Crimeney! I cannot code today! :eek:
All of that should not be bolded! just the names…my apologies to all.
:rolleyes:
:smack:
OK, let me try to lighten the mood.
The “kit” and meter apparently sometimes look to a casual glance like a Palmpilot and stylus. I’ve had a client ask me if that was one of the “new Blackberries” a while ago, and I said, after thinking for a second, “Yes, it’s the new blood-powered Blackberry. It uses a fuel cell to convert my blood into energy. It’s really cool, but if I get too many e-mails I get lightheaded. You would not believe how much I hate spam!”
Another time I was asked “who I was calling” as I was using my meter (it doesn’t look anything like a phone - or a Blackberry for that matter, but oh well), and I said “God - I’m seeing how long I have before I meet him”. And the client laughed, and I said “OK, not really, it’s actually Satan. But I’m a little sensitive about it so don’t make a fuss.”
Of course, I don’t say things like that any more.
Blah. Missing sentences. Stupid coffee; start working.
This should have something to the effect:
Isn’t the thought of all those microscopic poo flakes enough to deter anyone from giving themselves an injection in a public restroom? I mean, nobody’s saying they’re WRONG for doing it, just that we have our reasons for NOT doing it there. The risk of introducing all the bacteria present in the restroom far outweighs the risk of offending someone for me. I know you realize this, but don’t expect everyone to start hiding away their diabetes because someone might be miffed by it. Living with diabetes isn’t about pretending you don’t have it and everything is la-di-da normal. It’s about accepting it, and part of the acceptance for me and many others is being very open with what it’s all about.
Left Hand of Dorkness, the chances of you seeing the needle of the syringe are very small because the needles itself is very small. The syringe in total is maybe four or five inches long, and when I draw up my insulin, it’s hidden almost completely in my hand because of the way I hold the bottle and syringe together. It takes less than 30 seconds for the whole injection process to take place, so the time window isn’t very large. There’s usually so much table clutter by that time that the only way to really expose it is to raise it above shoulder level. Usually not necessary.
No. I never said I invite other diners to share in it. They do so of their own nosiness.
Is it? How rare? Is this like the “many” people that milroyj mentioned who never inject insulin in restaurants?
Oh wow. I think just this on its own constitutes admitting that you’ve lost the argument. It’s only slightly better than calling your debate opponent “Fatty fatty fat fat”.
Thanks, Miss Purl! FWIW, with myself at least (and I think plenty of other needlephobes), it’s not the needle itself that triggers the reaction; it’s the hypodermic. It took me awhile before I could use a needle-less hypodermic to squirt flea treatment on my cats without feeling woozy. My asking about whether I’d see the needle was therefore sloppy writing; I should’ve asked about whether I’d see the syringe. (I tend to use needle, hypodermic, and syringe interchangeably).
Again, I appreciate the answer! As I’ve said before, I’ve never seen someone injecting in public, which either means I haven’t been around many diabetics, or else diabetics tend not to do so in a manner in which I can see them.
Daniel
Cite?
Do you have anything backing this up except a desire to have it be true?
My husband doesn’t inject, but he tests. He has a kit. He does all the fun kit things. And even I who know that he tests and am generally paying at least some attention to him, often don’t notice when he does it.
He doesn’t hop up on the table, shout “Come one, come all to the Ick-Fest that is diabeeeeeetuss!” Unless you were monitoring him, you wouldn’t notice. He does the same things Hentor does sans the injection, but believe me, you wouldn’t see the injection either unless you want to. If you want to be offended and grossed out, you can always find a way. If you want to think that someone going about their business is “pageantry” you can always find a justification.
Again, no one is asking you to “hide”. It is simply unnecessary to do it at the table, particularly when other people are made to feel uncomfortable or sick. That’s all. Why does everyone here continue to argue that fact when MOST diabetics treat their disease in places other than at the dinner table, or at least so that no one…not even the people dining with that person…are aware it’s happening? I’m not arguing the severity of the disease, the importance of proper treatment, or the concern you have for your boy’s well-being.
There are lots of things a person shouldn’t do at the table. They may not be anyone else’s business either, but they still shouldn’t be done. In my opinion this is one of those things. You overstated the time element and tried to turn the “at the table” thing into a necessity rather than a choice, when that is all it is. To me that is overdramatizing it.
If that were true, he wouldn’t be pitting the reactions he gets in restaurants.
Well, this thread was worth it for me–for the phrase: “diabetic dinner theater”.
Love it!
Thanks, Ms Knittington
For us, yes. If you casually glanced while we were drawing up the insulin, you would see me putting my right hand to my cupped left hand at about stomach/chest level (you have to tip the Humalog bottle up to draw the insulin out). You might actually see the syringe when I move my right hand backwards to force the plunger backwards with the knuckle of my right hand, looking closely to see if I have 2.5 or 3 units (those suckers are kind of small, and estimating a 0.5 unit can be a bear for me). You might see the syringe after it was withdrawn from the bottle and I checked to see if any air bubble was above the top line of the syringe. For us, we do my son’s injections in his bicep when we are out (it seems like less of a production than taking his pants down to get at his thigh or having him stand up and bend over to get a little roll on his tummy), unless he has shorts on. So if you were casually glancing then, you just in fact might see the syringe move towards his arm and away again. You would, of course, be unlikely to see the actual needle at any point, let alone when the injection was being given, due to its size, but I understand that it is not necessarily the sight of the needle itself that might set off your anxiety provoking cognitive processes.
