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.
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?
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.
