Back in the day!!!!!!!!

Tonto73

Active Member
Messages
26
Good grief Maureen! That needle looks like the end of a screwdriver!!!
Yes and it hurt every day x 2. I was four when I was diagnosed and I’d hate to be “stabbing” my little one with one of those! How we have moved on in so few years. (Well 40 + years )
 

Grant_Vicat

Well-Known Member
Messages
1,176
Type of diabetes
Don't have diabetes
Treatment type
I do not have diabetes
Dislikes
Intolerance, selfishness, rice pudding
I was never told to eat potatoes of a particular size because we had been given a diet scale. 2ozs of boiled potato was 1 black line, ie. 10 g of carbohydrate. 2 thirds of an ounce of bread was 10g, or 8 ozs of carrot, or 2 ozs of peas. My parents and I could judge amounts accurately by eye after a few months, but I still weighed occasionally to check my estimates were remaining accurate, even as an adult. Anyone else remember Laurence's 'Line Ration Scheme' ? I was suddenly mocked by a doctor at my clinic after some years, for answering in terms of black lines when asked what I was eating. To be honest, I still think of carbs in 10 unit chunks. I find it easier. It doesn't mean I don't take the extra odd grams I need into account !
I had not thought about some of this stuff for years, but basically it did work. If I show my face at a hospital clinic now, because I have grey hair I am routinely treated as if I'm an idiot. I have been told by nurses at the clinic that I'm type 2. I laughed out loud at that. It's either that or cry. In the old-fashioned days, nurses were trained in how to deal with type 1 as a matter of routine. Things started to go wrong in the 1980s. It's back to the 1970s for me !
Try again! I have a 1964 photo of a battered Diabetic ABC by R.D.Lawrence. Too big to send. Will get the techy, ie Mrs V to deal with it!
 

Jaylee

Oracle
Retired Moderator
Messages
18,213
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Just the 86k for me lolView attachment 37590

What's this? Some sort of calculator? Hypo wise. I can normally just "wash & go." (Except when I have to drive.)

Link please..?

Used to have something simalar on a Jap import van forum regarding fuel use & MPG..?

Try again! I have a 1964 photo of a battered Diabetic ABC by R.D.Lawrence. Too big to send. Will get the techy, ie Mrs V to deal with it!

Opening the file in a picture editing app or software. Minimising the size by 50% then "saving as" (if not already.) as a JPEG normally works? You keep he original if you "save as."
 
  • Like
Reactions: Grant_Vicat

kimlouise1502_

Active Member
Messages
27
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Yes 40 years plus I remember having to take home big bottles to do urine tests. 4 bottles for Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner and Supper times. Then having to take them back after a month of testing. Very heavy lol. The glass syringe and carbs use to be known as portions. Things have changed so so much .
 
  • Like
Reactions: Grant_Vicat

tigger

Well-Known Member
Messages
558
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Pump
Dislikes
registrars asking silly questions
The sound of the autolet as it went whizzing towards your finger and having to not move it away in the few seconds... mine had blue lancets. Also i only tested once a day because the hospital said it would be bad for my fingers to do otherwise (aged 3 on diagnosis). And then the game of guessing what the reading was, options of 4-7, 7-9, 9-11, 11-17 or above. I tended to err on the optimistic side as a teen......
 
  • Like
Reactions: Grant_Vicat

porl69

Well-Known Member
Messages
3,647
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Dislikes
Stupid people
  • Like
Reactions: Jaylee

porl69

Well-Known Member
Messages
3,647
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Dislikes
Stupid people
Yes 40 years plus I remember having to take home big bottles to do urine tests. 4 bottles for Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner and Supper times. Then having to take them back after a month of testing. Very heavy lol. The glass syringe and carbs use to be known as portions. Things have changed so so much .

Yeah I can remember "portions". The dietitian gave us playing cards with food on them and what portions they were
 
  • Like
Reactions: Grant_Vicat

PcChris

Newbie
Messages
4
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Yes, I’ve been a Type 1 for 56 years, I was 11 when I spent a week in the children’s ward in St Peters Hospital in Chertsey, the nursing staff were superb and I was discharged with the big glass syringe, large needles, a bottle of ProtamineZinc insulin and a bottle of soluble insulin and a metal gun that the glass syringe clipped into. You set the gun and held it against your skin and pulled the trigger......for an 11 year old, this made injecting a bit easier. But Dad & Mum still had to boil the syringe every morning before use.
Mum always made sure each day that I had my sweet cigarette box with 8 sugar cubes inside in my school bag.
With this insulin regime you had to eat each measured quantity of food at precise times each day. And of course, “managing” your blood sugar by testing your urine with Clinitest tablets........Oh, how times have changed.....
I give all new diabetics this advice.......it’s tough coming to terms with the condition, but with the technology available today it’s much easier than it was in 1963, the insulin pen and blood sugar monitoring allowed me to work all over the world undertake any sport and challenge I wanted to do.
If you listen to your body and look after yourself, then there’s no reason on earth why you can’t do everything you want and get to the age I am without any complications and still be fit to do more.
Last thing, remove stigmas and embarrassment and share and trust your condition with friends and colleagues !!!!
 

porl69

Well-Known Member
Messages
3,647
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Dislikes
Stupid people
Yes, I’ve been a Type 1 for 56 years, I was 11 when I spent a week in the children’s ward in St Peters Hospital in Chertsey, the nursing staff were superb and I was discharged with the big glass syringe, large needles, a bottle of ProtamineZinc insulin and a bottle of soluble insulin and a metal gun that the glass syringe clipped into. You set the gun and held it against your skin and pulled the trigger......for an 11 year old, this made injecting a bit easier.
palmer.jpg


That thing scared me beyond belief!!
 

