I've been checking out what others think

about testing blood and using insulin in public. I'm still trying to get a good balance of discretion and health in terms of going out to eat or like today, when I was in a professional meeting that involved food.

I do not feel comfortable breaking the skin in a bathroom. So I've been discreetly doing the test/injecting once I have the food at the table. You can do a lot under the table itself, without spreading things all over. This seems to be the best way to do it, and others be damned in terms of any problems with it. Doing so before going to the restaurant is out--sometimes you wait a long time for food or to sit. A test involves very little blood and is not unsanitary. A pen needle is tiny and should not make people faint, and quite frankly if they do, they're weenies.

I have only had one incident, at work, and not in a public place, where I tested my blood sugar and got a deeper stick than normal, and someone I knew who was very sensitive to a lot of things got grossed out, although not upset or anything. But in retrospect, that had more to do with her being weird than what I was doing.

Sometimes, because I'm new to this, I actually forget to take it, and if I'm lucky I'll remember in time to take it after eating. But today I remembered, once I started, but was in a room full of other librarians, very close to one another, and should have just excused myself to another room, but I let it go instead. Later that day, when I tested my blood sugar, it was something like 357. Definitely the wrong call. Now that I am solely on insulin, I need to be vigilant about taking it. Hence the search to see what others think of the proper etiquette for this.

I found one very good blog post on testing that can also be adapted to insulin injection. The author had linked to it on a forum where a woman was very frustrated because her own family treated her like she was injecting heroin if she did it publicly. I think he is the voice of sanity, by an Australian named Alan Shanley, who has written a book called What on Earth Can I Eat: Food, Type II Diabetes, and YOU:

Testing Etiquette

Okay, heading to bed. Good night.