Eating alone and injecting in a restraunt how?

[O_DP_T1]

Guys a strange one here, later today I will be leaving work early so have a few hours to kill before I meet friends to see a show, thing is there is a restaurant I really fancy trying, eating on my own in a restaurant doesn't bother me.

What does is that once I order and go away to take my jab the waiters may think I've left and cancel the food as the table will be empty for that time. How do people deal with this, injecting in public is not an option due to clothing and the fact I use my leg.

 

[sally and james]

Sounds like having a drink by yourself in a pub ..... get up and go to the bar or the loo and your seat has gone. The answer is to take a coat/scarf and leave is conspicuously on the seat and possibly leave a newspaper/book on the table. You could also tell the waiter, after ordering, that you will be leaving your seat for a few minutes (no need to say why) and that you will be back, looking forward to your meal, very shortly.
Sally

 

[Guzzler]

Guys a strange one here, later today I will be leaving work early so have a few hours to kill before I meet friends to see a show, thing is there is a restaurant I really fancy trying, eating on my own in a restaurant doesn't bother me.

What does is that once I order and go away to take my jab the waiters may think I've left and cancel the food as the table will be empty for that time. How do people deal with this, injecting in public is not an option due to clothing and the fact I use my leg.

When you order ask the waiter where the loos are (if that is where you plan on injecting). He'll guess the rest.

 

[O_DP_T1]

When you order ask the waiter where the loos are (if that is where you plan on injecting). He'll guess the rest.

Yea was thinking of doing this and hoping for the best - lol

 

[becca59]

I’m afraid I always inject at the table. In the stomach. But to be honest going off to the loo to inject is.... just like going to the loo. Let the waiter know.

 

[slip]

Sorry but no way would I inject in a public loo - perhaps that just says something about the places I frequent! - but seriously you shouldn't have/need to. Take one to the belly, if you're wearing a shirt inbetween the buttons or t-shirt type top just discreetly hitch it up surely? Or dare I say just go through your trousers - a one off isn't going to put you in hospital...............

 

[NicoleC1971]

Guys a strange one here, later today I will be leaving work early so have a few hours to kill before I meet friends to see a show, thing is there is a restaurant I really fancy trying, eating on my own in a restaurant doesn't bother me.

What does is that once I order and go away to take my jab the waiters may think I've left and cancel the food as the table will be empty for that time. How do people deal with this, injecting in public is not an option due to clothing and the fact I use my leg.

Personally when I was a jabber rather than a pumper, I would inject in public but I am female and did it in my tummy. If the material is thin you can inject through it although I know this officially forbidden (hygiene, blunting of needle??). I really objected to the idea of doing a test and jab in a loo and I don't think I evn copped a glance from anyone else other than once on a train when in close quarters.

 

[Harrysdad]

Why on earth would you inject in a toilet? I might not inject in my **** in public but anywhere on my body else is fine.

 

[Ziggy2017]

Injecting through your clothes won’t do any harm as a one off if you really want to inject in the toilets then ask for your seat to be held by a member of staff

 

[evilclive]

I've never left my table to inject. I did once have another customer come over to me and ask that I not do that again since their friend had a needle phobia - I don't think I argued, but I reckoned that we were sufficiently unlikely to meet again that "I'll think about it" would do as an answer
I do have a pair of trousers with ventilation slits on the thigh (zipped - Paramo walking trousers), which were useful when I still injected in my leg for bolus, and were also conveniently one of my smarter pairs (low bar for me, I'd also take them for long hill/mountain walks). And obviously shorts aren't a problem. But since I also inject into belly, I'd just use that if eating out in normal trousers.
Also, how long does injecting take? Unless you're really quite slow, it'll take you less time than somebody going for a number 2 - and restaurants cope with people doing that all the time.

 

[LooperCat]

The last place I’d want to make holes in myself is in a public toilet... and in a restaurant you don’t know exactly when your food will arrive, or how much of it there will be, so I’d just wait for it to come, and do a quick dose in my tummy or through my trousers. The less self conscious you are about it, the less likely it is that anyone will even notice.

 

[Dixon1995]

I'm the opposite to all you guys, I have many times used a public restroom to take my injection, not over a toilet mind, just in the room, I have had a inferiority complex regarding taking my insulin infront of people incase they say something about it, bright orange pen and all... recently I really don't give a **** and take it where I please, albeit discreet..

