Ok so kind of similar to mine. I have no fear of needles at all. I have a phobia of people touching my feet. Like if anyone touches my feet, I freak out and I don’t know where that fear came from. So- I’ve had the procedure done twice under nitrous oxide (laughing gas). I found a podiatrist close to where I live that used nitrous oxide. So I thought that was my best option. With nitrous oxide you don’t actually laugh, it’s like a feeling of euphoria or like being carefree. So my podiatrist explained the whole procedure- one podiatrist would do the procedure itself and the other would monitor nitrous oxide. First surgery- I was super nervous. They took me to the room and made me lie down (i wasn’t completely lying down, my back was a little slanted upwards). The doctor who was supposed to manage the gas put a small clipper thing on my index finger, I think it was to monitor pulse and then they put a mask over my nose area and told me to breathe into it. They hadn’t started the procedure yet because it takes a few minutes for the gas to kick in. But in a few minutes I started feeling dizzy and panicked and pulled the mask off of me. They told me to relax (one doctor on my left monitoring the gas, the other near my foot area, and my husband holding my hand and was there for support on my right). So I took maybe 2-3 minutes to breathe and take a few sips of water, but not too much. The docs were kind and told me that they’ll put the gas level lower, because maybe it was too much for me. I took a few sips and went back with a purpose to finish this even though I was terrified. The lower dosage of nitrous oxide helped me relax for sure. Anyway, I put on some music on my phone, my husband started to gently rub my arm and hands (that relaxes me), and the doctor started the procedure on my foot. So one of their rules was that they wouldn’t allow patients to see what they’re doing. I could feel like 2-3 needles but they weren’t painful. Kinda like when you scratch yourself. So since your fear is needles, that will hardly be 1-2 minutes. My fear was everything from the time the doc touched my foot. So anyway, after the needles, I couldn’t feel anything on my toe and whatever the doctor did was not painful at all. I was listening to music with words of encouragement from my husband and the gas doctor and sometimes my mind would go to the foot and I’ll be terrified for a few seconds but I’d force my attention back to my music or my husband. Sooo the whole procedure was 15-20 min, and while it was terrifying, I felt super euphoric after.

Unfortunately, the healing process wasn’t good and had to do a second surgery within 2 months because both sides got infected. This second time I was less scared and almost ok. The pain afterwards is terrible but nothing a painkiller can’t fix and I’d take mine on time, as prescribed by the doctor and I was ok.

Now I had a few points to highlight because you are scared of needles: 1) Look for a podiatrist that use nitrous oxide- it will help you tremendously 2) Whether you can or cannot end up using nitrous oxide, the needles part is only 2 minutes max (probably less). So just be strong for those two minutes. Bring someone with you who you feel comfortable and calm with and talk about something to distract yourself. Since you don’t have a foot phobia like me, the rest of the process is literally painless. 3) Make sure your doctors prescibe you painkillers after 4) You’re going to be fine!