I DID IT! I got the covid vaccine. I've had extreme needlephobia for most of my life, but it felt irresponsible to skip this one. Let me tell you how I overcame it. CW: Descriptions of bad experiences with needles. 1/pic.twitter.com/ZLiaHA3MUa
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I wrote my prediction of how stressful I thought it would be (1-100), faced each for some time, tried to look at them in detail, then wrote down how it really felt and compared them to the predictions. It was not as much! Even better, with repetition the values went down. 10/
Then, my only reasonable solution for exposure involved facing TWO phobias at once. I had to do all the dental work I had been postponing for years, mostly for the chance to face the anesthesia. 11/
With the help of anti-anxiety medication I still had from a previous procedure, I did the treatments. I've had 13 shots of anesthetics since January. They do them in threes and fours. This was not easy or cheap but helped to build tolerance and prove to me that I could do it. 12/
One thing that absolutely did not help was my close relatives trying to convince me multiple times not to take it. I debunked their claims and links but nothing worked.
I didn't tell them about today. They'll find out when they snoop on this thread.
Hello!
Trust science.
13/
Today I finally took my vaccine. I talked to the people there until I felt more confident, tried a few things, tried to get my heart rate down. It was very hard for me to tell them I was ready. But when it did happen, it was fairly quick and mostly painless. It's done. 14/
I'm sharing this in the hope it helps someone in a similar situation. It caused me a lot of distress for decades, that I didn't think I was capable of changing, but I did, and you can too. Good luck! 15/
Bonus joke overheard at the vaccination center:
- Will I be able to swim after getting the vaccine?
- I don't see why not.
- Excellent! Because I can't swim.
Irish people are great. 
would they be willing to share the slides?
Good question, I hadn't thought of that! I believe that would be fine.
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