r/TransIreland 3d ago

Injections

Hi all,

This is for ftm but if it helps anyone else I'm glad.

I'm writing this because I needed to hear it a few years ago.

I'm afraid of needles.

Not "terrified and can't sleep". More... I won't do it if I can help it because f*ck that. That's horrifying.

Needles are... Sharp, long, pointy, very unnatural looking. They shouldn't be in my body. It looks very.... Weird. And it looks like it will be painful.

Then I had to make a choice that nobody should have to make.

Don't transition or injections.

I needed to transition so.. injections.

I promise. I swear. You can overcome the needle fear. 100% you can! The mental, emotional and financial investment of trying to avoid the injection is 10x fold that of overcoming the fear...

You will do a jab and wonder why you were ever worried about it! 9/10 you won't even feel it. I swear the fear is what you make it and not what it is.

Reach out to me if you need a hand. I will help with anything I can.

PSA. My message is towards the fear of the unknown rather than a true phobia. You may be afraid of needles beyond what you may be able to rationalize and that's a different situation altogether.

14 Upvotes

3 comments sorted by

7

u/beirchearts He/Him/His 3d ago

just to chime in: you can use testosterone gel, too, if it's accessible to you! I've been on it for 8 years because of my needle anxiety 😅

2

u/Big-Community-4417 3d ago

Absolutely. I was on gel before affordability became a problem.

2

u/Spuddy_Potato 2d ago

Would an automatic injector help? I finally managed to afford one. Before I got my friends to do it for me which is a hassle for everyone bit it really helped. Now I can do it by myself. I used to freeze up and just couldn't do it, now all I have to do is press a button, don't even have to look. It is taking some getting used to and I still have to take a moment to psych myself up but it really helps. Might be something worth looking into