A little advice on removal needed…

I have similar violent reactions when I do self installs. Doesn’t matter how bloody it is. If someone else puts it in I’m great but otherwise I am a pukey mess. Even if everything went great.

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I think this is pretty common… at least from what I’ve heard and also experienced myself. I have a nice variety of mods, and I really love to get them done - it’s painful, it’s uncomfortable, but I love it.
But doing something remotely similar to myself? Nooooo way.
I got nauseous when removing a little suture on myself, and I’m pretty sure I would have fainted if it had been more than two or three stitches.
Poking myself, on the other hand, is fine… so I have no clue where my body draws the line :smile:

They did. Even an average rapist would be out of prison again by now. This really makes me sick.

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I had a pecan and maple plait at home, then when I got to work (around half an hour later) I had an almond croissant washed down with a latte. Then it was about an hour later when I started the attempted surgery.

Hopefully to just slit my hand open, not disembowel me!

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The advice I received was to eat a breakfast rich in fat and protein. This was explained after I nearly passed out from three installations in one session. I too had a sugary and carby breakfast and apparently this was causing a sugar spike which meant it was not having the desired effect of picking up my blood sugar levels post installation.

Did you get the maple and pecan platt from the coop?

The funny thing is it has nothing to do with blood sugar. You pass out or feel light headed because of the vasovagal response. Eating or drinking just prior to your procedure, within 5-10 minutes prior to the procedure (or just after with certain medical procedures you shouldn’t eat before), will give your brain an endorphin rush that can sometimes short-circuit this response or lessen its effects. Digestion also affects the vagus nerve which stimulates the brain and, apparently, can also lessen the effects of the vasovagal reaction.

Actual glucose serum levels being “low” isn’t really a thing for most people because, generally speaking, nobody getting an implant is actually chronically starving (suffering from clinical starvation) or actually has “low blood sugar”. Unless you’re a massive long term body builder or a diabetic and your insulin dosing is way off, most people’s glucose stores in the liver and muscles will always be there to replenish actual low serum levels for many days after someone stops eating.

It’s just something regular people noticed as a patient or heard from a doctor - eat something prior to the procedure… or they were offered a cookie after or whatever… and somewhere along the line the idea of “low blood sugar” became the layman’s explanation of a much more interesting and complex cascade of effects.

As for the idea of having a fat and protein breakfast vs simple carb breakfast, I think this has to do with time, not sugar spikes. If you’re eating and waiting an hour or more until your procedure, then a simple carb breakfast will be digested rapidly while a fatty protein breakfast will take longer, keeping your vagus nerve engaged longer.

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This is an interesting topic because a vasovagal response can vary individually and be both mental and physical.

As @amal started those of us getting implants likely don’t have the conditions that would deem them a vasovagal syncope episode but there are some ways you can kind of avert them.

In my experience food isnt as helpful. Usually when people are told to eat before they will over eat which can make the effects of the response worse and be the cause of vomiting. Eat normal the day of the procedure at least an hour before hand.

Hydrate. Hydrate more than you would normally in the day. You want to keep your blood pressure up.

Avoid any supplements that may lower your blood pressure ie magnesium.

Next, be aware of your body and it’s responses. This is a new experience you may be nervous and may misinterpret nervousness for the vasovagal response.

If you start feeling uneasy, sweating, nauseous, fuzzy, dizzy; cross your legs, begin tightening your thighs and , arms, tense up your extremities, cough(mouth covered) if possible. You want to try to increase your blood pressure through the response. Any of these tactics should be able to advert the response. It should pass in a couple minutes

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Absolutely… docs will offer you a single cookie or a little juice box not a 3 course meal. The point is not the food, it’s the endorphins/vagus involved with getting food / eating. Without understanding this, or mistakenly thinking it’s about blood sugar, I can see why people would then want to eat a full meal…gotta get that blood sugar up! Haha :slight_smile:

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Perhaps include a DangerousThings stress ball with every order!

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Yes, but the almond croissant was from Tesco.

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Good chap.

Your question made me wonder if you’ve been stalking me or whether you just really like Coop’s P&M plaits.

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I would be lying if I didn’t not say I wasn’t previously ever not at all not not not in your walls

so I always make it a point to take a dose of acetaminophen before I go for an install…
I remember reading a couple pretty cool studies that you wouldn’t expect

one was taking it BEFORE a social pain or something that would lead to hurt feelings, resulted in a marked decrease in emotional pain…
emotional and physical pain are often very similar in the brain on a chemical level which is wild and cool

I THOUGHT I read something about vasovagal, but I can’t find anything…

but it literally can’t hurt (there’s a pun in there somewhere)

I feel like at the absolute worst case, it gives you a little placebo effect,
but I wouldn’t be surprised if it drops either your brains detection of piercing pain, or lowers its freak-out threshold a smidge…

but also yea I always eat something fast foodish before hand… greasy food does tend to slow stomach emptying… so maybe it keeps your body slightly preoccupied longer that something healthier?
greasy can also cause nausea… and I have a laughable strong stomach so I may not be the best judge here if thats good or bad advice…

skimmed a vasovagal reaction study they did for ear piercing… nothing ground breaking or anything but interesting to see some collected data for whatever its worth

The incidence of vasovagal reactions during earlobe piercing - PMC

my brother in law is just about to graduate as a nurse anesthetist, we often talk about weird counter intuitive medical stuff or not widely known

one of the most basic aha moments… which maybe I was just slow on the up take is one of the larger purposes of anesthesia…

I was small brain… Pain bad = anesthesia make no pain = good
when apparently there are much complicated things its doing in addition, like just because your unconscious doesn’t mean your body wont go into shock when it gets cut into, or you do traumatic things to it… and none of those kind of “normal” reactions are good in a OR setting

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Update:

Spoke to my installer. They’re going to have a go at removing it. They haven’t before so it will be a first. I’ll emla in the morning.

Update once it’s out!

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Whoop whoop!

It’s out!

Used emla first thing and felt some rummaging around but not discomfort. Very pro job! And no fainting!

I’ll give the hole a chance to heal and then have the replacement put in a little to the ulna aspect.

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:pbjtime: Nice!

Would you mind taking a high-res closeup of it on a white backround with no shadows? Asking for a friend, for Zinc :shushing_face:

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Congrats on finally getting it out! Had an interesting time following your adventure in removal!

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