This week my watch battery ran out. The watch-battery-replacing-people are a two minute walk from my office – so obviously I haven’t got around to having it replaced yet. In the meantime, I’ve been using the clock on my pump as a sort of very expensive pocket watch, which has proven very handy.
So what unexpected benefits of diabetes have you experienced recently?
@tim Did you have any issues with the time change or is it a simple matter of updating said time and your infused body carry on as normal? Me was a little late with the “old skool” lantus.. Damn body clock!
Having a never ending supply of sweets, eating healthier than most other people, and using it as an excuse not to do something (like, ‘I’m not going to the gym, my bs is too high/low’ – I don’t do this, honestly)
I get a ‘service kit’ for the pump/meter that includes a battery cover, a cartridge cover, and 2 sets of batteries for both pump and meter. I am finding that I dont get through the batteries as often as ‘average’ (I guess because I have a low basal and eat low carbs, so less power on pumping insulin) because I have to change the battery/cartridge cover about as often as I have to change (1) set of batteries. So I now have a large set of (free) batteries that are coming in handy for remote controls, clocks, etc…
@Mike Thanks, I’ve been lurking for a while and decided to join in with the fun! I apparently gave my sister a phobia of needles brandishing said syringes. Hmph. Everyone blames the diabetic. haha
I used it as an excuse to get out of looking like a weed at work. Undoing a certain set of bolts requires a HELL of a lot of power, and I’ve been a bit out of shape recently, so I just said ‘oooh, sorry mate, I’m feeling a bit low, you’ll have to take this round, I’ll do ’em up on the build!’ He wasn’t best pleased as (somewhat counter-intuitively) doing them up requires about 1/3 of the torque!
I’ll also second (or third, or whatever number it is) the extra sweets sentiment! I do love that one. At work I’m the only one to get to chomp of chocolate IN FRONT of the managers!
I’ve been holding this back in fear that someone who’s not diabetic seeing it and wising up: those boxes that harbour disposable pens are excellent places to hide pieces of cheese you’re loath to share with anyone :-9
Playing on the fact that most non-diabetics have very little idea what we are or are not “allowed” to eat (forget DAFNE for now) you can pretty much always get out of eating something you don’t fancy. “Sorry, too much sugar” “Sorry, only allowed x amount of carbs” “Sorry, not allowed to eat withing x amount of time from last meal”
Similar to the above comment; using other peoples’ lack of knowledge about it to get out of doing things you don’t want to. “Oh I really want to go, but my insulin blood stuff thingy is acting extra mumbo jumbo today, it’s very awkward and complicated, you wouldn’t understand.”
And the thin bits of plastic that protect the needles are good to chew like a farmer.