This thread is about injections & immunisation.
I never liked needles. I didn’t – I couldn’t – have my TB injection at school. I couldn’t sleep the night before I was meant to have it. In the morning I threw up (it was nerves), so I got that day off school and avoided it.
Unfortunately that wasn’t the end. A few weeks later, my parents got a letter saying I could get immunised at the health centre. I sat down with them and told them I really didn’t want this injection, but they persuaded me it was better to suffer a moment’s pain rather than the drawn out agony of tuberculosis. So I went and had the injection it was agony due to a sadistic doctor who basically stabbed me in the arm with the biggest needle I’d ever seen. It wept a steady trickle of blood from early morning until late afternoon, my arm felt bruised and I just thought to myself ‘This is not right and I’m never going through it again.’ So I haven’t, and I won’t be having another injection I can prevent for as long as I live.
I’m not ignorant, I know the principles, but immunization isn’t a cure. It just raises your resistance using dead or modified bacteria or viruses. These treated bacteria don’t cause the disease, they make the body's immune system build a defense mechanism that continuously guards against the disease. If a person immunized against a particular disease comes into contact with the disease-causing agent, the immune system is immediately able to respond defensively.
I learnt more at college when I started my human biology a-level and I know by refusing immunisation I’m running the risk of contracting a deadly disease to which I have no natural defence and it could kill me.
With the most recent MMR scares, the safety of this vaccination itself has been brought in to question. The MMR vaccine which is reported to have saved millions of children’s lives has been linked with autism due to a well publicised study by a Dr Wakefield.


Excuse my paranoid thoughts, but they are paranoid n the realms of possibility. I’m hoping to get a short story out of this at least. Therefore any further debate / opinion will be appreciated! ;)

i think some needle-administered immunizations are absolutley neccesary, like TB, Tetnus, and Polio...are they still doing polio? It sounds like you had a really bad experinence with a prick (no pun intended) doctor. i used to hate and fear needles too, especially when they can't find the vein.

When i was younger ,and went to the dentist ,i had the choice of gas or the needle.I used to love having the gas ,and waking up all groggy and stoned, minus a tooth(loosing the tooth was a smallprice to pay).
I hate the needle ,it seems so clinical,and you can still hear what the dentists tools are doing.
And they never leave the aneasthetic long enough to have any effect,it always kicks in down the pub afterward whislst you trying to get over the ordeal.!

Immunization is important.

It is your choice not to have it, but, as an adult you know the risks you are running.

I am petrified of needles, but I have learnt after having to have lots of them that they are essential and its better to be calm as it hurts less.

justbecause, the Wakefield study has been widely discredited:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/3512195.stm

Yeh, it's risky, but what isn't (including doing nothing)?

I always assumed that if everyone else had the injection then they wouldn't get whatever disease it was for, therefore they couldn't pass it on to me, so why bother having it myself? Bit of a cop-out I know, but I hate needles.

Seems to have worked so far...

Sallyride - I thought Polio was given to you on a sugar lump, which if I remember right was worse than the needle. Could be wrong though.

One lasting memory though; after one injection I had when I was too young to say no I remember being bought a Masters Of The Universe jigsaw as a reward. Strange how I remember the 30 seconds of pain from the jab but not one bit of the picture that it probably took me about 2 hours to put together. And they say you only regret the things you don't do :-/

rarely eats mad cowburgers
could make a crack about...

The trouble is 9 out of 10 people don't like needles i have just had my little girl in hospital for a operation she was terrified about having the needle in the back of her hand to go to sleep with but she did it.
If all those 9 out of 10 people refused to be immunised then we would be back to Victorian times with children dying in thier hundreds of Measels and Tb. Drowning in your own blood from Tb is surely not worth missing a small injection.

It's more than not liking needles for me. I have more paranoid thoughts such as, if the government wanted to kill a bunch of us off, immunisation would be a good way to do it. Anyway, it's my choice to take risks by not having them. I'm not trying to stop anyone else.

