Type 1 diabetic since 1968

[Brian_H]

I have been type 1 since 1959 and I too remember glass syringes, metal needles, urine testing by test tubes and clinitest tablets, I also remember an autoinjector which was just like a gun onto which you mounted your syringe. I think insulin pens are great but no one has ever mentioned I have a pump. I have had heart surgery but I still play tennis twice a week and go to the gym. I still stick to the carb counting I was taught originally in 1959. My Hba1c readings have been variable over the years but the last one was 51 in new terms.

wow you beat me by 9 years, respect
Now you mention it, I had one of those autoinjectors. It was savage, really nasty, makes me cringe thinking of it now.
i have wondered about a pump, but I did use a Dexcom CGM for several months, and I found it uncomfortable in the end, and I've been told that if I didn't like that then I might not like a pump
Hba1c of 5.1 is impressive. I think my last one was 6.1, maybe 6.5, something like that (got the paperwork somewhere).

 

[noblehead]

I don't remember being told to adjust carbs pre-1982, I do remember consultants doing their nut if I didn't stick to a written diet prescribed by their dietician. When I "discovered" a new consultant in 1982, he said that what I was doing (no diet, just winging it) was fine, it was like a breath of fresh air. I also know about the DAFNE stuff, like you nothing new, except sickness and exercise, oh and the variability of insulin ratio during the day.

Probably like myself you were on fixed insulin doses Brian set by your diabetes team, if say I went hypo after eating I would be told to eat a few more carbs rather then adjust the insulin, thank heavens now for modern insulins

 

[Picci]

Initially I was in two injections a day and had to stick to a ridged carb counted diet, if I missed my mid morning/afternoon snack when the act-rapid peaked, I would have a hypo. I very quickly got fat following a a high starchy carb diet prescribed by the dietician. However this was very short lived as I was soon put onto multiple injections and that's when I really got into adjusting actrapid to match bgs and carb intake. I remember it was a very new way of controlling diabetes c1980 and I was asked if I'd be interested in trying it out ( my parents had quickly learned all about diabetes when I was diagnosed which probably gave the consultant the confidence I could cope with a new regime). When I first got a novo pen, we had to buy it as it was such a new way of administering insulin. My parents were extremely supportive and I took over my care very quickly. Mum used to bake cakes and sit with a pencil working out the carbs, and I'd test and work out how much actrapid to have for a small slice!! I never felt I missed out in my childhood. Wow, just typing this brings back all the memories of my childhood. Christine


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[noblehead]

Initially I was in two injections a day and had to stick to a ridged carb counted diet, if I missed my mid morning/afternoon snack when the act-rapid peaked, I would have a hypo. I very quickly got fat following a a high starchy carb diet prescribed by the dietician. However this was very short lived as I was soon put onto multiple injections and that's when I really got into adjusting actrapid to match bgs and carb intake. I remember it was a very new way of controlling diabetes c1980 and I was asked if I'd be interested in trying it out ( my parents had quickly learned all about diabetes when I was diagnosed which probably gave the consultant the confidence I could cope with a new regime). When I first got a novo pen, we had to buy it as it was such a new way of administering insulin. My parents were extremely supportive and I took over my care very quickly. Mum used to bake cakes and sit with a pencil working out the carbs, and I'd test and work out how much actrapid to have for a small slice!! I never felt I missed out in my childhood. Wow, just typing this brings back all the memories of my childhood. Christine

Yeah it was a pain having to snack between meals to keep bg up even though half the time you weren't hungry, the good thing about MDI is not having to snack and you can eat when your hungry.

I never had to pay for my first insulin pen but did for my first bg meter, do you remember you could cut the test strips up and make them go further, they wouldn't work in the meter once you'd cut them but you could compare the colour of the strip to the chart that was on the side of the test strip tub, I was only allowed 50 strips at a time back then so cutting them up into 2 or 3 worked well.

On reflection I wish I'd kept some of my old equipment to look back on, times have certainly moved on Christine and almost certainly for the better, do you remember the 'guillotine' lancing device?.................hurt like hell and still have nightmares about that contraption

 

[robert72]

I was given my original Novopen by the hospital circa. 1989 (recently donated to ConradJ for his diabetic museum).

Just had a rummage in my drawer full of old meters and found this, my first meter which had human or machine readable strips

 

[noblehead]

I was given my original Novopen by the hospital circa. 1989 (recently donated to ConradJ for his diabetic museum).

