Hi I was diagnosed with Type 1 in March 2020 at the grand age of 74. Unbelievably I have not eaten out since then but have recently had several invitations to birthday dinners. Could you please advise me on when and where to do my fingerprick test and insulin injection before the meal. Do you do it before you leave the house (how long before eating?), at the dinner table or hidden away in the loo?!
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Eating out
- Thread starter Irisaria
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Bruce Stephens
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I think most of us would do it at the table. (But it would depend. You'll want to wash your hands before testing, so if things look clean and convenient near the sink then doing things there isn't a terrible betrayal of the Diabetes Code.)
Whatever you're comfortable with, really.
rebrascora
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Hi and welcome
Great that you have some social eating to look forward to. I hope you have a great time.
Definitely do not inject before you leave the house! You don't know what could happen between there and the waiter putting food in front of you at the restaurant.
Most people find it safest to wait until the food they ordered is in front of them when eating out because if there is a delay in the kitchen or they come back and say they are out of your order and can you select something else it can cause problems.... Again risk of hypo. You also won't have much idea of the carb content until you see the plate of food, unless you have checked online and they publish the information.
As regards finger pricking and injecting it is a personal choice about whether you do it at the table or go to the toilets. Personally I am happy to do it at the table. Injecting in the stomach or thigh if wearing a dress or skirt can be done quite discretely even in an open restaurant and whilst you might feel a bit exposed, in reality other people are unlikely to notice but if they do, you can use it as an opportunity to educate people. We should not need to go into the toilets to hide or be embarrassed or ashamed. Be bold and brazen and most times no one will notice. I used to go into the toilets when I was first diagnosed but the young people on my DAFNE (Dose Adjustment For Normal Eating) education course were so up front about injecting in public it really made me rethink my attitude and I am absolutely fine with injecting in front of people now. Just shows you are never too old to learn or change your view.... or learn from the younger generation. If other people have a problem with you injecting in public then they shouldn't look.
Great that you have some social eating to look forward to. I hope you have a great time.
Definitely do not inject before you leave the house! You don't know what could happen between there and the waiter putting food in front of you at the restaurant.
Most people find it safest to wait until the food they ordered is in front of them when eating out because if there is a delay in the kitchen or they come back and say they are out of your order and can you select something else it can cause problems.... Again risk of hypo. You also won't have much idea of the carb content until you see the plate of food, unless you have checked online and they publish the information.
As regards finger pricking and injecting it is a personal choice about whether you do it at the table or go to the toilets. Personally I am happy to do it at the table. Injecting in the stomach or thigh if wearing a dress or skirt can be done quite discretely even in an open restaurant and whilst you might feel a bit exposed, in reality other people are unlikely to notice but if they do, you can use it as an opportunity to educate people. We should not need to go into the toilets to hide or be embarrassed or ashamed. Be bold and brazen and most times no one will notice. I used to go into the toilets when I was first diagnosed but the young people on my DAFNE (Dose Adjustment For Normal Eating) education course were so up front about injecting in public it really made me rethink my attitude and I am absolutely fine with injecting in front of people now. Just shows you are never too old to learn or change your view.... or learn from the younger generation. If other people have a problem with you injecting in public then they shouldn't look.
I do my testing and injecting at the table.
There is a huge difference between doing this in public and doing it publicly. People can look away if they don't like you doing what you need to stay alive.
Doing it before you leave the house is risky as you do not know when you will eat or what you will eat and doing it in the toilet is just "ewww".
When eating out, I do not worry about injecting 15 minutes before eating - I don't know what I will eat and when it will turn up and I am not sitting in front of my food for 15 minutes whilst everyone tucks in. This may mean a spike but that is not a problem for a once off.
There is a huge difference between doing this in public and doing it publicly. People can look away if they don't like you doing what you need to stay alive.
Doing it before you leave the house is risky as you do not know when you will eat or what you will eat and doing it in the toilet is just "ewww".
When eating out, I do not worry about injecting 15 minutes before eating - I don't know what I will eat and when it will turn up and I am not sitting in front of my food for 15 minutes whilst everyone tucks in. This may mean a spike but that is not a problem for a once off.
nonethewiser
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Always table, who cares what people think, have choice to look away.
