had a choice, I'd back out for sure.

I am a retired RN. Have given hundreds of injections, started IVs, and started clysis on patients. I always dread when it is my turn to be the victim when my blood is drawn or if I get a flu shot.. Most of the time I do not even feel the prick, but I am still a "chicken."

I received the J&J one shot. i felt nothing. i had no pain after it.

I too felt absolutely nothing when I got each Moderna shot. However, the tetanus shot I got at the ER in May when I had the severe leg injury was awful.

A quick stick of a needle or covid? It should not be debateable.

I guarantee you that if you get covid and end up in a hospital, you are going to look like a human pincushion.

So, what will it be? A quick stick now or the possibility of many needles and tubes hanging out of your body and maybe death, or a quick stick?

"Take the stick! Take the stick!", the crowd refrained.

So glad for her. Congratulations.

She was brave, and did her part to help stop the spread and mutation!

A group of us were having a discussion the other day. Apparently, the needle size isn't the same for all of the Covid immunizations including the same type. The needle they used for my husband and I was not very long and the injection did not hurt. Some of the other people said their needle was long and it felt like the nurse was trying to shove it through their arm.

I'm glad she was able to do it. I dont have a fear of shots, I get them every 2 or 3 weeks for allergies, but I will say, there are some nurses out there that deserve angel wings for their awesome deliveries. I think if you have a bad experience early on that can set you up for having ongoing fear of it.

I literally did not know I got the first covid shot. I felt the alcohol swab then the bandaid being put on. The second one, I felt the pinch and it burned. I had chills for 48 hrs and a sore arm. Go figure.

I have always had a fear of needles. I starting volunteering as a subject for medical studies partly to try to get over it. Whenever I'm about to get stuck with a needle, I start thinking about my cat. I'm petting my cat. I'm dangling a string and playing with my cat. Ooops, my cat just scratched me! Not so bad. The other thing I do is bite on something. If I remember ahead of time, I bring along a washcloth. Otherwise, I ask for a paper towel, fold it up and bite on it.

I remember losing my patience and forcibly restraining my son and pinning him to the table, when he was younger. The nurse looked a little horrified but siezed on the opportunity. On the way out I suggested he never embarrass himself like that again. And he hasn’t. Maybe not the best parenting but it worked!

Amy said it best to describe it as " irrational, crippling fears."

Medical or dental procedures of any kind are never how anyone would choose to spend their day but they're essential. Those are the days (no matter what's involved) to suck it up, wear big boy or big girl pants, and do what has to be done. To avoid or delay essential procedures because of a concern about a needle or something else is a major issue that needs to be dealt with.

To the OP, if someone close to me had a fear of needles, I'd do my best to help them overcome it. There are counselors/therapists who specialize in helping people overcome fears and phobias. Try to help your daughter connect with one.

Some of you are combining the sensations of the injection itself versus any sensitivity or pain of the medicine in the body. Needles these days are sharp and most have very small bores - if the person giving the injection knows to let the alcohol dry first, there should be little or no sensation of the injection. What the medicine later does - sore arm, fever, whatever, is something completely different.

My ex developed his fear due to a horrible dentist when he was a small child. It wasnt fear of pain, it was fear of being forcibly held down and it is body memory. He would pass out. I would make them lie him down. He gradually got over it when he didn't faint. Why people are afraid is individual but I know its isnt as simple as being scared.

I did not feel either of my Moderna shots, but I'm really not afraid of needles for shots. I think that the last shot that hurt was for a shingles vaccine, but I'm not sure. I do know that some hurt more than others, and they do not always use the same size needle. The shot for the Moderna vaccine used a very thin needle. Actually, the shots that my dermatologist gives me hurt the most (similar to dental shots) because he is injecting a local anesthetic for the surgery for basal cell procedures.

I really do not like have blood drawn, as that requires a much larger needle that is left in a much longer time. This does not stop me from having it done, but I do not faint the way I did when I was a child.