I could scope the room to see if there are any spectators, but I don’t know what to do about the casual glancers. I have no problem using a nearby wall if it is next to our table, or that sort of thing for cover if it is handy.
Phobias often respond quite well to treatment. You may see some benefit if you seek out an evaluation with a psychologist in your area.
Well, some of these solutions don’t seem like solutions (e.g. going to the next table won’t prevent casually glancing strangers any more than staying at my table). My problem has been the idea that we need to hide from strangers at other tables. People dining with us generally know us and are familiar with my son’s needs. I don’t know anyone with needle-phobia (outside of my clinical work, of course) but rarely do people introduce themselves that way. I don’t make a production of it, (nor a pageant), and I will not make sure I am in someone’s line of sight just for kicks. We can turn a bit so some cannot see us, but that usually means that others have a good view. We’ll do our best, but it is relatively low on my priority list. If you are exposed and have a traumatic response (hyperventilating, experiencing an increased heart rate, becoming dizzy or nauseous, feeling you are losing your mind or losing control), I will provide you with professional clinical interventions to stem your emergent response. How about that?
(As an aside, I don’t understand you posting a “Why are you still talking about this?” post, followed by specific questions)
I have an observation on this- most diabetics don’t stop and make a big production out of pricking their finger and checking their blood sugar and/or giving themselves an injection.
Coming from a diabetic family (grandmother, both parents) and having had at least one Type I diabetic friend, I can say with some authority that they all just keep the conversation going while they do their stuff. It really isn’t that obtrusive if you’re sitting across the table from them, and less so if you’re not even in the same booth/at the same table.
I doubt most people would even notice, and fewer would probably care, even if they did recognize what was going on.
Perhaps your tremendous confusion on this issue arises from a failure to appreciate that I have said that in real life, we never get these types of negative responses from others. Perhaps you failed to read the OP, in which I pitted the opinions expressed by others about other people in another thread, and now by you here in this one.
And please stop making claims about what most people with diabetes do or do not do. You are simply wrong, and talking out of your ass. Most people with diabetes here have said that they do check and inject at the table, generally after letting anyone sitting with them know what they are doing. We almost never dine with people who wouldn’t already expect this, so that element is moot.
I did not overstate the time element. There are several reasons why it is necessary for us to administer the insulin very shortly after my son finishes eating. To reduce negative indicators of hyperglycemia (A1c) we have found that we need to administer the insulin within about 10 minutes. To help make sure that we make the calculations based on how much food of which types he actually ate, we find it necessary to mentally review the meal, look at the amounts left on his plate, and make the calculation then.
If you are arguing that we not do this at the table, aren’t you in fact arguing that we hide?
And if you had read the OP and the linked thread, you’d see that he’s pitting Campion’s stupid posts in said linked thread.
I don’t recall Hentor mentioning any case wherein he was accosted in a restaurant for tending his child. Perhaps you can point me to the post?
If not, I would suggest that you are creating “pageantry” out of thin air.
He isn’t pitting other restaurant patrons. He’s pitting the responses of people in another thread to someone saying they saw someone giving themselves an injection who are then coming in and saying that is rude. Some of whom may have never seen Hentor give his kid an injection.
All praise to Kalhoun, master of reading comprehension.
I never said you invited them…I said you created a situation where people are forced to see it; where they do not expect to see it and do not need to see it. And don’t give me that “don’t look” excuse. Once you’ve seen it, you’ve seen it. You can’t “un-see” it. No, they don’t need to fix their gaze on it, but that’s hardly the point. The damage has been done. For those who are sensitive to that sort of thing, their dining experience is ruined.
Dude…most people don’t visibly inject insulin in restaurant settings. However much you may want the statistic to fall on your side of the fence, it ain’t happening. It is disingenuous for you to argue to the contrary.
Sauron, pay attention now. The only problem I have with your statements, which have shown a level of ignorance rarely seen before, is the one statement you made about a person not going out to eat if their diabetes is so serious that they have to test at the table. Period. I realize that some people cannot be educated about things that don’t affect them, so I forgive you for not understanding the intricacies about diabetes. Just don’t tell anyone they can’t make the choice to dine out. That’s all.
Dude…most people don’t climb into dirty, nasty, filthy bathroom stalls to inject at restaurants, either. However much you may want the statistic to fall on your side of the fence, it ain’t happening. It is disingenuous for you to continually argue that to the contrary as well, especially speaking from your lauded position of obvious ignorance.
I have a hunch that more people than you can fathom have injected in close proximity to you than you will ever know. You nosy fuck.
Sam
For clarity, I didn’t mean going over to the next table: by “on the booth beside you,” I meant setting up the kit on the booth’s bench beside you. I have no idea if that would work, but if it would, it’d take things out of sight of casual patrons.
As for phobias responding to psychological treatment, it’s definitely something I’ve considered; unfortunately, I do not believe my insurance covers such matters. Thanks, though!
Daniel