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Bolusing and eating out

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pawprint91

pawprint91

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I'm sure everybody will be sick of my threads on here soon, but the questions just keep coming :rofl:

What does everybody do in terms of pre-bolusing when in a restaurant etc? I ask because I saw someone on instagram say that they usually tell the server they are diabetic and ask them to let them know 10 mins before their meal arrives (depending on what they have ordered) to give them time to inject. I personally would feel quite self conscious doing this, unless it was restaurant where I was familiar with the staff, so wondered what you do? I do remember asking about this during my diagnosis early days, which shows how far ahead I was trying to think. o_O Now I know a little more (but by no means a great deal), I would say that I personally would wait till my food arrives and then just stick the needle in at the table - providing it wasn't something complicated that requires split bolusing (although I'm not there yet - always thinking ahead!), and then do the same again for the dessert if necessary (again, not something I have to worry about yet being on a fixed bolus, but just opening up the conversation :rofl:).

I was just wondering what everybody else's approach is?
 
When I eat out I bolus for the food when I see it and don't worry too much about pre bolusing. In my opinion, the occasional meal won't make a huge difference.
As I prefer to support small independent restaurants that design that day's menu around what is seasonally available, I do not look at their menu online. It is only a sample and will not include the calories or carbs so not much use for carb counting. Therefore, I don't know how much insulin to dose until I see the food and I am not going to sit with it in front of me for 15 minutes until I eat it.
 
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We do the same, wait until the food comes out and then do insulin. You don’t know exactly how long it will take to come, and portion sizes can be unpredictable too. You’ll probably spike a bit higher than if you pre-bolus, but once in a while that won’t hurt. Don’t rely on staff giving you 10 minutes notice, either they will be busy and forget, or they won’t really understand why it matters etc. I’ve been with my mum when she guessed when to do her insulin and then the food didn’t come out for ages and we were having to give her full fat cola while she was waiting. Safer to wait until you can see how much food you have got and take a good estimate at the carb count.
 
I’m another one who wait to see the food. I wait till it’s in front of me, estimate the carbs, then bolus. If in doubt, I under-bolus as I don’t want to risk a hypo when out. I then sometimes correct if necessary. If it’s a meal with courses, I wait until each course is in front of me and then bolus. Yes, it’s more injections but I’ve found that works best. I also take plenty of glucose with me and a snack in case of mess-ups.
 
Me too. I just wait until the food arrives. So for that one occasion I'm not pre-bolusing so maybe I'll have a bit more of a spike afterwards.
 
I also wait until have the food in front of me, as I can then estimate the carbs. There will be a bit of a spike afterwards as I won’t have prebolused but it is not every day, and as I will no doubt be walking home that will help a bit.

I do have one local independent cafe where I can afford to pre-bolus as I know the staff and they ensure that my food comes out at whatever time they tell me it will. They also find out the carbs for me!! Funnily enough I tend to go back there quite a lot.
 
pawprint91 said:
I'm sure everybody will be sick of my threads on here soon, but the questions just keep coming
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Very happy to have questions. The responses are not only going to help you, I hope, but also any ’lurkers’ and also regulars who may have forgotten bits.
 
i dont prebolus, but i will correct before i go to the restaurant if i'm high, so that i start in range, and if appropriate depending on the meal, i'll eat the meat/veg first and carb after, unless its something like pizza
 
Nobody will get sick of you! The people who take time to reply get as much out of this as you do. We all need help sometimes and when someone says, thanks… you have really helped me, that’s what it’s all about. Feels good to help you feel good! 🙂
 
These are the type of questions that need asking,so glad it has.
I’m still new to being diabetic so learning every day. I’ve often wondered when do other diabetics take their insulin at meal times; before,during or after,as I’ve never been told.
I always take mine just before.
Just been abroad for the first time as a diabetic so was quite anxious about many things, especially meals,different foods,portions,timings etc.
Quite proud of myself how I coped with it all.
 
I just wait until the foods influent of me.
 
