This is my trick for less needle pain

The needle poke before surgery or anesthesia can be fear provoking for so many of my patients. Here's the simple, safe trick I use to significantly decrease the discomfort and pain of needle pokes for IVs, nerve blocks, epidurals, spinals, and other needle pokes.

Instead of just inserting the 20 or 18 gauge needle, I first numb the skin with a tiny 30 gauge needle. This is sometimes called a tuberculin or insulin needle because it's a similar sized needle to the needles used for those injections.

Numbing the skin with this small needle makes the second, larger needle, much less painful. Often, that second needle in entirely painless!

All you need to do is ask your doctor or nurse. If it's safe and appropriate to use the 30 gauge needle first, many will!

[wanir]

I want to thank you 😊...bc of your education, I contacted my anesthesia team about my upcoming surgery and spoke with them about my anxiety and fear of IV's. I now have the reassurance that I need and direct contact with the team. I requested numbing and they will be using propofol as well. You are so awesome 🤗 👑OF ANESTHESIA 💯

[DumaFire]

I have a shot I give myself every week! The 17 gauge is used to draw up the medication, and then I swap the needle for a 25 gauge to inject. I've had a nurse do my shot for me once and I was FLOORED by how quick and painless it was. Trust your medical personnel!

[Paintfilly]

I think our wonderful doc here is adorable and knowing he is going on camera, wants to look both professional and appealing. As knowledgeable as he is, I would feel very confident with him as my anesthesiologist! 👍

[lavonnemcdowell]

Thank you for your service and dedication and Information please keep posting

[heidi]

So neat to learn about what goes on behind the scenes.

[Breakfastfordinner]

My Dad's dialysis needles are even bigger and he does it without any lidocaine 😬 absolutely blows my mind.

[MohammedIbrahim-ucnf]

Thank you very much for the video with kindness and respect

[Theoneboredperson]

OMG BE GRATEFUL YOU GET THIS NUMBING THING I was 10 years old and i went to the hospital they needed blood but i was so dehydrated that they couldn’t get blood so they got a 4 inch needle and an ultrasound and stuck me 6 times with 4 inch needles a regular needle and a butterfly needle i was out of it so i didn’t scream or cry i just kinda laid there staring at my mom they still dont know what i had to this day but i threw up 15 times in 45 minutes- 1 hour

[kirstennewland]

Last month, I had to have robotic laparoscopic lower abdominal surgery, so I required what appeared to be two huge IVs, one in each elbow area in case the first one blew (they have to cancel the surgery because it takes too long to set up the robot). Dang! The first needle absolutely killed me going in to the point where I asked my nurse for lidocaine cream or some sort of numbing agent for the next one. It hurt so badly that it gave me the chills. The nurse, however, shrugged her shoulders at this large teaching hospital, and told me that they don’t have anything like that. All they have is a lidocaine shot, and why subject yourself to 2 needle sticks instead of one. Well, she dove into the second one…just as painful. Truly horrible. I was shocked they didn’t have anything more compassionate to offer patients in the year 2023. Then, when I woke up in Recovery, the new nurse wants me to take 2 dry, uncoated Tylenol, which I couldn’t do because my throat was absolutely raw and dry from the intubation. Here I was with 2 giant IVs in my arms, why not push the pain Med through one of those? Instead, it was documented that I refused and told to try a bit later in spite of coughing on even small sips of water in front of staff. I had to ask the staff for ice chips to try to loosen up my swallowing ability, which worked, but then they told me that I had to eat before I could be discharged. They said they had a tray in front of the curtain of my stall. I asked what it was and they told me a beef hoagie! I croaked, “I can’t eat that. Don’t you have cold applesauce or jello or a milkshake? “ They said no again. But, they could get me a plain turkey sandwich. So, I threw the dry bread in the trash and managed to tear little bits of turkey off with my fingers and swallow each bit carefully with cranberry juice on ice. I still choked a few times, but I got enough bits in to pacify them. WTH!

[nedimarda]

why didnt i do this i got so much pain and trauma and PTSD from needles, each time they are mentioned i get scared

[faraboverubies]

Yeah, they should use Lidocaine or marcaine for IV sticks, but they rarely, if ever, do.

[lexiedgrooms]

Going to get some face needles someday in the future cuz I need that meditation in my life

[jaylynnvaldez]

How do you just not get a needle in general?

[jayjunior]

Just use lidacain firdt by rubbing it on wait 20min the. Use 30gauge instead of the harpoon. U will have backload the 30gauge syringe first tho w

[topman]

I have to make it painless what shiuld i do to get pattent.

[Receding_hairline_check]

Dang they didn’t do this for me I had to have a needle that big in my vein for an hour, shockingly it didn’t hurt much

[TwizzyTact]

Man, I wished they used this for my rabies shot.🤕

[heyitskierrahauck]

Except if you have Eds- then that lidocaine does pretty much nothing 😅 You should do a video on why that is!

[ccoop]

You have to be mindful when injecting the lidocaine. You don't want to distort the shape of the vein. Then you've defeated your purpose!

[k.d.]

lidocaine itself causes a burning sensation