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Injecting when out and about

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S

Salb

New Member
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Type 1
Just had a lovely Valentines meal out, but was wondering about injecting when I'm out.
Firstly, do you inject before you eat the dinner regardless of knowing what or how many carbs you are eating? Or inject after dinner when you've counted the carbs?? (Guesstimated of course)
Then, where do you inject (I always do my Novarapid in my tummy in various places), do you inject at the table (dresses aren't great for this) or in the toilet (by the basins or in the cubicles where you feel a bit like a junky). Am I the only one a bit confused??:confused:
What do you others do??
I'm glad I have this place to talk. 🙂
 
i cant help you on the carb/time to inject thing but i can tell you i will inject at the table i refuse to inject in a toilet would you take other meds in a toilet? There have been a few threads on this subject it might be worth doing a search for them
 
gail1 said:
i cant help you on the carb/time to inject thing but i can tell you i will inject at the table i refuse to inject in a toilet would you take other meds in a toilet? There have been a few threads on this subject it might be worth doing a search for them
Click to expand...



Thanks I will do.
 
I normally inject about 5 units just before I start to eat (knowing that I'll easily eat more than 50g of carbs) and then do another injection after pudding to cover the rest. When I eat out it's likely to be a big meal and probably quite high fat too so takes longer for the glucose peak.
I usually inject/test at the table but on a few occasions I have got my insulin pen out and then realised I'm wearing a dress and had to nip to the loo to inject! I've also injected through my tights into my thigh before when wearing a dress but try to avoid doing this.
 
I always look at other people's food to try and guess portion sizes!! (I did this the other day when eating at a pizza place I'd never been to - took a quick glance around, saw how big the pizzas were, and based my carb count on that 🙂 ) Or if you ask the staff, even if they can give you a really rough estimate, you have something to work off. Then when you get the food you can work out if you need to inject more.

Do not inject in toilets!! 😱 think of the germs floating around there. The thing is, if you're subtle about it and just get on with injecting, I can promise 99% of people won't even notice you doing it. Obv if you wave the needle around, you might get a few looks 😛

It's really easy to be discrete with injecting, most of the time the table covers it all!
 
Agree with all that's ben said. When I was a teenager and had to inject/eat at college, I was using disposable syringes and 2 large glass phials of insulin so felt self-conscious and used the toilets. As you say, you feel like junky and the hygeine issue makes me squirm now to think of it. 😱

I always inject at the table and will inject through clothing, which has bene discussed on other threads and something Ive had no problems with.

Injecting a few untis up front is a really good idea and, if need be, you could always down a couple of jelly babies if the meal was a really long time.

I've never worn a dress while eating out so can't comment on that. 😱

Rob
 
In the beginning I used to go to the toilets to inject, but in the last few years I stopped caring and just did it anywhere. Some people would get quite squeamish and go funny colours, LOL! Most of the time though, at a restaurant table no-one would even notice.

I'm now not affected, since my bluetooth meter tells my pump how much to dose.
 
Always wait until the food arrives then estimate the carb value before injecting, most often I inject in the stomach or arms as the legs and buttocks are not accessible wearing trousers, I never shy away from injecting in front of people and if they don't like it they have the option of looking away.
 
I usually split the dose, depending on how long the meal is likely to take. For instance, if it's just a pub meal I'll probably just inject all up front when it arrives and I've seen what's on the plate. With an 'all you can eat' Chinese that could take a couple of hours or more to eat I'll probably split the dose. I inject at the table, discreetly, warning people if they are not aware - for instance, I was at a wedding once and seated with some people I didn't know, so I explained I was diabetic and needed to inject. They were all fine about it.

There have been a few discussions about this, as has been mentioned. Notoriously, one of the first was the former nurse in Diabetes UK's 'Balance' magazine who objected:

http://www.diabetessupport.co.uk/boards/showthread.php?t=881

You might enjoy some of my poems on this topic:

http://diabetespoetry.blogspot.com/2009/02/nursing-101.html

http://diabetespoetry.blogspot.com/2009/06/nurse-unbalanced.html

http://diabetespoetry.blogspot.com/2009/06/disgusted-nurse-gets-just-desserts.html

...and finally:

http://diabetespoetry.blogspot.com/2010/08/farts-versus-injections.html

As you can see, a good source of inspiration! :D
 
I tend to inject about 5 units when the starter comes, and then the rest afterwards. Bear in mind that meals out are often quite fatty (e.g. contain cream or cheese) and so may be slower to digest so occasionally I've had hypos 2 hours after a meal out then a big high later on - it's trial and error.