Fagor
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Depending on timing, could you test before you leave home, then inject at the table?
I have never tested / injected in toilets, motto is "inject with pride" but discreetly at tables / on trains. It's your health that matters.
And enjoy your meal(s) out.
I have never tested / injected in toilets, motto is "inject with pride" but discreetly at tables / on trains. It's your health that matters.
And enjoy your meal(s) out.
trophywench
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Not if your T1 @Lucyr.
@Irismaniac - toilets are filthy places even if the cleaners just left and the bleach is still wet. Literally c**p in the air - airborne fecal matter - much like coronavirus. OK to test if you have no other choice - but NEVER inject in one!
@Irismaniac - toilets are filthy places even if the cleaners just left and the bleach is still wet. Literally c**p in the air - airborne fecal matter - much like coronavirus. OK to test if you have no other choice - but NEVER inject in one!
rebrascora
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I'm sorry but if there is faecal matter in the air then you probably need to be more worried about breathing it than injecting in that atmosphere, as you will take far more into your body through your nose mouth and lungs than you ever will injecting in the toilets.
Sorry for quoting both but I didn't think TW's comments made any sense without quoting Lucy's.
I am confused why being T1 makes any difference if Lucy is counting carbs and injecting insulin.
Personally, I would test at the table but have certainly been out and bolused without testing immediately beforehand.
There again, I never pretend to be a perfect T1 😱
Lucyr
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I don’t understand why T1s wouldnt be able to correct at home then bolus for carbs at the table? What’s the difference in a T2 on MDI to a T1 on MDI here??
rebrascora
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I think my only concern with what you do might be injecting a correction dose of insulin before driving.
I think it might be too easy to get a rogue reading, inject a correction to cover it particularly if your mind is perhaps more focused on other things like your night out and then risk a hypo in the car on the way there.
But I too can't see any reason why Type of diabetes would be an issue in doing this.
Lucyr
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Surely any time you do a correction you wash hands first and then if the reading doesn’t match your expectations you double check before correcting? Eating out is no different to any other time in this process.
trophywench
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No way do I always wash my hands before testing my BG either at home or anywhere else. Obviously if I've recently been weeding or cleaning behind furniture which doesn't get moved very often, I wash - but I'm not usually doing stuff like that just before going out for a meal - or doing anything whatever else, for hands to need washing. Test kit open on lap, meal arrives, test and eyeball carbs, tell pump remote control/meter carbs, it calculates insulin, press button, pump delivers. Prior to pump, same as previous sentence, then jab with pen, chuck test kit and pen back in handbag, eat meal.
I think it is potentially foolish any time, jabbing fast acting insulin when you haven't tested your BG. Simply not something I've ever chosen to do and would never encourage anyone else to, either. It takes 30 secs to test your BG. If I decide to have an ice cream whilst walking along the prom somewhere well fair enough, I don't test, I don't jab, I sort my BG out later.
I would NEVER rely on my BG half an hour ago to calculate insulin required. If it only takes you 2 minutes to drive to wherever - why the hell didn't you walk? Like I said - only takes 30 secs, test kit always in handbag, always take handbag.
I think it is potentially foolish any time, jabbing fast acting insulin when you haven't tested your BG. Simply not something I've ever chosen to do and would never encourage anyone else to, either. It takes 30 secs to test your BG. If I decide to have an ice cream whilst walking along the prom somewhere well fair enough, I don't test, I don't jab, I sort my BG out later.
I would NEVER rely on my BG half an hour ago to calculate insulin required. If it only takes you 2 minutes to drive to wherever - why the hell didn't you walk? Like I said - only takes 30 secs, test kit always in handbag, always take handbag.
rebrascora
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Yes, I accept that but I just think that mistakes can still happen and to me there is an element of risk in injecting quick acting insulin immediately before driving with no carbs on board albeit to just correct a high. That is probably just me being overly cautious and is probably less risky than injecting and eating carbs before driving, although I very rarely do that either, but then I have the luxury of not needing to drive at set times like to go to work, so I can plan my driving for when bolus insulin is well spent and my levels are stable. I appreciate that others are not so fortunate.
