I'm considering asking my Dr. to replace my E pills with an E shot. My big concern is giving the shot to myself (small fear of needles). How did you overcome similar fears? Is there any advice to make it easier?
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Hi Amy,
Several years ago I was admitted to the hospital due to high blood sugar (477) and I was diagnosed with previously unknown diabetes.(caused by cancer developing in my pancreas) I was given insulin and taught to give my self shots in the tummy. I had never thought I could give myself shots as I was and still am one of those that looks away when getting one. But it is interesting what you can do when you have to. I still give myself shots twice a day and have even let my 2 youngest grand children do it for me.
E shots are administered into muscle and my insulin is subcutaneous (under the skin) but I am sure I would have no problem giving E shots to myself. It's that initial stick you have to get over and that becomes routine.
It will be a piece of cake.
Hugs,
Jeanette
I didn't want to be afraid anymore and let fear rule my life. I was also determined to find something else that worked better for me, instead of pills. I started by going to the clinic and have the nurses do them for me. Eventually, they taught me how to do it and now, it's a breeze. I was VERY afraid of needles. Now, my fear is gone! It feels good to overcome fears, you feel freer, better about yourself. If I did it, anyone can!
Good luck and remember, it's all in your head. I always told myself I'm injecting something GOOD inside of me, that helped me get over the fear. I also went about it, one step at a time, as explained above.
I just stabbed my thigh this morning and I feel GREAT!!!
But, seriously, I do feel great after I inject E, and I did do an injection this AM. It rarely hurts. They will train you to do it, too. If it does hurt, it only hurts for a little while and is not the end of the world. It is a 'good hurt'..lol ...it makes the girl power increase within you!! :)
You gotta wanna. I mean, you have to want to go thru with it and if you tell yourself it is something that has to be done to move forward, you will overcome the needle fear. Your body is quite resilient --it can handle it. Just keep thinking how much more estrogen your body will absorb via injections versus the wasteful oral method where the majority of the good E is filtered by your liver/intestines/kidneys...
I've always hated needles and have since I was little, psychiatrist at the time from when I was 5 allt he way until 15 was in the mindset to diagnose me with everything and prescribe me anything, ADHD, Bipoler, etc.. you name it I was diagnosed and put on a million meds for it, many of which I'm suffering negative consequences a decade later after ditching that quack and stopping those dozen + meds I didn't need but that's off topic haha Point being I had to undergo blood tests a lot and it only increased my fear of needles.
Fastforward to Mid January this year I switched from sublingual estradiol to injectable Estradiol Cypionate, was extremely nervous but after the initial shot and especially after using a smaller gauge needle (25g) the process is so simple and virtually painless that I'm so happy for the switch as I grew tired of needing to hold pills under my tongue 3x daily >_< Tomorrow I have my 5th injection and it's actually the first time I'll be injecting by myself from my home so I'm kinda excited! Never thought I'd ever say that about needles haha
Can certainly be scary at first but once you get used to it/find a needle that works for you things certainly get easier! The fear of pain (in this case needle itself) is often times much worse then the actual pain itself.
I have this really uncool thing called vasovagal syncope. I get a needle and blood pressure drops like a stone, cold sweats, better be laying down. Sublingual it is for me.
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I ice the injection spot almost to frostbite. I do it an hour at I eat or else I get light headed.
As others have said, it definitely gets easier. The first time 20 minutes from start to finish. After about 7 or 8 times it takes maybe 5 minutes and I don't feel it.
One thing that helps me is to exercise the leg after injecting.
I fainted during my 1st IM training. 2 weeks later I almost passed out. I told the nurse I would do the IM in bed and lay back if I felt faint.
I injected last night nd it is not an issue any more. I guess after 5 or 6 times I was ok with IM.
I find it very helpful to have eaten something shortly before. It definitely gets easier.