"It's like a sneeze," he said.

Just got back from my appointment with my orthopedic doc. Every so often I get shots in my wrists to alleviate carpal tunnel syndrome; I've been too chicken to have surgery for it. Anyway, lately my CTS has been flaring up again, so I went in to get the shots. I'm completely calm and matter-of-fact about the whole process. The shots don't hurt at all, in fact I barely feel them. He finished up and I stood up to leave... and promptly began to black out.

I was really embarrassed; it's not as though it hurt or anything! But the nurse made me lie down for a bit until the feeling passed. The doc said, "It's no reflection on how tough you are, believe me -- you didn't even flinch when I injected you. No, really, this reaction is more like a sneeze. You can't help it, it just comes over you." Oh, okay.

The last time I did this was when my pal was in the hospital and suddenly began to bleed from her incision. The blood didn't faze me, but the fact that two nurses were using their body weights to press down on the incision (thereby perpetrating excruciating pain upon my friend) suddenly made my vision begin to swim. I stumbled out of her hospital room, not wishing to distract the nurses from their more important job, and managed to make it to a waiting area with a couch where I lay down for a while. And felt foolish.

I also did it a few years ago when Alice broke her pinky finger and the doctor in the ER was setting it.

I guess I'm allergic to pain...