Not all that much related, but when I was in the hospital they told me to walk periodically to keep my blood sugar down. Trouble was, at the time pedicatrics was filled and I was near a part of the floor with people who were really old - as most people seemed at that time when I was 11. The crowning blow, though, was when a nurse said to me as I ventured into that area on one of my strolls, “Where are you going, little boy?” My God! I thought. I’m not little. At age 11, I was nearly an adult!
2006- had a mono test done at the Drs office and was sent home with a handful of Rxs and no clue what diabetes was.
I taught myself how to inject insulin after looking it up on google, actually I learned everything I know about diabetes from the internet. Sad, but true.
I used the orange at the request of the educator and I complained (and still maintain this stance on the matter) that injecting into an orange feels nothing like human skin/flesh. My brother came along for the training all those years ago and he recently asked me if now that I have more experience I’m willing to admit I was wrong. Heh, no! They were all so insistent that I was wrong and that an orange is exactly like human skin.
Pavlos - I think that’s why I got scared when my Mum went from an orange to ME (see my reply above)!!! An orange feels nothing like human skin!!
No oranges for me… I learned to do shots by myself, on myself 
Literally my training was “Go get the insulin and syringes from the pharmacy, follow the directions on the insert, take 8 units of regular and 12 units of NPH” It amazes me even to this day that I was able to do it.
That said, I used to push the needle in SUPER slowly… because I was so afraid. Eventually I got over that (and pumping definitely helped… inserting SIlhouettes by hand… eek!) but it took a while.
My experience when 1st Dxd at 8 in 1966 5 days before my ninth Bday : I was in a coma for about ten days when I came to, my hands were tied to the bed rails ( I guess when I started to regain consciousness I pulled my IV and stomach pump tubes out) next to me ion the other bed was a man who had just had his legs amputated because of D ( He was used as an example of what would happen to me by the Nurses ) Than came time to practice Injecting Insulin, a nice big orange was handed to me and I shot that thing up untill it leaked all over. I thought boy this dosent hurt at all. The orange to body did not rellyu transfer well. No wonder I am such a mess LOL
The orange they had me use was foam…not appetizing at all.
What??? An orange like human skin??? That’s one of the weirder comparisons I’ve heard.
Oh my Lord if that wasn’t traumatizing I don’t know what is – but you lived to tell the tale, bravo!
I’m new and I didn’t practice – the first day I was diagnosed, I gave myself a real injection. (The first was given to me by a nurse).
Forget the peaches, go for the real thing!
Did I not say , that I practiced on an orange , March 1983 ?? in the hospital where I was for 5 days to learn the robes …well I did, and cried my eyeballs out , smothered by the Nurse during my first shot : we hugged and hugged and felt sooo close with her. …here to tell the story ! I do like oranges and sometime have one !
When I was first diagnosed I had been in icu for 3 days. I still was comming off my consulting high. As a software consultant I had a mentality that I could fix anything. so the nurse was nice and she was prepping my shot for the day. I told her to give me the needle and I asked her where should I shoot up and she said the stomach. I did not hesitate at all I just put the needle in my stomach and push the insulin in. At the time I thought if this is my life lets move on. Today I am in pills and I hesitate every time I pop one in my mouth. Those scare me more than injections.
That is so weird that your brother is clinging to this idea about oranges and human skin. Then again, it sounds like a brother thing.
I did the orange thing, too. The first time they tried to get me to inject in my stomach, I turned green and passed out. I came back the next week in a pair of shorts and worked on using my thigh. Though, I do remember that the nurse who was teaching me had me give her a shot of saline. I’m not sure what they thought my giving someone else a shot would do for me. It didn’t really make it easier for me to jab myself.
They told me to practice on fruit when I was in the hospital but after a while I never did it in the fruit and just tried injecting myself. It seemed really strange injecting a fruit. It does seem like a suitable practice method but I never did it.
But something weird related to that…I had 2 friends become tattoo artists and guess what they practice on with the tat gun before making a real tattoo on a person? yep, a piece of fruit.
Its more just about ‘going through the motions’, and critically to learn to inject/jab, rather than ‘slowly… push’, where ‘slowly pushing’ can have a 'cutting like like effect which can hurt.
So the trick is to learn to ‘jab’ nicely, by just practicing going through the motion.
my parents practiced on a styrofoam cup when i was Dx’d
I got to use a slightly mushy banana. I was 10 when my doc finally had me do my own shots.I thought it was fun at the time.lol.
I was given my diagnosis on the phone on New Year’s Eve eve on a friday. So you know no one was coming back to the office for days! The woman who called (not even the doctor-a family practitioner) said not to eat “sugar”. That’s it. I hardly ate anything besides broth for days because that’s all I could think to eat!
My first shot…I don’t know how no one made me do it. I got all the subscriptions, was informed how to do it. I had my dad do it the first time (i was 31!!) because I needed to know how it felt. His shot was one of the ONLY terrible bruises I’ve had since diagnosis!
It’s only gone uphill, in terms of care, since then so no complaints from me!
I use my tummy…each roll looks like an orange…