I noticed pharm companies are coming out with($$$) one time use disposable insulin pens/injectors that don’t look like needles. One ad even had a guy injecting using a syringe and someone scowling at him, it seemed to play up the angle of now you don’t have to look like a damn druggie using our pen.
:dubious:
Is that really a problem people face? What kind of asshole would scowl at a diabetic trying to stay alive? I was curious if anyone has ever had it happen.
I’ve never encountered a diabetic using anything - in my experience, they do it privately. To me it falls into a category of things that may be necessary but private. I don’t want to see you flossing your teeth or putting in your contacts or clipping your toenails, and I don’t want to see you injecting yourself, pen or no pen.
Insulin pens are hardly anything new, and they’re WAY more than simply “something that doesn’t look like a syringe.” I don’t think they cost significantly more than one-use syringes, and they’re much easier to use. You load them with a few days worth of insulin, and select the dosage by turning a knob. It’s a TON simpler than carrying around vials of insulin, drawing it into a syringe, squinting at the really small markings on the syringe and trying to make sure you get the right amount and don’t have a bunch of air bubbles in it. Pens also sometimes come in half-unit increments. Trust me, trying to get 3.5 units in a syringe is next to impossible.
Sorry, but if I need to dose before I eat, I’m doing it in the public. There’s no reason for me to have to run to a potentially dirty restroom to dose when I can do it quickly and unobtrusively at the table. I’m guessing you’ve never encountered a diabetic injecting because it’s really not all that noticeable. With syringes, you can do it through light clothing. With pens, it’s easy enough to pull up your shirt slightly and jab yourself in the gut under the table.
As far as scowls, I’ve never noticed. Most people aren’t so rude. And I can just imagine what Mr. Athena would do if he caught anyone giving me a hassle about dosing - I’d shrug it off, but he’d get all Paladin on me and give them a piece of his mind.
And honestly, I simply don’t care. I’ve got a pump now so it’s not an issue, but I’ve used pens and syringes in the past and if you don’t like it, <shrug>. I gotta do it to stay healthy and I’d rather not have to try to do it in a stall in the bathroom because that’s a fookin’ hassle and potentially dirty and there’s no table to put my stuff on and often no place to put my purse with my diabetic supplies except on the dirty restroom floor next to me. So deal with it.
Its never happened to me, but then syringes are my emergency backup if my pump fails, my backup pump fails and I’m more than 15 minutes away from home.
The pens you describe are quite simply, just more convenient and accurate than a syringe. The procedure is:
For a syringe, its a little more involved:
When I used the pens on a regular basis, there was more curiosity rather than anything else (I tended not to inject in bathrooms for absolutely exactly the reasons Athena described, but I was very discrete). Its unlikely, unless you were sitting right next to me that you would have even known I was injecting. Even a couple of weekends ago, when I was at the beach and my insulin pump had failed, its backup replacement had failed and I was in the middle of a state park, I injected insulin with syringes. No one had any clue, except for my friend, sitting right next to me.
My late husband usually tested and dosed unobtrusively at the table in a restaurant. Some insulin is so fast-acting that you practically have to wait til the food is in front of you before you dose. Even doing it in the car is risky if service is slow once you get inside the restaurant.
Anyone who is offended by seeing someone do this can (respectfully) get fucked.
QFT. I had a few low blood sugar episodes because I dosed in the car, and then didn’t get my food when the insulin started working. I only take the ultra slow acting Lantus now, but if I started taking the fast acting stuff again, I wouldn’t inject until the food was in front of me and I had taken a bite from each item, to make sure that I didn’t have to send it back.
Low blood sugar episodes are damn scary.
Similar pens exist for some other self-injectables, like fertility drugs. Those drugs can be sufficiently expensive that the pen itself is free.
And that may well be the case, which is great. As long as I don’t know about it, I’m fine. Perhaps I should mention here that I’m a real wuss when it comes to needles/IVs/drains/other stuff going into or out of human bodies. I can’t even look when I’m having a blood sample drawn. My husband took our daughter to get her ears pierced, and I got woozy just thinking about it. That’s why I don’t want to see such stuff, and I can’t imagine I’m the only person who reacts that way. But if it’s as subtle as you describe, then it’s no wonder I wasn’t aware of it.
