flu shot that doesn't hurt (cough, cough)

[timothy42b]

I got my flu shot this morning at work. It didn't hurt. But then, I've never had much complaint, so the evidence isn't solid.

But here's the thing. I read very recently that you can avoid the pain of a shot by coughing. You cough once when they swab the area, and again as they give the shot. I can't remember what book it was in. It was nonfiction, but beyond that could have been anything, and I read quite a lot. It was recommended for children who fear shots. The reason it worked was unknown.

I've been unsuccessful in googling or finding any more about it. I tried it when I got the flu shot, but typically that's a pretty small needle that doesn't hurt much anyway, so I don't know how much effect if any it had.

[harrisonreed]

Moving around and coughing while a needle goes into your arm seems like not such a good idea?

[timothy42b]

Moving around and coughing while a needle goes into your arm seems like not such a good idea?

Then I will tell a story. Overseas, civilians sometimes use the military medical (though not dental) facilities, and my children needed their immunizations for DoDS school. My youngest was pretty much shot phobic at the time, she would melt down totally. She tried really hard. She always said this time I'm going to be brave. But then she'd panic.

So we had her nice and calm, confident she could go through with it. The shot was to be given by a well intentioned but clueless young soldier (SPC). He started by telling her, "you have to hold really still, because this one goes deep, and if you move the needle could break off inside." Um, yeah. You can probably imagine it did not go well.

[Pre59]

I can't speak for anyone else's experience here in the the UK, but the usual method is for the nurse to pinch the arm a few times during conversation, and while you're looking away the needle has been in and gone with almost no sensation.

[timothy42b]

I can't speak for anyone else's experience here in the the UK, but the usual method is for the nurse to pinch the arm a few times during conversation, and while you're looking away the needle has been in and gone with almost no sensation.

Yes. That's been a standard technique for a long time, and there are other tricks as well. But the cough idea was new to me, and intriguing.

[sirisobhakya]

I can't speak for anyone else's experience here in the the UK, but the usual method is for the nurse to pinch the arm a few times during conversation, and while you're looking away the needle has been in and gone with almost no sensation.

The method I have seen is lightly slap/tap the area to numb it, along with distracting conversation. Sadly in Asia they only do this with children. I shall try coughing next time.

[harrisonreed]

Moving around and coughing while a needle goes into your arm seems like not such a good idea?

He started by telling her, "you have to hold really still, because this one goes deep, and if you move the needle could break off inside." Um, yeah. You can probably imagine it did not go well.

This is sort of true though, no? Needles freak me out.

I always imagine the scene where you see Picard get the Borg needle in the eye. Dang Swedish robot aliens....

[Kingfan]

I am needle phobic. Probably because I got strep a lot as a kid and got a lot of painful penicillin shots! It was so bad that as an adult I had to be lying down or I would pass out, and it took me five to ten minutes to be able to stand up without passing out after. I went a clinic once and told them of my problem - they said sorry, I had to be given the shot their way, in their shot room with multiple chairs with people getting poked. I said it was a bad idea, they said they had to follow protocol. Next thing I know I'm waking up on the floor with a doctor and two nurses looking down at me. They asked me if I was OK and I weakly said "I told you this would happen!". I am a lot better now. I have an agreement with the phlebotomist - I look away, we make small talk, she doesn't show me the needle or tell me anything going on, just does it. I can get up and walk right out.

[timothy42b]

When I was a child, maybe 1-? 15? somewhere in there, I was in the emergency room about to get a few stitches in a cut hand.

The doctor filled a syringe with Novocain and turned around towards me. That needle was HUGE!!! And scarey! I asked, "are you going to stick me with that?" Unlike the young SPC, this guy actually had some sense of a child's fears. He said "oh no, that's just to fill it with. I put on a tiny one for your injection." Total lie of course but it calmed me down.

[ghmerrill]

This is all highly idiosyncratic. I have absolutely no fear of hypodermic needles, and in the past have had to administer shots to myself on occasion. Objectively, a flu shot is less painful than getting scratched by a good-sized blackberry bush, and MUCH less painful than getting stung by a hornet or yellow jackets. Those are personal empirical observations and not speculation. And whatever "pain" there is from a flu injection has a lifetime of approximately zero (compared to those others just mentioned).

Some injections hurt more than others (owing often either to the ineptness of the person doing the injecting or to the substance being injected), but a flu shot? No, the pain just isn't there in the shot itself. And if you have anxiety about a flu shot, perhaps it might help to think to yourself "Hey, this is quick and easy. It ain't a bone marrow biopsy," which I can assure you does involve some degree of "discomfort". It's the only time I ever had a doctor say to me "This is going to hurt." Or think about the comparison to a not particularly skillful hematology technician digging around with a needle to find a vein for an IV. I've seen way too much of that (though not generally in my own case), and it makes the flu shot seem like a really good trade.

While my wife and I were getting our flu shots yesterday, I reported this thread to the nurse. Not wanting to make any specific comment, she just rolled her eyes about the whole coughing thing. Good luck with that. Like I say, highly idiosyncratic. But if you do have some problem with injections like flu shots and you're fairly young (which is my sense here), you should definitely do what you can, and work at it in order to get past that hurdle. As you age, the likelihood of needing to get treatment through the use of what pharma people refer to somewhat mysteriously as "biologicals", or to encounter people who otherwise want to stick needles into you, gets increasingly higher.

I'm not without sympathy, but I don't think this is a "problem" that can be addressed by focusing on the physical aspects of the injection itself.

[Kingfan]

What ghmerril said. It isn't the physical pain, it is the psychological aspects of a metal object poked into my body that gets to me. Call it a phobia if you will, but it is a problem for some people.