Injecting in public
Okay, since this is a list dealing with emotions and the like, and since I
haven’t seen any real posts besides the ongoing argument with Robby (which
doesn’t really count), I thought I’d toss out a subject.
I’m curious what you all think of injecting in public, whether it be a
restaurant or somewhere else. I always used to go find a washroom to inject
in, but after almost dropping my insulin pen in the toilet (the lid fell in,
the pen didn’t, thankfully), and realising that had I lost that pen I
wouldn’t have been able to eat the lunch I’d already ordered, I decided that
I’m not using washrooms anymore. My personal health and safety is more
important than worrying about what people might think of me. (Besides, if
they don’t want to watch they can always look away.) I posted to another
diabetes forum which has mostly young adults my age, and all of them who
replied said that they inject anywhere and everywhere. A lot of them even do
it through clothing.
So now I’ve started injecting in places like restaurants. I’ve been doing it
for about a month now, and so far no one has ever said a thing. I don’t
think anyone has even noticed. I try to be as descrete as possible about it,
but the insulin pen doesn’t even really look like a syringe, so unless
someone happened to look over exactly at the moment I stuck the needle in, I
don’t think anyone would realize I was giving myself a shot. The other day
for the first time I did an injection at a bus stop! When I eat fast food I
split my injection, giving about 80% of the injection before I eat and about
20% two hours later to deal with the fat and protein. The other day I
grabbed a burger and did my shot. I was heading up to my university campus
so had planned to do my second injection there, but I missed the bus, and so
instead of being up on campus two hours after I ate I was at a bus transfer
point. I thought of waiting till I got up on campus to do it, but I was
already 160 and it was going to take me another half hour at least to get up
there, so I decided what the heck, I either do it now or I’m going to be
through the roof in half an hour, so I did it. Again, I don’t think anyone
actually noticed (I also positioned my backpack so it sort of shielded me
from other people’s perspectives).
Any thoughts? Opinions?
Jen
July 23rd, 2007 at 9:26 am
Since I am new I just read about this question, Jen, and I think it is
a good one. I have always injected whenever I need to and I don’t
usually worry about finding a bathroom. I use a regular syringe too.
Usually I make some effort to be discreet and my experience is that
adults rarely, if ever, really notice. However, I did have a child
notice once and when he gasped, his father took notice. I explained
to him that I had diabetes and he understood immediately. He explained
to his son that I was taking medicine. I saw it as a very positive
experience for everyone. Thank you for giving me a place to share. As
an update and a question. I have diabetes, arthritis, and
Fibromyalgia. Are there others dealing with multiple diseases?