So am I - majorly - and I gotta do it. I couldn’t inject myself for the first week - I made my husband do it and looked the other way and tried to control my gag reflex. I manage. And yeah, I don’t have a lot of sympathy for people who would make a big deal out of me dosing. You can look away; I can’t. I’ll do my best to be unobtrusive, but I’m not going to hide myself when I dose because someone might have a problem with needles.
I never shamed my mom over this, although she had no compunctions about ripping her shirt up and injecting into her gut during casual conversation. I found it a little oogy, but you know. Lifesaving drugs save lives and stuff.
I’m fortunate not to be diabetic, but if I were I think I’d not only inject in public, but roll my eyes back into my head and slump in my seat afterward. To hell with shame.
I’d far rather a diabetic “shoot up” at the table than have a bad “episode” of any sort which would almost certainly be more disruptive than a quick injection. Diabetics should not be shunted off to the restroom to take their medicine as if needing insulin was something shameful. They shouldn’t wave their syringe around over their head screaming “OOOO-LA-LA-HUMDINGER-BE-BOOP!”, either, but I’ve yet to meet a diabetic who was ever anything other than discreet when injecting, as opposed to self-righteous busy-bodies who think people should be injecting necessary drugs in potentially filthy toilet rooms.
I love love love my Lantus pen! I only need 4 things when I go out for the day, the pen itself, a needle, an alcohol swab and the little 4 compartment med box that holds my pills for the day and has room in the 4th compartment to hold not only the pills for the 9pm doses, but a needle and a wrapped alcohol swab. Fits in my purse, fits in a pocket. The lantus does not need anything more than to be kept at moderate room temperature, no more refrigeration!
I’m like this, too. Please don’t take offense if I blanch or make a face, or if I look away when I see you doing anything that might be needle-related. I won’t ask you to do it in the bathroom or anything like that, but I will need to look away. It’s not anything personal, it’s a phobia. I often get neck pain from having blood drawn, since I turn my head as far as it will go in the direction away from the needle. I usually try to turn it farther than it will go, and sometimes it hurts the next day. I won’t do anything voluntary to shame you or draw attention to you, but I will look away. I’d appreciate a warning, and then being told when it is safe to look (when all traces of blood or needles are out of sight).
I have no problem with people looking away. I’d look away if I could. And to reiterate for Anne Neville and FairyChatMom, I’m exactly the same way. To clarify how bad I am, I’ve had nights where the thought of a needle or some other horrible gross scary invasive thing gets in my head for some reason and I lie awake because I can’t get it out of my head and I start to make myself sick. Needles are horrible, scary things to me. And, as a lot of you know, I’m completely into food. Finding out I was a Type 1 diabetic at age 38 was a fricken’ nightmare. All I could think about for months was that I can’t eat anything good anymore and I had to stick needles in myself 10x/day.
It’s a lot easier for me with a pump, there’s a needle but only for a fraction of a second, and it’s completely hidden and automatic and I don’t ever have to think about it. The last time my pump broke and I had to use syringes for a few days was horrible. But not so horrible that I wouldn’t do it in public. 
And, for that matter, you probably wouldn’t even know what I was doing if I did it while sitting next to you in a restaurant. The majority of injecting is done under the table. You’d have to be staring at my lap to even figure out what’s going on.
I’ve never had to inject in public, but if I did, why would I feel ashamed? People take pills in public; there’s no difference.
yeah my son is a type 1 and has never had anyone scowl at him to his or my knowledge.
I’ve never heard or seen anyone scold an injecting diabetic in public, but I sure have heard complaints on the internet and as an aside in real life. As in “can you believe that person have himself a shot in front of god and everybody?!?” Uh, yeah, actually I can.
OT but I can use your unused and/or bleached used syringes and needles. Any size. I use them for art; pomander-making; and cooking. My source upstairs died. 
PM me.
First create a market–then sell to it.:rolleyes: