When I heard the news that I would be taking shots for the rest of my life, I nearly fainted. Needle phobia is an excellent description of my feeling towards shots. I didn’t sleep that night, week or on and off for a month waiting to get established with Avonex. I must admit I never adjusted to the Avonex shots possibly due to not giving them to myself and the fact that I had very painful site reactions. Two years later my doctor convinced me to take Copaxone, a shot per day. I was truly terrified. Within weeks I was able to self-administer the treatment with the auto-injector. I took the shot out of the package without looking at it, put it in the injector and gave it. Soon I would teach others how to self-inject too. Learning to administer the medication gave me independence and control over my treatment. I must say, needle phobia is not high on my fear list today and I believe I can say with surety that giving shots for 10 years increased my self-confidence.

Realizing the experience and pain are short-lived helped me to overcome needle phobia. A trick is to pinch the opposite side of my body when receiving a shot. It might be hocus-pocus but it works for me.

Check out HealthCentral paying particular attention to #4 & #5, http://www.healthcentral.com/multiple-sclerosis/c/19065/45202/reduced/. Treatment works best when taken as prescribed.