Yes it is your choice not to be immunised but what im saying is if everyone refused to be immunised we would then be back as i said to Victorian times and people would die needlesly.
If the govt wanted to kill us im sure they could do it in better ways such as maybe polute the drinking water and various other ways.
As you say however it is your choice and you have the right to choose i wonder when the times comes for you to decide whether to have your child immunised will you still feel the same because belive me seeing a child suffer from Whooping Cough is no fun.

If i had to have a needle ,i would need too look at its length and girth first.If it lookd like it might hurt me ,i might have to ask for a female assistant to take my mind off the insertion.

Dr. Wakefield's study has been officially rubbished due to a "conflict of interests" issue. It does not bear much scientific weighting and was highlighted by the media and ballooned into a folk devil kind of thing.
Needles seem nasty but i think immunisation is important. diseases like polio small pox and other childhood infectious iseases have almost been eradicated, although small pox is back as well as t.b.-which is worrying. But on the whole kids should be immunised I think cos benefits outweigh the risks.
i understand that bad experiences with needles and health profesisonals can freak a person out. I used to be scared of needles, but now i force myself to give blood cos i have to get over it. It helps to stare at the needle go in a watch it all the time. try it!

Yeah I did the same thing. If you watch what's happening it lessens the dread of what's about to happen.

My sister is deathly afraid of needles and underwent hypnosis to get over the fear. Didn't work though.

Lots of people have a fear of needles and that prevent them from getting immunisation, but it also prevents them from giving blood too. Don't you realise that when you have very little choice over having a needle eg. car accident, premature birth, triple by-pass etc. that you will use blood donated by someone who doesn't have an irrational fear of needles.

I do give blood, because I realise somebody else's need for my blood is bigger than my fear for a needle. I think it's not as bad as the needle at school as you don't have every girl you know watching and looking for signs of weakness to laugh at you for (or is this an irrational fear too?) I always find it better not to look, as if I don't know when it's gonna go in there's less chance of me tensing up.

How can you not look,when your being prodded with a sharp instrument.
I gave blood once,and had a rich tea biscuit in exchange.Which seemed like a prety unfair deal ,being I was shitting myself . And they were only sainsburies economy rich teas.I thought my blood was at least woth a chochalate cookie

When I donate blood they can't do enough - bottled water, orange juice, chocolate. Everything but a baked dinner and a bottle of wine, just about.

Alex, VanB: top posts gentlemen, very bloody well done.

justbecause spouted:
I have more paranoid thoughts such as, if the government wanted to kill a bunch of us off, immunisation would be a good way to do it.
What would it take to allay fears like that? What proof would you accept? Every time the government fucks up (not just the politicians, the public service too) it gives me great comfort that we are that much further away from 1984.

Needles are evil.
Imagine if someone stuck a needle in your retina!

I am terrified, petrified, shit-scared, cold-sweat-afraid of needles, yet I have, in the past, forced myself to give blood due to my blood group being really rare (AB+) and due to me having been one of those ickle babies who need help when born.

I also have piercings, which I saw as a way of controlling the fear, like a kind of reverse psychology or something...

And when I was little I couldn't have the Whooping Cough immunisation due to allergies, so I got bloody Whooping Cough, and let me tell you, a tiny needle would have been far more pleasant than that.

Oh, and the TB immunisation is about the sorest of the lot, because they do use a massive needle, so if you can get through that, the rest are easy peasy.

But why can't you have gas at the dentist anymore.

cappy spouted:
But why can't you have gas at the dentist anymore.

Thats because a few people have died in the past through not being monitored correctly so now anyone who needs to be put to sleep to have teeth removed etc as to be under proper Aneathetist supervison.:)

Thats just a conspirisy theory.
I bet it costs more to have gas than the needle , methinks

give blood i pay an imposter, no f way.

i cant avoid having injections everyday.

two huge bastards come into the room and hold me down
while the man in the white coat gives me mine.

I've never feared needles, and I've given blood upwards of 100 times since high school. Flu shot every year. Gammaglobin, and tetnus a few times.
I discovered my son has panic attacks when learning of an upcoming immunization. I literally had to pin him to the wall for his last one, which disturbed me no end, but I'd rather give tough love, than to risk his health. He got over it soon enough, and harbors no ill feelings towards me. He's bright enough to know I forced it for his own good.

i have no reall fear of needles, i dont mind watching it/not watching it

as long as there is a reason for the needle - i dont really mind, they dont hurt much

I don't really have a fear of needles - although I have to look when the needle goes in, can't take my eyes away I'm afraid...