 

[Cumberland]

I inject in my tummy at the table and don’t care what others think

 

[n1ck]

In the early days of injecting i'd be bothered about what other people thought and would just avoid doing it in a restaurant or public place full stop. Then, over time, i just became less bothered and after some years of practice i can load up and inject pretty quick! Although i'll still doing it discreetly.

 

[jayney27]

Hi, just stumbled across this thread, I don’t inject as I’m type 2 however my friend at work is type 1 so does inject. It has never bothered me or our boss, bless him he is often faced with the sight of both of us testing our blood sugars and seeing V inject her tummy, he takes it all in his stride as I think most people do.
Only once have I been quizzed about what I was doing when I tested my blood in public, it was a young lad, he was intrigued more than upset and quite openly came up to ask what I was doing. I think his dad was embarrassed about his questions but I was happy to explain what I was doing and why.

 

[Daibell]

I'm male and always inject at the table into my stomach. I reserve my stomach for the Bolus and the thigh for Basal as the stomach is supposed to let the insulin react more quickly which you need for meals.

 

[evilclive]

I'm wondering if there's an age thing here. As you get older, the pressure to conform goes down - injecting marks you out as different, and age brings the confidence to say "I'm doing something different - so what?". I'd welcome somebody asking what I was doing, though I suspect they may well come to regret their question - I can go on for quite a while about the different sorts of insulin, and that's before I get onto metering
Age also brings laziness (can't be bothered to leave seat, do it here), and stroppiness (sorry, I am doing this, stop trying to send me somewhere else)
That's not to say if you feel shy about it that this is a bad thing - it's definitely understandable.

 

[Bluey1]

This topic has been quiet for a while.
I used to inject in public, but after abuse being thrown out of shopping malls ,by security and police (on seperate occasions) - the Police said they would charge me with disturbing the peace if I didn't clear off, not for taking drugs. I'm now on a pump so not a problem, but I look at it this way, we are a very small minority. We don't have lobby group or human rights lawyers crawling all over us like ethnic minority's do, so abuse it and you will lose it. We have a lot rights even 10 year ago we didn't have. Annoy enough people and we will rapidly start to lose what we have. There is a lot stigma, although unfounded, I don't think rubbing peoples faces in it will help at all. I'm for education, but we don't educate this way.

Personal experiences (a few highlights)
Work Collegues
-I don't want to sit near you (work lunch) as you do disgusting things and I don't like needles.
-Why don't you donate your kidneys, eyes and heart NOW as you are only going to destroy them
-Don't shoot up near me

Strangers in public places
Thrown out of shopping complex's twice
Woman in full Burqa stood and screamed at me (not certain what she was screaming as it wasn't in English)

The opposite.
There was a boss I had in a new company. One of my team was a very big Diva. He got me to give an education session including showing a fully loaded pen, she objected , but was made to attend. An amazing boss and a really good person.

If I ever went back to MDI I'm a loo injector.

 

[evilclive]

I disagree re the annoying thing - we shouldn't be hiding in fear of annoying people, we should be treating what we do as normal. Injecting in public from a pen isn't abusing people, and bar one attempt by somebody young and foolish, nobody has ever batted an eyelid at me doing that. That's in > 20 years.
There may be a geographical difference here, though I've never had a problem while abroad - in the UK we do have a lobby group, and we also have human rights lawyers on our side. The disability discrimination act applies to this stuff, we're not going to lose what we have, if anything raising the profile of what we do will help. Even our PM is on a pump, though she keeps quiet about it. (somebody tried having a go at her for having an insecure mobile phone or something similar - they'd mistaken the pump for one. That story went nowhere quickly.). Rubbing people's faces in it really won't hurt here - though simply getting on with life and injecting quietly isn't really rubbing people's faces in it either.
(I am also a tall white middle class middle-aged sort-of-respectable man - all things which make people less likely to feel the need to bother me, and I do understand that too)

 

[KK123]

I literally could not care less! People need to inject to stay alive, they also need to eat and do all the things a human being needs to do. Whether you need to pop a pill before eating or take insulin just DO IT. You don't have to bare your buttocks (if that's where you normally jab), use your belly. I can't imagine how anyone would even notice anyway?