> The fear is of needles in contact with human skin. I say human skin because I can watch animals get shots and have no problem. But as soon as it's a person who's getting a shot, blood taken, having an IV put in...anything like that is what I'm afraid of. Plus I know why I have this fear. The last time I had any thing like that done on me, it was a bad experience. I needed blood taken out. The guy who was doing it was terrible at it and was so painful to me because he couldn't find any veins (The reason why I tell little details is because it hurts me to write about it). So I have that image placed into my mind.

Ouch. I can totally understand that, having had a similar experience myself. Fortunately for me, that wasn't my *first* experience with needles, otherwise I would probably be in the same situation as you.

You've probably already thought of this, but just in case it helps -- taking out blood, or putting in an IV, is WAY hard for the person doing it, compared to giving an injection. The comparison also holds, in terms of ouchness for the person on the pointy end. Remind yourself of this before the first shot. I'm almost certain that, like you said, you'll be fine after you've had the first one.

When they take out blood, they have to get the needle in exactly the right place, and then the needle has to stay there a while. When giving an injection, it is almost exactly the opposite procedure. The only thing they have to make sure about is that the needle ISN'T finding a vein, and that's so easy that almost anybody can do it right on their first attempt -- let alone a trained professional. You can pick pretty much any part of the human body that has fat or muscle on it, and be sure of not finding a vein. I learned to give injections as part of an advanced first aid course I did once, which is how I know this.