rebrascora
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Must confess that I rarely wash my hands before testing and I just always wipe away the first drop of blood but I know this isn't ideal and not best practice for any newly diagnosed reading this. 🙄
I was interested to read something posted by @mark king recently on another thread which kind of pertains to this in that he said prefilled pens and disposable needles enabled injecting to be done through clothing. I just wondered how widespread this practice is as I had never consider injecting through clothing but clearly it would make injecting in a restaurant or any other public place significantly more discrete than exposing your midriff or hiking your skirt up and jabbing your thigh. Just interested to canvass views on that practice. Is there any potential for fabric fibres to clog the needle or get pushed into your tissue or the needle to get damaged/bent depending upon the type of fabric.... I am thinking heavy duty cotton or denim might be tough and some fabrics could be quite thick... Not sure I would even consider injecting through something as gossamer thin as tights, so if I was wearing a dress and tights in a restaurant when I would find it difficult to expose flesh at an appropriate injection site, I would then attend the toilets to do it...... I don't get dressed up and eat out very often and still just fairly newly diagnosed (2.5 years) and the last 18months, opportunity has been limited, so just curious how others would deal with that scenario. Without tights, I would hike up the skirt of the dress far enough to jab my thigh if I couldn't access my tummy but not sure I would if I was wearing tights....
I was interested to read something posted by @mark king recently on another thread which kind of pertains to this in that he said prefilled pens and disposable needles enabled injecting to be done through clothing. I just wondered how widespread this practice is as I had never consider injecting through clothing but clearly it would make injecting in a restaurant or any other public place significantly more discrete than exposing your midriff or hiking your skirt up and jabbing your thigh. Just interested to canvass views on that practice. Is there any potential for fabric fibres to clog the needle or get pushed into your tissue or the needle to get damaged/bent depending upon the type of fabric.... I am thinking heavy duty cotton or denim might be tough and some fabrics could be quite thick... Not sure I would even consider injecting through something as gossamer thin as tights, so if I was wearing a dress and tights in a restaurant when I would find it difficult to expose flesh at an appropriate injection site, I would then attend the toilets to do it...... I don't get dressed up and eat out very often and still just fairly newly diagnosed (2.5 years) and the last 18months, opportunity has been limited, so just curious how others would deal with that scenario. Without tights, I would hike up the skirt of the dress far enough to jab my thigh if I couldn't access my tummy but not sure I would if I was wearing tights....
@rebrascora I would not think twice about injecting through something as thin (and wide weave) as tights but, personally, I would be reluctant to inject through anything thicker as it could blunt the needle and I seem to be susceptible to bruising at the best of times.
I am not much of a dress wearer except for special occasions like weddings. Whilst I am not a fan of exposing my pins, I have evolved to midi rather than maxi length frocks and can surreptitiously raise my skirt slightly under the table and inject (through tights, if I have them) without being spotted.
My biggest concern is being accidentally knocked whilst stabbing myself.
On your other topic, I feel confident with my dosing to correct a high and jump straight into a car to drive. Most of my driving is longish distances either along motorways or in rush hour traffic. The extra concentration required on motorways and the frustration of rush hour seems to cause my levels to rise and high levels make me feel sleepy so not good for driving.
I am not much of a dress wearer except for special occasions like weddings. Whilst I am not a fan of exposing my pins, I have evolved to midi rather than maxi length frocks and can surreptitiously raise my skirt slightly under the table and inject (through tights, if I have them) without being spotted.
My biggest concern is being accidentally knocked whilst stabbing myself.
On your other topic, I feel confident with my dosing to correct a high and jump straight into a car to drive. Most of my driving is longish distances either along motorways or in rush hour traffic. The extra concentration required on motorways and the frustration of rush hour seems to cause my levels to rise and high levels make me feel sleepy so not good for driving.
Lucyr
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I don’t understand why you’d need a new bg from say half an hour to an hour after you set off to be able to bolus for the carbs you eat. You aren’t going to do another correction if you already did that at home so it gives you no new information and makes no difference to the insulin you take for the carbs. If you felt low you would test at that point and not wait until your food came.
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