I am so embarassed.

[Kiwi]

If it makes you feel better, it took 3 nurses and a doctor to hold me down when I needed my mmr injection at 13. I was NOT going to let the needle come anywhere near me without a fight.

Even today at the dentist, he had to get an assistant to hold my head still because I kept shrinking to the opposite side of the chair as far away from that drill as I could be

[Munkie]

I'm sorry to hear about that RK!

And I now feel like a robot. I've had many dental procedures on my molars and had two wisdom teeth extracted - under general anestheic no less. I've got a fairly strong gag relex, but I've yet to puke on someone.

The only throat pain I've ever had to deal with was strep throat three or four times, laryngitus once, and occasional dryness at the very back of my throat. I'm a pro at ignoring the needles - except when I can *see* them enter my skin. *shudders*

Anyway, I hope you feel better soon, RK!!

[RecoveringKinkoid]

I'm feeling a lot better, thanks. Ear still is pretty painful, but it's tolerable. Swelling is mostly gone. I think it's getting better.

Needles and whatnot do not bother me. I've been through a couple surgeries, one of which I was mostly awake (albiet high as hell) for. I've held a needle in my own arm, I don't care.

And I wouldn't have cared about the swab thing, it just hurt so bad I couldn't take it. I have a high pain tolerence, but after being in agony for hours on end, there was no psyching myself up, I had nothing left. Plus my gag reflex was so sensitive from my throat being swollen I was gagging when I tried to gargle. Lady is lucky she didn't get a facefull of vomit, frankly.

Evidently if they dose you with Lanacane first, it messes up the culture.

There ought to be something they can numb you up with. Geeze. I have had this done before, and it is far, far from fun. But this time, it was impossible. .

[Pagan]

Is the cauterization for burns or something else? I've never heard of any kind of treatment like that. It seems like it would almost be like torture.

I had it done once. I had about 4 throat infections in a row (like in the space of 2 months, never did figure out why). One of them started near the top of my throat and moved into my mouth. Doctor had to treat the sores so that I could eat something other than tea, popsicles, and chicken broth.

And I now feel like a robot. I've had many dental procedures on my molars and had two wisdom teeth extracted - under general anestheic no less. I've got a fairly strong gag relex, but I've yet to puke on someone.

The only throat pain I've ever had to deal with was strep throat three or four times, laryngitus once, and occasional dryness at the very back of my throat. I'm a pro at ignoring the needles - except when I can *see* them enter my skin. *shudders*

So am I, apparently (Well, I am a member of Craig Ferguson's robot-skeleton army)! I've got one hell of a pain tolerance in my mouth. The above mentioned is the only time I've ever had intolerable mouth pain. But my gag reflex is about halfway down my throat!

[LadyAndreca]

My mom is a lab tech, did it for 22 years in the army and has been doing it for over 10 years in the civilian world now. She's got STORIES*...but she's also the only person who's ever given me a throat culture. Since I'm a strep throat carrier (got it twice a year, every year, for the entirety of grade school and never showed a symptom other than difficulty swallowing) I've had a lot, and so have all of my siblings who kept catching strep from me. My sister got so sick once that Mom couldn't culture her because she reacted that violently, screaming and fighting--and she'd been so sick that she didn't have the energy to get out of bed!

*Here's one: the general of the base she was stationed at requesting her specifically because she'd use cotton balls and a sharpie to give soldiers bunny bandaids if they behaved when getting blood drawn, and he wanted one too!

[Andara Bledin]

Aw, don't feel bad. Pain can reduce the strongest of us to quivering masses of mindless reaction.

I have bad sinuses (eeeevil, I tell you!), and have been getting infections off and on for my entire life, so I am well-versed in what it feels like, and know almost to the moment when it moves to my ear, at which point I get myself to the doctor before I totally lose it from pain.

The worst I've dealt with had me sitting up in bed, rocking back and forth, crying while digging my fingernails into my palms to help distract from the intense stabbing sensation in my ear. I had hoped to be able to sleep and go in the next morning, but there was no chance I was going to make it to the morning without going nuts.

My co-worker, on the other hand, managed to get a sinus infection that moved into her ear and burst her eardrum without it being painful enough for her to bother seeking medical aid. It was the complete fubaring of her balance that sent her to the doctor. I can't imagine how you could lose an eardrum and not be acutely aware of that fact. *twitch*

^-.-^

[Ben_Who]

Interesting fun-fact: novocaine doesn't work when the tooth is infected.

Additional interesting fun-fact: Certain dentists are apparently under no compulsion to put you on some form of antibiotic prior to removing an infected tooth. And while they may know that novocaine doesn't work on an infection, that doesn't mean that they won't give it one hell of a try. This generally means injecting novocaine directly into the infected area.

I understand the yell scared a seven-year-old child out of the waiting room.

It was all I could do not to grab the dentist by the wrist and fling that damned hypo out the window. Navy SEALs have turned their heads and sucked their teeth when I described how the tooth was subsequently removed. And, once the procedure was done and I needed somewhere to lie down for a moment, since I was seeing teddy-bears climbing the curtains, the nurse put me in a resting room and admonished me, "Don't be such a baby."

I never went back to that butcher, and hope he died in a freak spit-cup accident.

Love, Who?

[PepperElf]

reminds me of the bastards at boone clinic in little creek amphib base

if you didn't take care of your teeth well they'd dig harder and snap at you. all that did was encourage me to say "fuck it" and not go back. the ones at dam neck base were much nicer and were horrified when i told them what the ones at boone had been like.


and ... bunny bandaids?

[fireheart]

If it makes you feel better, it took 3 nurses and a doctor to hold me down when I needed my mmr injection at 13. I was NOT going to let the needle come anywhere near me without a fight.

In Years 8 and 9 at the all-girls high school I went to, there was one girl in a similar situation. For the life of me, I have NO idea why she didn't go to a community clinic or a private doctor, but it took two teachers and another student (one of her friends) to restrain the girl while she had her Hepatitis B in Year 8 (we needed two doses, THAT was fun) and then again in Year 9 for the Meningococcal C and the DTP. I usually just turned my head away and winced when it entered. By the time the cervical cancer vaccine rolled round, I was at another school.

And, once the procedure was done and I needed somewhere to lie down for a moment, since I was seeing teddy-bears climbing the curtains, the nurse put me in a resting room and admonished me, "Don't be such a baby."

I didn't have the same hallucinations you did when I had the Implanon inserted, but I never understood why they needed a double appointment to insert the implanon when the ACTUAL procedure took about 10-15 minutes tops. Turns out that afterwards I was shaking so bad and all that, they had me stay in the surgery for about 10 minutes then in the waiting room for another ten to make sure I didn't pass out.

(For people's benefit, they do a few quick screening questions to make sure it's the right time (days 1-5 and no condom screwups is usually the time they insert it), then they have you lie down, inject the local anaesethic (they took two needles for me), pop in the actual insertion (the needle is a bit bigger than a matchstick), then they close it, get you to check it and wrap it with a pressure bandage.)

As far as dentists go, I tend to take my iPod in during procedures...