Just had a rummage in my drawer full of old meters and found this, my first meter which had human or machine readable strips

Cheers Robert, you can clearly see the chart I was referring to on the test strip container. My first meter was a Roche, it was much bigger than the one you've posted and took two minutes to take a reading, I didn't really care about the time it took back then as the meter was such a god-send from urine testing

 

[Picci]

Oh yes Noblehead!!! The cutting of strips! You know, I was sad when they stopped making strips that could be visually checked. Yes I know it was not accurate to visually check but at times to get a general idea ( if in doubt ) you could easily see if you were high ( deep blue/green) or nearing a hypo if you didn't have the huge meter with you!! I feel it wasn't that long ago since the visually colour coded strips went out if circulation, it was nice to be able to check bgs with or without a meter!!


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[Picci]

This was the meter I had!! Massive! Collected blood, wiped it off after 60 seconds, then popped it into the meter, after another 60 seconds your result flashed up! Or like I said, you could just visually watch it change and hold it against the colour strip on bottle!!


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[noblehead]

Oh yes Noblehead!!! The cutting of strips! You know, I was sad when they stopped making strips that could be visually checked. Yes I know it was not accurate to visually check but at times to get a general idea ( if in doubt ) you could easily see if you were high ( deep blue/green) or nearing a hypo if you didn't have the huge meter with you!! I feel it wasn't that long ago since the visually colour coded strips went out if circulation, it was nice to be able to check bgs with or without a meter!!

As you say it wasn't accurate by any means checking your bg with the colour chart but it worked just the same, when you think about the current concerns about test strip costs to the NHS I do wonder if they ever should have done away with the charts.

I know the design of the strips are much different now and the blood is drawn up under a protective sleeve making it impossible to cut.......but it wasn't a bad idea back then which must have saved the NHS a few £'s.

Just remembered my first bg meter, it was a Reflolux S.

 

[Picci]

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[Picci]

View attachment 2933


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Forgot to add the pic to my previous post!!


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[noblehead]

View attachment 2933


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That's the one!!!!!!! Cheers for posting Christine

 

[Picci]

Could't resist posting three more photographs....the glass syringe!! I had one just like that!! The first ever Novo Pen, very handsome it was and weighty too. And the worst ever contraption for pricking the finger....

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[Thundercat]

What a trip down memory lane. One thing I was often grateful for was that when I was diagnosed in '86 the plastic disposable syringes were freely available. My first meter was.a Glucometer but I did later have the Glucotrend. And OMG the guillotine! I hated that thing with a passion! Thank heavens for medical advancements.


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[Brian_H]

I've been to the loft and found some stuff in a box.

Here are the BG kits that I had up until 2006 (when I bought myself OneTouch UltraSmart in Tesco)
All these kits were given to me by diabetic nurses at various hospital appointments.
Note that I hardly ever did BG testing until my extremely good awareness started to go in 2006.
As I've said previously, I was lucky I guess, I don't know what changed, but I could tell to within 1 mmol/l what my BG was compared with one of these kits, so I would do it once in a blue moon just to check my prediction was still accurate. Knowing how inaccurate these were, I reckon I was probably more correct LOL

I don't know if I got this in 1981, but that order form dated 1981 was in that wallet

and here it is opened up

then I got this at some point in time

Finally I got this in 2001-ish

 

[Brian_H]

And here are the syringes.


This little box used to have a plastic tube with a screw top, which fitted in the box.
The glass syringe was held by a spring in the tube, and surgical spirit or meths was in the tube.
You could put the tube into a clip that held it upright, so you could unscrew the top from the tube, then with the tube held upright, you could pull out the glass syringe, get the spirit/meths out of it, fit a needle, withdraw the insulin, etc, etc.
But at some point in time the tube cracked a bit, and that's when I was switched to disposable syringes when I mentioned it to a diabetic nurse.
Hence the disposable syringes in the box, the glass syringe and plastic tube went in the bin LOL

In about 1982 I bought this wonderful plastic red box from somewhere.
It's brilliant, held two syringes and two 10ml bottles of insulin. I could go on holiday abroad with just that red box for a couple of weeks, and nothing else except for a bag of spare syringes !!!
Like several people have already said, I now recall that I would inject some extra actrapid if I thought I was going to need it.
I was using this red box up until 2008, so it served me well for over 25 years !!!

 

[robert72]

I had one of those blue boxes with the syringe tube. Certainly had in in 1975, if not before. It had a plastic part that held the syringe tube and was also a clip for 2 insulin vials

 

[Picci]

Wow Brian H. A trip down memory lane indeed!!
Christine


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[noblehead]

Actrapid & Monotard....................not great memory's. The Guillotine lancer looks as scary as it did all those years ago, whoever decided to to make that thing and did they know how painful it was

 

[Brian_H]

I had one of those blue boxes with the syringe tube. Certainly had in in 1975, if not before. It had a plastic part that held the syringe tube and was also a clip for 2 insulin vials

yes that's right, I think that I cut away the clip for the vials to make space for other things. I remeber throwing the plastic part, the tube and the glass syringe into the bin because I was so amazed at the leap forward it felt to have disposable syringes, but I wish I'd kept them as well now