Is Diabetes an Open Topic in Your Region?

I currently live in New England, USA, but traveled to San Diego CA a few months ago and noticed they have syringe containers in the public restrooms. (We don’t have anything like that here) Now, either they have a very high and accepting drug usage issue… or there’s a very open forum for Needle Diabetics to live out there.

How open is your region?

Also, I noticed that there are many many California Diabetics on TuDiabetes… was wondering if that means there’s a more dense population of Diabetics in CA, or if more people just KNOW about TuD in CA?

Thoughts? :slight_smile:

I have heard about the needle disposal too, but never seen one where I am from (Michigan).

HAHA, I also wondered about all the Californians here. More diabetics in California or more knowledge of TuD? Good question.

Oh - I got the pleasure of using one of those air blade dryers in the Netherlands recently. I, too, thought how awesome it would be to have one in my home, but I can’t afford to replace a rotting door, much less put in a pricey air dryer. I loved that thing so much that I washed my hands a second time just to see how quickly they would dry again.

I live in NW PA which does not have anything of the sort. I travel to both Erie and Pittsburgh communities and along the way there are a few rest areas. They do not have anywhere to dispose of used syringes and I even asked about it once and they said they could not afford to keep them in those areas because they are frequented by so many different types of people that it would not be safe for the user of the sharps container or the person who was working at the rest area due to the amount of drugs and drug abuse in the area.

Yeah, that’s what I thought when I saw them! How easy it would be to tear that little container off the wall and let the druggies use them all! They’d be stupid if they did that, but…

I heard, years ago, that manufactured insulin is DEADLY to “normal” people. Does anyone know if that’s true?

Okay- cleared that up! haha. I’d heard it from another T1D a when I was a teenager, but she was a bit of a drama queen, so she may have been making it up.

Just the same stuff happens to them that happens to us, right? They’d go into hypo- but eventually their body’s normal functions will fix it?

Except in large doses. That sounds familiar. Their bodies can actually adjust for it until it overwhelms their system.

Here in the northwest we have sharps disposal containers in several public restrooms. Typically they are goverment run or healthcare.

Wow, you’d think that a place like New York City suburbs (as modern as that city is) would be up to date on all this type of stuff first? Maybe we just have more of a drug problem here?

California and Pacific coast seems to have more of a “Green” and “Hippie” reputation- but ya’ll still got more smog than we do! haha.

Nothing like this in the good old south! I live in Georgia. When I was on shots people would come up to me and yell, accusing me of doing drugs if I took my shot at the table. Needless to say I started doing shots in the bathroom to avoid this.

I see permanently-installed public sharps disposal facilities in a number of the toll-road rest rooms here in New Jersey (Garden State Parkway, New Jersey Turnpike). It’s not universal, but frequent enough to look for. Apparently they were available in some of the Atlantic City casino restrooms until some people (obviously not those who NEED these facilities) decided to use them as alternate trash containers and overflowed them. Apparently they were removed shortly afterwards.

Other than that, I’ve only seen a permanent installation once, at McCarren Airport in Las Vegas, in 2002 (which was the last time I traveled by air).

At outdoor events, check with the First Aid squad (there are always a few First Responders – usually volunteers – on site) to see if they have facilities available. What they have is likely to be a red BD container – but it beats carrying around one’s biohazard trash – not to mention, it alerts the First Responders of your diabetes should they for any reason need to provide you with emergency assistance.

I feel like I saw one in the O’hare airport bathrooms in Chicago but I could be mistaken.

That’s terrible! I get a few odd looks, but I try to ignore them.
I still don’t think that doing a shot in the bathroom is the answer, because it’s unsanitary, but if that’s what you have to do to get away from the ignorant people, then so be it?

I’m from florida but currently live in Georgia for school and I know in Florida we have sharps containers in some rest areas and in a few public restrooms but I haven’t seen anything here in Georgia. I have a system for keeping track of my used syringes and then just dispose of them at home in my sharps container.

I have a stupid question about syringes. Do you guys that take shots reuse your syringes or do you follow the directions and use them once? I was told by my CDE that I could reuse them once or twice. I know that I can’t use them for different insulins, but my endo diagreed and said no. I had my appointment with him yesterday and was just as confused leaving as I was when I got there! He’s a confusing man!

Elizabeth

And don’t worry the wind carries our smog east.

I have seen one container in a Port-a-Potty. But that was a couple of years ago.

weird- in a Port-a-Potty? Sounds disgusting. haha

Yeah it looked like it had been there a while, but seemed empty. Nasty, you wonder if someone was “cleaning it out”.

When I was on MDI I always reused at least 4 times. Never saw anything bad from doing that. Now I’m on a pump and I change my site twice a week - Thursday mornings and Sunday nights.

This is not something you should do, but I sometimes reuse needles a lot. I mean, a LOT. Like 50 or 100 times. So, sure you can do it. Just try to replace it before it gets too dull – then it’s painful. Some endos say you absolutely should not reuse and some say go ahead. It kind of depends on the person and how much they understand living with diabetes.

Does that mean that, as a diabetic, you are prohibited from using them?