One of those things where having a pump makes things easier. After ordering I can have a guess at what carb is going to turn up and that, together with current level, would mean I could take at least part of the insulin. For example, if current level is around 7 and I'm ordering something where the carb is mostly potato then I know I can take for 20g of carb and I'm not going to be going hypo unless they take an hour to produce the food. Once food arrives can then top up to actual estimate. Feasible to do this with injections but clearly not ideal, while a pump makes it no problem.
 
It depends on my reading when I am seated at a table by the waiter. If levels are high (above 8) I will prebolus even before I order as I know they will take ages to come down, so there will be a correction plus a moderate amount of insulin to cover a minimum amount of carbs I might eat, but then I no longer really carb count and tend to just sugar surf after a meal, so I will inject a guestimate amount of insulin up front which will almost certainly be less than I will need and then watch my levels using Libre arrows and top up afterwards with corrections if necessary.
If levels are 4s or 5s I will order before injecting. If the restaurant is busy, I will give it another 10 mins before I inject but I know that I am quite slow to respond to insulin and I digest carbs quite fast and usually there is bread on the table if the food doesn't come in time and I can watch my Libre to see how I am doing if the meal is taking too long to arrive.
Basically I take various things into consideration and make a risk assessment based on the situation as I see it with a back up plan if things don't quite pan out as I expect. I spike horribly high if I don't prebolus and then my Fiasp just pretends it is water so I would rather take a very minimal risk and prebolus knowing that I need to keep an eye on things and have a few carbs like a small piece of bread if the meal is delayed by more than 30 mins.
 
If you often have the same meal ( eg museli for breakfast, chilli etc) you can start with a 10 min prebolus and see how that works, then 15 etc, and when you have it right, make a note...that way you can get it spot on for common meals and it gives you a benchmark fir others...carby meals i prebolus up to 25min, fatty ones (eg pesto and cheese toped aubergines) i inject just before eating...possibly split bolus 2/3 with meal, 1/3 after an hour which seems to work well
 
Tdm said:
If you often have the same meal ( eg museli for breakfast, chilli etc) you can start with a 10 min prebolus and see how that works, then 15 etc, and when you have it right, make a note...that way you can get it spot on for common meals and it gives you a benchmark fir others...carby meals i prebolus up to 25min, fatty ones (eg pesto and cheese toped aubergines) i inject just before eating...possibly split bolus 2/3 with meal, 1/3 after an hour which seems to work well
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This is about what people do in restaurants just to let you know 🙂
 
Tdm said:
If you often have the same meal ( eg museli for breakfast, chilli etc) you can start with a 10 min prebolus and see how that works, then 15 etc, and when you have it right, make a note...that way you can get it spot on for common meals and it gives you a benchmark fir others...carby meals i prebolus up to 25min, fatty ones (eg pesto and cheese toped aubergines) i inject just before eating...possibly split bolus 2/3 with meal, 1/3 after an hour which seems to work well
Click to expand...
Not when eating out you can’t…. how do you prebolus 25 minutes before a meal in a restaurant without being a mind reader?
 
Lucyr said:
Not when eating out you can’t…. how do you prebolus 25 minutes before a meal in a restaurant without being a mind reader?
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I think it was just that they misunderstood or misread the post as we all can
 
When eating out, I wait to bolus until the food is in front of me.

Recently, there was a festival in my area. The day before, we saw the café down the road was setting up their food truck. We know they usually have burgers, including a veggie burger, so we planned on having that for lunch.

The day of the fest, their truck was open, but with a totally different menu and no veggie option. We changed plans and decided to sit in the café and order our usual bagels, only to learn they hadn't received their bread delivery that day, so they had to switch up their menu - no burgers, no bagels and unfortunately no veggie option, so nothing for us.

We found something else from a different food truck, but it took a bit of walking around and I was very glad I hadn't pre-bolused.

We came up with a saying after that:
Never count your carbs before they hatch.
 
Another question in relation to this - can you prime the needle inside the smaller needle cap? When I do it when the needle is exposed, very rarely do I get a delicate bead of insulin, it seems to squirt quite a distance :rofl:
 
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