diff --git a/src/discovery/Discovery.ts b/src/discovery/Discovery.ts
index 138dc1163a..37bc416f61 100644
--- a/src/discovery/Discovery.ts
+++ b/src/discovery/Discovery.ts
@@ -441,7 +441,6 @@ class Discovery {
     gestaltKey: GestaltKey,
   ): Promise<void> {
     await this.db.withTransactionF(async (tran) => {
-      await tran.lock(gestaltKey);
       const valueIterator = tran.iterator<GestaltKey>(
         this.discoveryQueueDbPath,
         { valueAsBuffer: false },
diff --git a/src/notifications/NotificationsManager.ts b/src/notifications/NotificationsManager.ts
index e2569d4eaf..8e6e0f5412 100644
--- a/src/notifications/NotificationsManager.ts
+++ b/src/notifications/NotificationsManager.ts
@@ -210,7 +210,7 @@ class NotificationsManager {
     // Only keep the message if the sending node has the correct permissions
     if (Object.keys(nodePerms.gestalt).includes('notify')) {
       // If the number stored in notificationsDb >= 10000
-      let numMessages = await tran.get<number>(messageCountPath);
+      let numMessages = await tran.getForUpdate<number>(messageCountPath);
       if (numMessages === undefined) {
         numMessages = 0;
         await tran.put(messageCountPath, 0);
@@ -315,7 +315,7 @@ class NotificationsManager {
 
     await tran.lock(messageCountPath.toString());
     const notificationIds = await this.getNotificationIds('all', tran);
-    const numMessages = await tran.get<number>(messageCountPath);
+    const numMessages = await tran.getForUpdate<number>(messageCountPath);
     if (numMessages !== undefined) {
       for (const id of notificationIds) {
         await this.removeNotification(id, tran);
@@ -399,7 +399,11 @@ class NotificationsManager {
     messageId: NotificationId,
     tran: DBTransaction,
   ): Promise<void> {
-    const numMessages = await tran.get<number>([
+    await tran.lock([
+      ...this.notificationsDbPath,
+      MESSAGE_COUNT_KEY,
+    ].toString());
+    const numMessages = await tran.getForUpdate<number>([
       ...this.notificationsDbPath,
       MESSAGE_COUNT_KEY,
     ]);