I think actually using a public toilet is a hell of a lot grosser than injecting if you think about it!
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Honestly, I much prefer to pee 'round the corner of the building.
Local cops tend to frown on that.
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Why the heck would you do that?
I took a very public stance on this in several other forums a while back:
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I believe that, in 2018, it is appropriate to inject in public, anywhere, at all timesāexcept in public bathrooms.
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I have told my son that he should absolutely avoid to inject in public bathrooms because of the risk of gear contamination.
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I have encouraged my son to inject in public places, such as at a restaurant table, wherever and whenever he felt it was necessary and the logistics were appropriate, and to totally discard comments from anyone objecting to it. Nobody ever has, btw, but I have always been ready to react very aggressively to anyone doing so.
As a note, almost every child with diabetes that I know or know of injects in public in class (with one exception). It is clearly much more normal with the upcoming generationāone thing I am thankful for.
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Not where I live
I just prefer to. Only relatively recently have I started injecting at restaurant tables and then only if I can do it very very discretely. Iām just old school, And would prefer to do all medical and personal care in private.
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I am the same way, and respect your decision to do what you feel comfortable doing, but personally thereās no way Iād inject in a public restroom unless I had no other choice (and I donāt really see that situation ever arising). I try to avoid them in general as it is - yuck.
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I totally respect that. I probably came out too strongly against your public bathroom thought, sorry!
Although I feel that, due to all the research on hand-drying contamination, public bathrooms really should be avoided when at all possible.
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Yes, the germs in restrooms are to be avoided as much as reasonable. The circumstance for one incident was that I was having lunch with a high school friend who actually worked at a doctorās office and I thought nothing of getting ready to take my bolus and she commentedā¦āI hope youāre not going to do it here. It would really upset me.ā I thought very quicklyā¦the pen was already primed and ready to go. OKā¦itās a friend who seemed squeamish, I will go to the restroom to inject and thatās it. In general, I concur that diabetics ought not have to go to the restroom or hide their āhabitā āconditionā. Every now and then, we may encounter someone who may faint or react physically (vomit, panic, anxiety attackā¦etc) at the slightest hint of blood, not even theirs.
There may also be circumstances where I would not WANT the other party to know about my diabetes, so that it would not be āheld against meā - if that makes sense to you.
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Im sure youāre right but itās not something Iād ever worry about. I have a golden retriever, Im probably way more contaminated from him jumping on/licking me every time I get home than anything a public washroom could do to me!
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@Michel I am definitely old school, but I agree with you 100%.
I am not the least bit concerned what anyone thinks or how they react to my discreetly injecting or doing a fingerstick anywhere I am. I refuse to make their problem my problem.
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Warning: disgusting story coming! @Thomas reminds me of this one.
I was drafted as a navy officer, and underwent a long training cycle that included a lot of first aid. Since I find it unpleasant to look at someone drawing blood (I typically take my eyes away when I have to give blood myself), I was surprised not to feel anything when we went through some quite gross procedures.
The one procedure that caused the most amount of fainting was tracheotomies (or, more precisely, cricothyroidotomies, which are exactly the same thing but in emergency situations with an improvised setup). It essentially involves making a 1/2 inch incision in somebodyās throat, and feeding in a straw-like trache tube (to allow them to survive a windpipe injury, a common issue with shrapnel and superstructure destruction resulting from receiving a shell). We were doing them on piglets, and half the room fainted: it was hilarious at the time, although, now, I feel much more compassion, both to the human audience and to the piglets.
For anyone worrying about it, the piglets were destined to the galley, and were served that night. Most people turned the main pork dish down that evening.
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Iāve found itās usually possible to be discrete about using an insulin pen in most situations if I want to be. I usually donāt care if people notice though. I have a few friends with injection phobias and whatnot, and when around them, I just tell them to look away for a moment while I do so an injection or whatever (without talking about exactly what Iām doing), and that works fine. I think itās a reasonable enough balance between my respecting their very real phobia (and blood-injection-injury phobias are one of the more genetically-based and have difficult to control physiological reactions) and my very real need to take my insulin to eat and live. It seems to work just fine, and Iād be skeptical about anyone unwilling to make or try that compromise.
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I love your idea of telling them to look away without being specific! In my mind, it absolutely takes care of this delicate situation.
But I also understand that everyone may have a different idea.
Yeah they always know what Iām doing on some level, since they all know Iām diabetic, but thereās can be a big difference between vaguely knowing and hearing someone say it if youāre a person prone to getting a vasovagal response when you even think too much about injections.
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For those that are considering the Freestyle Libre, and are looking at OOP pricing, here in SE Michigan this past week, a 3 pack of sensors runs slightly less than $71, using the SingleCare discount card at my local Walmart pharmacy. You have to buy at least a one month supply (3 units) to get the discount. 60 and 90 day supplies (6 & 9 units) are slightly less per sensor.
The scanner ran a few cents over $67
Iāve yet to confirm if you can coerce the full 14 days out of the sensors if you only use Glimp, and donāt activate them with the Libre scanner. When activated with the Libre scanner there is some sort of internal timer that does indeed start counting down the 10 day use limit.
Iāve also noticed that there can be a substantial difference in the readings between finger sticks, the Libre scanner, and scanning with Glimp and an NFC enabled smartphone.
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