Worst date ever!

[jackois]

I'm coming up to a year since diagnosis and know which of my friends get squeamish at the sight of a needle...

easy enough, generally to find somewhere away from them to take the dose...

 

[Grkify]

I am glad to hear that it appears to be a rare thing, Just think I am a bit unlucky to experience mine so soon after being diagnosed.

 

[Lenny3]

If only you were 10 years older.............

 

[Postitnote]

Am I really strange then? I am not embarrassed about injecting but I certainly wouldn't do it overtly. I would excuse myself and find a quiet spot and do it there. Other people ought to be considerate of us but it works both ways - I like to think I'm being considerate of their feelings too.

 

[Fallgal]

Honestly it was an actual disaster, could not believe it specially after taking the time to explain to her what I had to do beforehand definitely a lucky escape.

That girl sounds monumentally immature. Lucky escape is right!

 

[PepperTed]

I concur, lucky escape for you. I don't think it's a problem if someone is scared of needles, or uncomfortable around them, but if they were rude enough to make a scene and say "eww" that's not the kind of person I want to know.

I think @Postitnote is right though, and consideration works both ways. I do my insulin at the table and usually can do it without anyone seeing. But if this isn't avoidable, like maybe a circular table where the person next to me can see my stomach, I would warn them that I have to have an injection so that they can look away if they don't want to see it. My experience is that most people are fascinated and want to watch

 

[tim2000s]

I concur, lucky escape for you. I don't think it's a problem if someone is scared of needles, or uncomfortable around them, but if they were rude enough to make a scene and say "eww" that's not the kind of person I want to know.

I think @Postitnote is right though, and consideration works both ways. I do my insulin at the table and usually can do it without anyone seeing. But if this isn't avoidable, like maybe a circular table where the person next to me can see my stomach, I would warn them that I have to have an injection so that they can look away if they don't want to see it. My experience is that most people are fascinated and want to watch

I'm much less polite than you. I like to whip out my pen unsheath the needle and if people have a phobia, well watch them faint.... Sport I think it's called, much like introducing large spiders to tables where there are persons with Arachnophobia!

 

[Postitnote]

Hmmm... perhaps fire a test shot into the air, across the table first, tim200s?

 

[Dillinger]

Am I really strange then? I am not embarrassed about injecting but I certainly wouldn't do it overtly. I would excuse myself and find a quiet spot and do it there. Other people ought to be considerate of us but it works both ways - I like to think I'm being considerate of their feelings too.

I was at a party and someone injected themselves in their stomach in front of me and I kind of thought it was disgusting; it's an intimacy I don't want to see. I'm a Type 1 myself and had never experienced it from the other side as it were.

It's pretty easy to be incredibly discreet about taking insulin (into legs at tables when you are eating out and so on). There's no need to flaunt it; that is just bad manners.

 

[Heathenlass]

Well it doesn't sound like she was phobic to me ( a true phobic would have left the vicinity, not squealed like a stuck pig )

She just sounds rude, ( made you feel uncomfortable ) selfish ( ditto ) and a complete drama queen. You are well rid . I do warn people who don't know that I'm diabetic alongside a short explanation as to what it's all about, and inject discreetly as possible, in other words I don't actually drop my jeans in the middle of a crowded restaurant, ( at least not when I'm sober lol ) . Im bugg@red if I will slope off to the loo to test and or inject, and don't actually carry a head vice to force people to watch I did have one "friend" who did the whole drama queen thing, at the one and only time I injected in front of her , which I found a bit rich as previously I had sat and held her hand during a breast biopsy . Once I pointed out that for me it was an essential thing I needed to do, multiple times daily to stay alive and well, and I was not actually waving the needle at her or have at HER like Vlad the Impaler, she stopped being such a prat

As for friends in general- it's been my experience that a life crisis of any kind sorts the sheep from the goats, and that you may think you know someone well and find they are absolutely not what you believed them to be. If they go, or don't support you , you are better off without them as they were never really your friend.

Signy

 

[Heathenlass]

Oh and on the whole, after explaining, I find most people to be genuinely interested and understanding, and it leads to some interesting conversations. Even though it almost always results in an anecdote of their "Aunty Em who had diabetes and their foot dropped off " variety I find it's usually an educational opportunity without preaching at people. Often the conversation heads that way long before the meter/ injection bit starts, as people comment on or ask about my dietary choices ( low carb, coeliac )

Signy

 

[Postitnote]

The most frequent comment I get is "but you're not fat"

 

[PepperTed]

The most frequent comment I get is "but you're not fat"

Since I'm fat, mine is "oh, is it because you ate too much sugar when you were a child?"

 

[Diamattic]

Well, seems like someone has a fear of needles lol

I never thought of asking people i injected in front of if they dislike needles :/ I always thought that the needle was so small no one would be able to even see it haha

Well, you've learned something!

 

[himtoo]

I
Well done for your positive attitude, you're on completely the right track. A healthy diabetic is one who acknowledges their diabetes. It doesn't define them, but nor does it shackle them with shame.

nail on the head @Charles Robin
acceptance is the biggest hurdle to managing Diabetes effectively

 

[atseyes]

She sounds remarkably ill-mannered and immature; you may well have had a lucky escape, as one or two other people have said.

Mind you, mention of manners leads me to the thought that, at one time, it was considered remarkably bad form to self-medicate in any way in public, either in a restaurant or at a dinner party, or even a family meal - even taking a pill. One would retire to the loo or bathroom discretely to administer the medication. How times have changed!!

 

[himtoo]

atseyes makes a good point from the past -- i never used to inject in public in the 1970's or 1980's
thank goodness times have changed

 

[SuperSoph]

You really did have a luck escape! You have enough to worry about without the added drama from people like this! It sometimes takes a while for people to come around purely because they have NO idea what to say or do. I have had T1 for 22 years, since I was 4, and I still struggle to talk to people about what I have to do and what being diabetes is so you are MILES ahead of me in this department! Just enjoy yourself and have some fun with the friends that you have..... plenty of time for dating!

 

[Heathenlass]

She sounds remarkably ill-mannered and immature; you may well have had a lucky escape, as one or two other people have said.

Mind you, mention of manners leads me to the thought that, at one time, it was considered remarkably bad form to self-medicate in any way in public, either in a restaurant or at a dinner party, or even a family meal - even taking a pill. One would retire to the loo or bathroom discretely to administer the medication. How times have changed!!

Yes, I can see how removing the course of leeches from thine butt at the dinner table would be frowned upon

Signy

 

[kimlily29]

Sorry to hear about your experience. Good for you for explaining what was going on and what you would have to do. She obviously didnt understand something so simple! I am type 2 and take meds. When getting to know someone I always tell them I would be taking meds if going out for an evening meal (or breakfast lol). You did the right thing in explaining first. Her loss.

Also explain that I some point they would see me test my blood sugars.