As fopr immunisation (particularly MMR) better MMR than nothing

I have to look away. i just keep telling myself, someone's just pinching your arm, it'll be over in 5 minutes, a dancing carrot, swimming pools, nail polish.....

misschicago spouted:
Needles are evil.
Imagine if someone stuck a needle in your retina!

AARRHHH!!! DONT, JUST DONT. A lad at work had that very thing happen to him only two weeks ago and then took great pleasure in telling me the grusome details. I almost bulked then, you are not helping matters.

Oh fuck!! Now I have a mental image. Thanks for fuck all.

this bint in merica woudn't have a caesarean section for her twins birth,
bingo she's a muderess, (1 died stillborn vaginally.

i run away from injections,,,,at school i used to twag off when
the horrible school nurse came to inject us all..
i still tremble with fear when i have to have a blood test or an injection for anything....i even have to lay down cause injections make me turn as white as a sheet. ..i cant understand how junkies can inject there own arms / legs ect. i feel so sorry for those people who have to inject them selves for health reasons everyday..diabetics ect

funny thing is i have loads of tattooes...they dont bother me at all

Don't mind needles in the arm or arse, but can't stand the dental ones. My dentist seems to positively relish giving them. I know it's a bit wimpy, but my eyes always fill with tears when he does it. Then he sticks both hands and 3 tubes in my mouth and says 'So, going anywhere on holiday this year?'

I hate almost crying in front of the young hygienist lass. They should only have ugly dental hygienists, so I don't have to worry about it, or bother how I look when I miss the sucky funnel things with that horrible listerine stuff.

CT

The worse needle I had was when i was in labor with my first child. I didn't see the needle but was told about it by my husband (at the time) he said it was about 8-10 inches long and it was put in my spine and it hurt like hell. I left nail marks in his shoulders when it went in. I don't mind giving blood for bloodwork at the hospital, I do however get very sick to the stomach when they try to take my childrens blood. I can not watch it, the last time I did, I almost passed out while holding my daughter. the room went black and started to spin. I will never be present when they do that again. Other then that i'm okay with the needles as long as i'm looking away when its going on.

I once had a dentist who simply put his thumb int my mouth and squeezed my cheek between forefinger and thumb, sounds weird, but no kidding, I just didn´t feel the needle at all..Didn´t notice a thing...I was gob-smacked! Try it.

P.S. I gave blood once and they screwed up big time...Blood all over the place. They bundled me out of there like Schwarzeneger in Total Recall...Not even the usual nice cup of tea. Never been back since!

One of the reasons that you wouldnt feel the injection if the dentist squeezed etc would be because him doing that would have already irritated the nerve endings. Same as if the nurse slaps your skin slightly before putting the injection in. When i had my knee operation in 2001 i ended up with a deep vein thrombosis which meant i first had to have a injection into the top of my foot which hurt like hell because you have a lot of nerve endings in the top of your foot, and then from then on every day for 10 days i had to have injections into my belly my belly ended up looking like a yellow and pink polka dot bikini :)

Yes, exactly. Simple but effective. He was a Czech, by the way... no whimps over there y´know!

P.S. Sorry to hear about your Itsy Bitsy teeny weeny yellow polka dot bikini.

haha thats oks its all back to its normal colour now :)

Needle or no needle ,the tools them dentists use arn't much different tham my carpentry tools, just a bit cleaner and shinier.

Arghh now thats one thing i hate that little hook like thing they use to remove plaque and half your gums with it :)

this is great,
cauterizations count, yhat's where your blood vessels are sealed by a wood burning irom
my finger has been numb for almost one month
almost wish thet cut off the fucker
my doc was nervous 'bout the damage, but i won't touch him, it was a bleeder-he stopped it, it blistered badly, so wha? like we never make mistakes too?
buys a wood burning iron , bill was almost 1k