they don't feel good, but I don't quit breathing or anything
I guess it's kind of late to suggest this, but better late than never. Forgive me if you already knew about this technique, but the sentence above makes me think you might not. So for future reference....
Any time you're going to have a shot, or anything that will hurt a lot but very briefly, there's a breathing technique that can really help. Take a deep breath in just before the shot, then when they actually give it, push the breath out very steadily.
My acupuncturist taught me to do that for the times when a needle is likely to be painful. She'll tell me when to take a deep breath, and then just as she's putting the needle in she'll tell me to let it out. And it really does help. (It's kind of instant condensed Lamaze breathing, which actually worked well enough to get me through labor and childbirth without either medication or wanting to physically kill anybody.) I don't know if it's the distraction of concentrating on the breath instead of on the pain, or if breathing out forces some degree of momentary relaxation, or what, but it does help.
You have to get the person who's doing it to tell you "get ready" and then "here it comes" (or words to that effect), but most professionals will cooperate. I hope this helps ... any bit of pain you can eliminate or even reduce is that much less you have to bear.
no subject
I guess it's kind of late to suggest this, but better late than never. Forgive me if you already knew about this technique, but the sentence above makes me think you might not. So for future reference....
Any time you're going to have a shot, or anything that will hurt a lot but very briefly, there's a breathing technique that can really help. Take a deep breath in just before the shot, then when they actually give it, push the breath out very steadily.
My acupuncturist taught me to do that for the times when a needle is likely to be painful. She'll tell me when to take a deep breath, and then just as she's putting the needle in she'll tell me to let it out. And it really does help. (It's kind of instant condensed Lamaze breathing, which actually worked well enough to get me through labor and childbirth without either medication or wanting to physically kill anybody.) I don't know if it's the distraction of concentrating on the breath instead of on the pain, or if breathing out forces some degree of momentary relaxation, or what, but it does help.
You have to get the person who's doing it to tell you "get ready" and then "here it comes" (or words to that effect), but most professionals will cooperate. I hope this helps ... any bit of pain you can eliminate or even reduce is that much less you have to bear.