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  1. Oranges and Mice

    Wednesday 26 May 2010

    There was an interesting discussion on Diabetes Support today, about whether people were actually taught how to inject by practising on oranges, or if this was just a myth. Now personally, after I came off the sliding scale - delivered by what I believe to be a syringe driver - scary looking piece of equipment when you're not actually sure what it is, by the way - after I came off that, I did my first injection myself. Novomix 30, into my arm. No oranges for me. I can't imagine what advantages there would have been to me learning that way. I think it would have frightened me more, and built it up to be this huge thing that had to have lots and lots of practice before I was able to do it. Also, this might be me, but I can't see how oranges and skin would actually have that much in common - much more effort to get a needle through an orange than through skin, surely?

    Also as a separate topic, I've found myself thinking about all the news articles you see about research into diabetes. It's always on mice. I'm not for animal testing for frivolous reasons (ie, cosmetics, etc), and I'm definitely anti-cruelty. But I do see a need for testing medicines on animals, even if I wish we didn't have to. All the same though, if you had to be an animal with diabetes, wouldn't it be great to be a mouse? Research into curing Type 1 in mice seems to be quite extensive.
    Just a thought...

  2. 6 comments:

    1. i learnt on oranges :) before being let loose on my DSNs arms.

    2. Anonymous said...

      I learned on oranges, too! And holy smokes, am I jealous of those mice.

    3. Anonymous said...

      I was told to give myself two shots (5 units of lanuts and five units of Humalog) not even 10 minutes into my appointment! It was like, "here you go!" and they didn't show me how to do it or anything. It was freaky.

    4. Alison said...

      I learnt my trade on oranges too - you're right, it's nothing like the real thing but I suppose you have to start somewhere!

    5. Bec said...

      Nope, not a citrus fruit in sight for me when I started (19 years ago) I was let loose on my tummy straight away (although how I found any fat to inject into at that point I'll never know, as I had lost so much weight pre-diagnosis!!!)
      Like you, I'm not entirely sure that I would have found it helpful to inject into a piece of fruit!!! Lol

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