For the past thirty years or so, most of my injections have been through my shirt. But from reading other posts, I get the impression that this is relatively rare? This was a trick I learned from Dr. Bernstein years ago and it makes dining out so much easier. Before I go into a restaurant, I will usually check my blood sugar, so I know what my insulin needs will be. If I’m with friends or family, I just inject at the table. If I’m with total strangers, I may get up from the table and turn towards a window for a minute while I give the shot. Is anyone else doing this?
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Actually I think it’s pretty common. There have been other threads here touching on it, and it seems like a lot of us do it this way. I injected pre-meal boluses through my clothes for 30 years while on various forms of MDI. Never had a single problem with it. Like you say, it’s particularly handy when you’re out with other people. I’ve gone through pants as well as shirt. Even used to use the back of my arm when I had injector pens–no one ever seemed to notice.
I’ve also done this but not very often due to the majority of my insulin therapy has been delivered via a pump. I have no objections to this practice based on antiseptic concerns but I did have one incident when I hit a larger blood vessel and the blood stain on my shirt looked like I had been shot!
I totally understand the social desirability of this practice, especially when eating at a restaurant with friends or colleagues. It is a rare person who notices what you do.
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I will inject through my shirt when I’m out with others and just want to do it as quickly and inconspicuously as possible. Unless I’m wearing a white shirt 
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I feel that I must rise strongly against considering this thought a universal one!
In 2017, I do not believe that it should be considered inappropriate to inject in public. I don’t want my son to be ashamed of being a PWD, and I have encouraged him to inject in public in the most convenient place available wherever we go – typically at our table in a restaurant, or in a comfortable place to have his gear around in a park. etc… The last thing I want to see is his feeling the need to inject in an unsanitary bathroom without a family adult around – or any sense of shame about diabetes.
Incidentally, most kids his age I know inject in class.
I understand each one of us has his/her own idea of what social acceptability is. I am comfortable with everyone else’s – for their own use of course. I figure I am staking mine here 
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I am with you on this one. I inject wherever I want. I consider injecting and testing my BG and eating sugar the same as breathing for anyone else. I do it to stay alive.
Being forced to hide so that I can inject is akin to someone feeling like they need to hide their breathing or hide their heart beat. The very idea is antiquated.
Thanks for staking your spot. I am staking it with you.
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Your take on this is congruent with my personal values. My statement above was simply a nod to the reality that others may not fully agree with me when confronting the social Neanderthals who get queasy around needles. My answer to people like that is, “if you don’t like it, don’t look!”
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I’d never do it. The needles are too thin and you can’t see what you’re doing. I’m on a pump and I don’t inject much now. Most people do not notice what is right in front of their face or what other people are doing about 99% of the time. I could care less anyway- I changed my sensor while out shopping the other day.
I inject through trousers in the airplane as I frequently fly all over the world. Not out of vanity, just so much easier with a tray table down in a cramped space. I rub my finger on trousers and can feel very slight discomfort from last 2-3 injections so never end up injecting closer than 1-2 inches from recent injections. Works like a charm and I use the smallest be pen tips available. Been doing this for decades.
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I will inject upon a plane
and If needed on a train
On a stage coach dusty, bumpy
Over porrige hot and lumpy
To conclusions don’t start jumping
Wait, that’s right-- I am pumping!
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Since I’ve been on a pump for years I rarely inject when I’m out. When I was on MDI, I’d inject through my clothes or under the table. At work, if there were people around I’d mention it before I’d inject become there’s quite of few folks that can’t stand needles or feel faint at the sight of blood when testing. I remember two men that I’d worked with that would all but run when I told them I was going to inject or test. Good thing they weren’t T1Ds.
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I would never, ever inject through clothing. In the first place, I’m relatively thin and have limited territory with enough fat to inject. In the second place, much of that limited territory is even with or below my navel. And in the third place, I bruise easily that I find that often almost half of my available territory is bruised and I need to avoid for a current injection. So I need to see what I’m doing.
Because of the above, I normally inject in the car before I go into a restaurant or I inject in the restroom. In the four-plus years I’ve been on insulin, the first times I injected at the table in a restaurant were on a trip we took earlier this month. The first time was at a very elegant restaurant, but there was a long tablecloth behind which I could hide, plus I allowed my menu to extend over the edge of the table so the people at the table across from us wouldn’t have been able to see me exposing my belly. We were also fortunate in that that group’s food arrived just as I was getting ready for my injection. They were far too busy with their food to pay any attention to what I was doing.
The second time on that trip was at a truck stop type of restaurant in the wee hours of the morning. There were few other customers at that hour, so it was mainly doing my injection when the waitresses were busy elsewhere and not in the line of vision. But through my clothing? Never!
I inject through clothing, including jeans, all the time. Have been for over 20 years. Never had a single problem. I’ll inject wherever I am—I’ve done it walking down the street. Usually no one even notices, especially since I’m not moving aside any clothing.
I have never injected through my shirt but I am always wearing a button down shirt (with no undershirt) and when I am out and feel the need to be a little more discrete, without undoing a button I push aside the placket enough to inject above the navel without the needle going into the fabric. I use insulin pens with the shortest needles available so I feel more comfortable that I have a consistant dosing if I am not adding a fabric gap to the depth of the injection.
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I also for years would inject through clothes. I have never felt the need to hide what I’m doing whether injecting or blood testing. I figure it’s what I need to stay alive, so I do what I need to do. Those injections went through shirts, jeans, whatever I was wearing. But I will say doing that dulls the needle much faster for those that reuse needles.
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I do reuse my needles, but I’ve never discarded one because it was too dull. Usually they bend before I give it up! I don’t inject through jeans or other heavy fabrics though. It’s always through my shirt. I don’t believe the shirt/undershirt material changes the effective depth of penetration much, since they are compressed during injection. I can see that for really heavy fabrics that this would be a problem though.
Never heard of injecting thru clothing! Interesting! My T1 18-year-old son has no problem WHATsoever injecting in public. I’m pretty sure he likes flashing his 6-pack to anybody who wants to look…
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Ha ha ha! Pardon my guffaw—retired RN here. I remember learning with HORROR that people injected through their clothing! They clearly were dragging miniscule bits of fabric into the injection site, setting themselves up for raging infection, amputations and death! Yeah, I have injected myself (and others—worked with a few violent psychiatric patients who declined my polite requests to drop their drawers). I’ve read here of about 150 years of uneventful injections thru clothing—guess it IS safe!
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I have injected through my clothes for more than 60 years, just thin material clothing, and still doing it. Never had anything happen to me or my injection site. This is only done around my stoic area. My arms and legs are injected into the skin.
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Add me to the list — I’m on a pump now, but for 30+ years, I injected through clothing, with no problems at all. In public places I always figured it was cleaner than using a public restroom. I also never used alcohol on injection sites, and re-used my syringes until they bent. Never a problem.
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