I also had a nasty experience with finding a hair (and not one from someone's head, either!) in my lasagne and I'd already injected but didn't want to eat anything else in that pub, so I ended up having to dash elsewhere to find a sandwich!
 
I am newly diagnosed but I asked the same question to the DSN about when to inject when you are out because sometimes you can have a starter and wait for twenty minutes before the main course comes. She said inject after you have eaten the main meal.
 
Hi Deborah, the reason people inject before eating is to try and get the glucose and insulin to hit the blood stream at the same time - which will never happen if you inject after. Lots of people (myself included!) will inject/bolus a small amount of insulin beforehand if unsure of how much you will eat or when it will arrive - this way you have at least some insulin ready and waiting for the glucose 🙂
 
Injecting before the food has arrived has definitely got me into trouble a few times (food never came / not what expected), but must admit to still doing it 'cos it helps to prevent peaks afterwards and I can always ask for an orange juice when I first arrive (even if someone else drinks it afterwards) just in case things go wrong.
Also, when the food arrives, I tend to want to start eating like everyone else, not weighing up carbs. So I inject a minimum amount while waiting, then the food arrives and I start eating, and while I start eating I'm totting up.... and then inject any more I think I need about a quarter of the way through. But everyone gets into different habits.

I have only ever had one person tell me they felt uncomfortable with me injecting in front of them, and she was a nurse and frankly should have known better! It's part of you; you have to accept it; so do people around you. You get subtler with practise.

Dresses - tricky. Try injecting into your thigh, or if my partners sitting next to me he'll sometimes tent a bit of arm skin for me and I'll put it in that way - think it takes longer to absorb like that, though and is prob not reccommended.
 
Good tip about the orange juice Lizzzie - why is it I never think of the obvious! 🙂
 
Deborah Batton said:
I am newly diagnosed but I asked the same question to the DSN about when to inject when you are out because sometimes you can have a starter and wait for twenty minutes before the main course comes. She said inject after you have eaten the main meal.
Click to expand...



I wouldn't worry about injecting for the starter and would wait until your main dish has arrived, at this point you can estimate the carbohydrate content of your meal and include a dose to cover your starter if it too had carbohydrates in it. Just remember before injecting to be sure that you are going to be able to finish the meal, if unsure inject a little less as you can always do a correction dose later on.
 
I was told by my DSN to inject after my meal, only because you might not eat all of your meal and then you could have injected more insulin than needed. I used to inject before meals. I have no problem injecting in restaurants, I try to do it discreetly, and as somebody said earlier, if people don't like it they can look away.
 
When eating out I usually inject after the main course as I never know until then whether I am going to have dessert or not. I often have a glass of white wine with my meal and that usually lowers by BS anyway so personally wouldn't inject before unless I was particularly high.

I never inject in the toilets, always at the table. I tend to do it discreetly in my stomach but if wearing a dress I tend to inject my arm. My brother doesn't like injecting in public so tends to inject in the car before entering the restaurant and has had serious hypos on several occasions because of that.
 
Don't inject in a toilet. It's unhygienic.

May I suggest you do it sitting at the table?

My friend who is insulin dependent gets his pen out and puts the needle on and dials the units with the pen below the table top so it's out of view and then moves back a bit, opens his shirt at a button and does the business.

I hope that helps.
 
o Tez, you make it sound so easy!

Picture this if you will... 11 year old girl, newly diagnosed, vision impaired due to her diabetes (so cant see numbers on pen herself) at her grandfathers 'wake' in restaurant with friends relatives and strangers. Wearing a dress with long sleeves and tights. Friend (adult) so needle phobic nearly drops wine glass at the thought of having needle anywhere near.

So we went and injected in the toilets😱
 
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