4 ms·

It's not that painful. I self-inserted an IO a few years ago to demonstrate the technique, and it's really comparable to the pain with an IV. Some patients are

• sandworm101 10y ago
  It will take much more than papers and doctors' testimony to convince me that jambing a piece of metal through a bone, with a drill, isn't painful. The guy beside me wasn't very happy, especially when they had to make that second attempt. Countless carpenters have put nails and staples through soft tissue, and occasionally through bone. That certainly hurts. I also cannot imagine pulling these things out is very fun. An IV can fall out unnoticed. A pin in a bone isn't going anywhere... which I guess is much of their purpose. If I were the FAA, rather than issue drills to flight attendants, I'd focus on perhaps preventing at-risk people from boarding aircraft in the first place. Or train cabin crews to identify situations before they need the in-flight crash cart.
  • maxerickson 10y ago
    It sounds like your best bet for convincing yourself is doing like the GP poster and self-inserting one.
    • throwanem 10y ago
      That probably hurts a lot less than having someone else do it. I used to take allergy shots as a child, and was greatly surprised to discover how much less it hurt to stick myself than to have a nurse do it - obviously not because of any better technique (I was eight), but rather because, controlling for noxious stimulus, you experience less pain when you're the one applying it to yourself. I have no real idea why this is, but would guess it might be related on the one hand to having less bandwidth free to experience pain because you need to concentrate on what you're doing, and on the other hand being in control of what's going on to a greater extent than in the case where someone else is doing it to you. I also have no real idea of how to find studies corroborating the anecdote in a more systematic way, but I strongly suspect they exist and hope someone here will do a better job digging them out of PubMed than I have. In any case, if it's a choice between having an intraosseous needle or dying, well, bring on the drill! I still have a few things left to do in this life. But I've had broken bones, too, and the pain from such an injury is unique and astonishing in a way that leaves me in no doubt of how unpleasant an intraosseous needle would be.
      • tmp-20150107 10y ago
        As an intravenous heroin user, I regularly inject into my veins and the pain, while not non-existent, is pretty minimal, unless I cannot access the vein due to thrombosis/collapse. This has always worried me, since it can take me half an hour to place a shot, and in hospital I have had multiple nurses and doctors try to insert a cannula over similar lengths of time. In a life threatening situation I have often wondered what would happen when the EMT could not get access. The existence of IO needles is interesting, therefore, since on IVDA patients they will still work - I just wonder how common a piece of kit they are in UK ambulances and A&E departments?
        • JupiterMoon 10y ago
          Off topic and this will come across as preachy - after all who is a random stranger to say how to live your life. But please think about quitting. Things will suck worse for a while but after some time life will get better.
          • throwanem 10y ago
            Past comments give the strong impression that that is GP's goal. I suppose this may be deliberate deception, but I can't see why anyone would bother.