What can I do to minimize the pain of the HPV shot?

Question

I hate shots. They really, really hurt me. Any ideas on how to minimize the pain before I have to go to the doctor tomorrow?

Answer 1

Ask them in the a.m. (if the appt is in the afternoon) if you can take Tylenol or something like that before the injection. Then afterward I would recommend massaging the area. Doing this prevents a knot from becoming even more of pain and also helps to make sure the medicine is spread throughout the body (learned this from my grandma who was a nurse for 30 years).

Also, please let the dr know that you have a problem with pain from having any kind of injections so that they are aware of the situation and can document it on your chart.