Insulin Etiquette?

[JillU-DVC]

This is my first trip to WDW using insulin - I have two insulin pens that I will carry with me everywhere (along with my meter).

I was wondering what people do when they inject - do you excuse yourself to the restroom, and do it there? In a stall or at the sink? Or do you just use it in the restaurant, discretely of course?

I will likely just use my pen in the restaurant, at the table, either in one of my thighs, or lift my shirt a bit for the belly, but I was curious how others deal with it?

Of course, my sharps will go with me, back to the room, and I'm glad to find out (from this board) that I can ask for a sharps container in my room at BCV. I had planned to bring a tupperware and take them back home with me, so I'm glad I won't have to do that, though I will be sure to bring my used sharps back to the room.

Thanks for any help you can give me!

 

[Cheshire Figment]

I use a pen for Byetta and a syringe for insulin.

If my syringe is pre-filled I may do the shots unobtrusively at the table.

If I have to start with the bottles I will go to the restroom and make sure an area either on a sink or a fixed changing station is clean and dry, put down a clean paper towel with my stuff on top.

 

[Sarah84]

I have my insulin through pens, and normally just go into a cubicle in the restroom to do it after i've eaten.
I'd be paranoid everyone was looking at me strangely if i sat at the table and did it even thought they probably wouldn't be.
What ever your comfortable with is the right place to do it for you

 

[Rosie]

My DS age 15 does his injections at table in his upper arm and nobody stares or comments. I think Diabetes is such a known condition that all our lives include somebody who needs to use insulin these days. Its very rare we meet anyone who doesn't somone with it.
I hope you can do whatever suits you best - the medical rooms at WDW are excellent and will happily store equipment for you and give a private space if you want it. Bathrooms are generally clean and convenient too.

 

[daneenm]

DS does his insulin doses at the table - vials or pen. Always has. For us, the bathroom is the last place we would ever give him an injection, given the germs. Yes, germs are everywhere, but bathrooms have more than most places, IMHO.

 

[JillU-DVC]

Thanks, everyone, for your input and advice - i'll likley just stick to doing it at teh table.

We leave tomorrow at 9am (leave the house at 6:30), so I won't be back on teh boards for at least a week!

Thanks again!!

 

[PatsMom]

I do my Byetta injections at the table usually. When I was doing insulin, I did it in the evening, not meal time (Lantus) so I would inject it wherever I happened to be when it was time.

 

[mgilmer]

DS does his insulin doses at the table - vials or pen. Always has. For us, the bathroom is the last place we would ever give him an injection, given the germs. Yes, germs are everywhere, but bathrooms have more than most places, IMHO.

Me too!

 

[melancholywings]

We are only 2 months into this but we do ours at the table and usually we'll request a booth as they are more private and if we say we need it for a medical reason the hostess won't pressure us into a table.

 

[Jen_in_NH]

My son is 2, and we always do his injections at the table, as well as his fingersticks. Trying to wrestle him to stay in a bathroom wouldn't be possible.

Have a good trip

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

Yes, germs are everywhere, but bathrooms have more than most places, IMHO.

Actually, research has shown that kitchens (especially the sink area) have more germs than bathrooms.

 

[seashoreCM]

Go where there is extra space; where you can't get jostled while doing it.

Disney hints: http://www.cockam.com/disney.htm

 

[daneenm]

Yes, germs are everywhere, but bathrooms have more than most places, IMHO.

Actually, research has shown that kitchens (especially the sink area) have more germs than bathrooms.

Yes, but this was a question about when you are out where do you go to dose insulin. The kitchen is not typically a likely option.

 

[Mouseaholic!!!]

Here is MY solution.....good for insulin pens AND regular syringes.

I keep my insulin and syringes in an eye-glass holder. When this is open, you can rest it on the arm of a handicapped stall. It give you a platform to manage everything and realtively clean.

It has worked for me for years.

When I made my first trip to disney as an insulin-dependent diabetic --- after a bad bout of pancreatitus, I was frightened. I was in a ladies room which was absolutely empty late at night.

I used my meter to check my levels and just as I was loading my syringe, someone walked in and freaked out - yelling and screaming about exposing children to drugs.

My friends found me a few minutes later sitting on the floor in tears.


Don't let this happen to you!

 

[scrapjacks]

DS age 5 is diabetic and we do it at the table if we can. We use a pen for insulin & do finger pricks. No weird reactions from strangers, yet!

If he is feeling shy or self conscious we go to the restroom ( he usually will tell me "not in front of XXX"). But the pen is discreet enough that we don't have much trouble. No one will reallly notice the thigh or stomach, there is so much going on around you!

If it is time for ds's daily dose of Lantus by syringe he will want me to take him somewhere private. He's a very modest young man! lol

 

[dansamy]

Many patients are on pre-meal insulin or a carb counting plan that they dose after they've counted the carbs they ate. For these patients, it's important to have their insulin as close to the meal as is possible. I'd do it at the table.

 

[knieriem]

I do mine at the table with insulin pens. Some people in my family think it's because I want attention and that I want people to know I'm "sick." I'm not sick I'm just diabetic! I think it's good because it raises awareness that it's out there. Same goes with finger sticking. We shouldn't hide the fact that we are diabetic.

They only time I excuse myself to a restroom is if I'm at a restaurant with my boss and customers. I only do this because they don't know me and I think it looks a lot more professional.

 

[Belle4mygrl]

The first time we went to WDW the little one and I went to the bathroom to check blood and give injections. The restrooms were too small or not clean.

I never had anyone say anything to me. People have looked curiously. But we just do it at the table now. No problems.

 

[Momelie]

I remember being outside the restrooms at Norway and seeing this big, burly guy plop down outside the Viking ship (when it was there), whip out his glucometer and check his levels, then pull out a syringe and draw up his stuff from two different vials (I think it was the stuff I was on while pregnant, the old fashioned kind, I was probably staring like a loon by that point, poor guy!) and then he nonchalantly pulled up his shorts leg and injected in his upper thigh, then he just calmly walked off.

I was so envious of his calm, cool demeanor - I usually have embarrassed teenagers, a DH that's sure I'm going to forget something (like what?), colleagues/office mates who are morbidly curious, etc., and here he can just do his thing and go on with his life! WOW! Of course, he was probably wondering who the crazy lady was that was staring at him like she'd never seen insulin before.....

 

[TheRustyScupper]

1) I personally think it is rude and crude to stick myself at the table.
2) My doc told me to order, then go the rest room and inject from a pen.
3) Sure, lots of people know about insulin pens.
4) But, I think it is far more polite and civilized to do it out of sight.
5) I guess I am too old fashioned than to do it at the table and in the open.

NOTE: Per Ann Landers, November 1998: "A person who would inject himself or herself at the dinner table in the presence of others exhibits gross insensitivity and very poor manners.".