Getting Shot in the Butt

I was never great about needles growing up.

Sure, I say this as if I have gotten even remotely better at them nowadays. I mean, yes, they pinch, but I’d like to think that even at my worst, I could at least TOLERATE getting those good-good fluids into me. Well…I do remember this one time.

When did my fear of needles begin?

Much like most stories coming from the perspective of a twenty-three-year-old man, this one harkens back to my youth. I remember sitting in a sterile room with my mom and only one unexpected nurse.

She got out the alcohol and cotton swab and pressed it against my skin. I jumped and immediately started regretting the promise of a McDonald’s toy my mom had made as long as I was a great lil’ patient.

How did I react?

Clamping down on my arm made it worse. The nurse urged me to stop freaking out while she prepped to draw blood. The idea of a needle inserting its way into my life was the most catastrophic experience a child could face.

A flood of nurses and PAs rushed in to restrain my powerful kid limbs, I guess. My mom reassured me as they managed to keep me down and extract some blood that I was so determined to keep inside of me. Everything began to fizzle after that moment. I was calm. The helpful deed was done, and the shot was over.

Why did my perspective change when I was diagnosed?

Though it’s a vague and dramatic concept, it really manifested itself once I was diagnosed with migraine during my senior year of high school.

It’s like a piece of me came into focus. A piece of me that would come to understand why needles are so important and why getting a shot is something that some migraine sufferers look forward to.

What shot did I receive during a migraine attack?

My brain was pounding. It felt like two lightning storms were raging behind my eyes, and all I wanted was relief. My amazing and caring mom did what she always did. She had my back and drove me to the neurological center.

I was seen and given something that I had not expected. I was given a shot of Toradol in my butt. Never had I gotten anything stuck into my butt flesh before. I honestly didn’t really know that this was an actual method of relieving anything.

Did the injection in my butt help?

The injection into my glute muscle was the fastest way to combat the attack and abort the migraine. Some medicine is used to intervene before the migraine cycle, others relieve post pain.

Once this shot took effect, which was extremely quickly, I understood why people were not as scared of shots as I had used to be. It turns out they’re just really quick ways to directly get medicine into your bloodstream, not ways for nurses to go rogue and try to puncture a kid. From then on, I became eager to take whatever doctors gave me to relieve my migraines, via needle or otherwise.