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sb23
Kraken
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I haven’t gone over 3 months without having a needle in me since the age of 12, and over time, I’ve become much less fearful of things like blood tests and cannulas as I’ve become desensitised to them however, I’ve always struggled with intermuscular injection due to how infrequent they were for me. This fear got bad, to the point where I would evade my injections out of fear. I even have a scar on my quad from a botched injection
(these injections were to treat my autoimmune condition). Fast forward to a couple years later and I am back to im injections for my cycle. I’ve been researching how to get over this purely psychological irrational fear of needles, this research allowed me to successfully self inject. Here I will explain exactly how I got over this anxiety.
Pharmaceuticals:
-Beta blocker
You want a beta blocker, ideally one which is hydrophilic, allowing it to pass the blood brain barrier. This will allow for psychological effects. I personally used atenolol which is selective to the heart meaning I only had physical effects (lower heart rate, less shakiness, muscles less tense).
-Benzodiazepines or gabapentinoids
I personally used 50mg pregabalin. These are anti-anxiety medications, making them ideal for getting over phobias, just make sure to exercise caution as these can be addictive.
I personally took the pregab (50mg) and the atenolol (25mg) 1 hour before my injection.
Dopemenergic association:
You want to associate the injections with something positive, play some music you really like whilst doing the procedure. I wouldn’t recommend something like nicotine as it is a stimulant. Also remember, you are taking an anti anxiety-medication which can have a dopemenergic effect to some degree.
TL;DR
Take a beta blocker and a downer 1 hour before the injection, then play some good music during the injection.
Note: you can also opt for smaller needles and you can use something like lidocaine cream however, the anxiety is mostly psychological so this probably isn’t necessary.
Pharmaceuticals:
-Beta blocker
You want a beta blocker, ideally one which is hydrophilic, allowing it to pass the blood brain barrier. This will allow for psychological effects. I personally used atenolol which is selective to the heart meaning I only had physical effects (lower heart rate, less shakiness, muscles less tense).
-Benzodiazepines or gabapentinoids
I personally used 50mg pregabalin. These are anti-anxiety medications, making them ideal for getting over phobias, just make sure to exercise caution as these can be addictive.
I personally took the pregab (50mg) and the atenolol (25mg) 1 hour before my injection.
Dopemenergic association:
You want to associate the injections with something positive, play some music you really like whilst doing the procedure. I wouldn’t recommend something like nicotine as it is a stimulant. Also remember, you are taking an anti anxiety-medication which can have a dopemenergic effect to some degree.
TL;DR
Take a beta blocker and a downer 1 hour before the injection, then play some good music during the injection.
Note: you can also opt for smaller needles and you can use something like lidocaine cream however, the anxiety is mostly psychological so this probably isn’t necessary.
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