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  • dandelion (she/her)@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    1 day ago

    I’ve never used an auto-injector. When I first started researching how to do injections and dealing with needle phobia, it didn’t come up. When I learned later about auto-injectors I wasn’t sure if they would actually work.

    Personally, having more control over the jab is important to me. Psychologically the idea of the auto-injector freaks me out a little. Though I admit, I do think it would make the hardest part, actually jabbing the needle in, much easier mentally. Pressing a button is easier than actually controlling the jab (and also, it avoids having to finesse learning how to walk that tight-rope between dissociating enough that you can do the jab, and not dissociating so much that you can’t coordinate the jab well; when I chicken out my jab is slower and more painful, so a device could really help).

    Searching more, I found this thread on auto-injectors: https://old.reddit.com/r/ask_transgender/comments/e52zbc/for_anyone_with_fear_of_self_injections_this/

    Looks like they do exist, but are somewhat expensive. Also looks like my initial skepticism about auto-injectors not being able to plunge the thick oil in is irrelevant because the injector just jabs the needle, but then you have to manually plunge the medication in.

    It might be a useful tool for people like us, but since it’s so expensive and they are hard to get, I’ll just assume it’s out of reach for most people. I think this might be why it’s not really talked about - it’s just not common for various reasons.

    That said, if you do get your hands on an auto-injector, I would be curious to hear about your experiences!

    • Domi@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      1 day ago

      I really appreciate all the info sharing, i’ll be sure to let you know if i go the auto-injector route.