My brother put off getting a colonoscopy until he was 53, although I had been pressuring him to get one from the time he turned 50, and by the time he did get one, he already had colon cancer and now has an ostomy bag. At least he did not die, but putting off critical medical procedures can definitely result in death. I think the age for colonoscopies should be lowered to 45, especially for people who have a history of colon cancer in their family like I do.

Glad your daughter was able to get her vaccinations. I'm sure she's much happier now that they are behind her. I was going through a lot of anxiety before I got my shots, and the anxiety was infinitely worse than the shots.

Bad memories linger and cause lasting damage only if one allows them to. I'm not talking about catastrophic or horribly tragic experiences, those are different. But rather, memories of unpleasantnesses and otherwise unfortunate aspects or experiences of regular happenings shouldn't be debilitating.

If it were that easy Elmer. Why with this fabulous information aren't you seriously rich?

There are tens of thousands of capable mental health therapists and counselors, few or none of whom would ever appear on Dr Oz or Dr Phil, if that's your measure of being successful.

Help is available for people whose fears or apprehensions prevent them from doing things in normal life that others do. For those who at least want to try to overcome such problems. No value judgements or doubts in my mind whether particular feelings are justified but such things usually don't go away on their own.

Elmer, this is America and your regular garden variety medical insurance isnt as eager to help you deal with your condition that is going to take considerable medical intervention as you might think if that even works. It can take years.

I never realized that all the people with debilitating phobias that prevent them from receiving health care services others are able to tolerate, like getting injections or blood draws, are all lacking adequate medical insurance and that such people also lack access to public counselling/mental health services provided to people who would otherwise have no such access.

Lars, the guidance on colonoscopies has been lowered to 45 for the general population. People with a first degree relative with colorectal cancer are advised to be screened when they are 10 years younger than their relative at diagnosis.

Please understand, Elmer, my daughter was dying to get the shot and had to figure out how she would be able to do it.

I'm so very glad the deed was done.

It's likely not the last needle stick she'll need in her lifetime to maintain timely inoculations and get periodic health care. I hope she will make the effort between now and the next time to work to making such events not something she needs to "figure out how to do". Part of responsible adult conduct is avoiding having needless drama or creating unneeded "problems" about things others simply do because they have to. I'm sorry for the strong words, you maybe can help her help herself.

I remember a nurse at my pediatrician's office who gave the injections. She was scary looking and resembled the Wicked Witch in Wizard of Oz. I still remember incidents when I couldn't have been much more than 4 or 5. She'd say

"Turn your head, and start saying ouch ouch ouch over and over".

I'd do that. She'd wipe the injection spot with alcohol (I could feel it) and then pinch my skin below the site until it hurt ( you could feel the pinch too).

She'd say "keep saying ouch". She'd release the pinch, grab my arm, and then in maybe 30 seconds she'd say "you can stop".

"When do I get my shot?"

"It's already done"

What it taught me - you don't need to watch or see the needle, and the injection itself doesn't hurt. I'm grateful for her cleverness.

Here is an interesting fear story about how one person to finally overcame it. The fear is real!

MONTREAL -- Marie-Hélène Desmarais went to her local vaccination clinic for her first dose so many times that the nurses eventually knew her by name.

She estimates she stepped into the clinic on Sainte-Croix Avenue in Saint-Laurent about 10 times -- and each time she’d get in her car and drive away.

“My fear was insane,” she said of the reason she avoided the COVID-19 vaccine for months. “My panic was so strong I would throw up in the parking lot. I would sit in the chair and they would have the needle in their hand, ready to vaccinate me and I would say, ‘No, I have to go.’

The Montreal resident finally got her first dose with the support of her husband, friends and some very patient nurses on Saturday at the Vaccin-o-bus and shared a photo on Twitter of a bandaid covering her arm where the needle went in.

https://montreal.ctvnews.ca/i-was-so-petrified-how-a-quebec-woman-overcame-her-vaccine-fear-and-got-a-first-dose-1.5541116