NaomiJC

Member
Messages
6
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
I was diagnosed in the early 90's which means I've been diabetic for about 30 years now

I was put on human mixtard (30 70) and 50u syringes with a 12mm needle. Two injections a day - one of which was just 4u in the beginning (I couldn't see the point of it!) Had to have a regimented routine of injection before breakfast, and one before dinner. No injection for lunch thankfully, but all meals and snacks had to be eaten, and you could only have a limited choice of what to have - even today I have an aversion to bl**dy digestive biscuits and cornflakes.

I had a refulux s blood test monitor. The test strips were massive and you had to fill the whole tab with blood, stick it in the machine and wait two minutes for the result!

Thankfully I only faced the guillotine while in hospital (but I was in the children's ward a few times as a teen due to dka.) My own finger pricker wasn't much better though, and besides the autolet had already given me a fear of finger pricks.

I grew up resenting my diabetes so much.

My doctors tried getting me to go on to using a pen from the mid nineties but quite frankly coming to terms with injecting at all was traumatic enough for me and I still use syringes today.

My diabetes is a lot easier today; finger prickers are adjustable, needles are shorter and finer, I'm on a basal/bolus regime and can eat and inject when I want, meaning my biggest dose of insulin, which is now Lantas, is before I go to bed - which is something I look forward too

I still struggle to take care of myself properly, but my life as a diabetic is a whole lot easier now
 

Jaylee

Oracle
Retired Moderator
Messages
18,213
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
In the early use of lancets.

I had the gadgets. But preferred to just pop the cap off the yellow lancet & drive it home by hand..

I had one doc baulk when I demonstrated how it was done..
 

Grant_Vicat

Well-Known Member
Messages
1,176
Type of diabetes
Don't have diabetes
Treatment type
I do not have diabetes
Dislikes
Intolerance, selfishness, rice pudding
IMG_9647smaller.JPG
I was never told to eat potatoes of a particular size because we had been given a diet scale. 2ozs of boiled potato was 1 black line, ie. 10 g of carbohydrate. 2 thirds of an ounce of bread was 10g, or 8 ozs of carrot, or 2 ozs of peas. My parents and I could judge amounts accurately by eye after a few months, but I still weighed occasionally to check my estimates were remaining accurate, even as an adult. Anyone else remember Laurence's 'Line Ration Scheme' ? I was suddenly mocked by a doctor at my clinic after some years, for answering in terms of black lines when asked what I was eating. To be honest, I still think of carbs in 10 unit chunks. I find it easier. It doesn't mean I don't take the extra odd grams I need into account !
I had not thought about some of this stuff for years, but basically it did work. If I show my face at a hospital clinic now, because I have grey hair I am routinely treated as if I'm an idiot. I have been told by nurses at the clinic that I'm type 2. I laughed out loud at that. It's either that or cry. In the old-fashioned days, nurses were trained in how to deal with type 1 as a matter of routine. Things started to go wrong in the 1980s. It's back to the 1970s for me !
I think I now have the capability!:
 

Grant_Vicat

Well-Known Member
Messages
1,176
Type of diabetes
Don't have diabetes
Treatment type
I do not have diabetes
Dislikes
Intolerance, selfishness, rice pudding
What's this? Some sort of calculator? Hypo wise. I can normally just "wash & go." (Except when I have to drive.)

Link please..?

Used to have something simalar on a Jap import van forum regarding fuel use & MPG..?



Opening the file in a picture editing app or software. Minimising the size by 50% then "saving as" (if not already.) as a JPEG normally works? You keep he original if you "save as."
Many thanks @Jaylee. I have now moved into the 20th Century!
 

NaomiJC

Member
Messages
6
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
I've had my blood test done with a sewing needle sterilised by fire when I've tried to get out of doing a finger prick Nurses were vicious back in the day
 

rochari

Well-Known Member
Messages
154
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
View attachment 37597

That thing scared me beyond belief!!

Me too. My late brother bought it for me only a year or two after I was diagnosed and I couldn't pull that trigger. I also couldn't use the little steel tube injector that Hypoguard manufactured all those years ago. It terrified me just as much. I've never used any finger pricker because I'm braver just sticking the lancet in. I see an ongoing theme here! Bill
 
  • Like
Reactions: Grant_Vicat

rochari

Well-Known Member
Messages
154
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
View attachment 37600
I think I now have the capability!:

I love of all of your pics Grant, you've a terrific collection and for a good few years every time you post them I get a big punch of nostalgia. The first insulin I was put on in the early 60's was once-a-day Lente. It's possibly my age now but I have difficulty recalling the box it came in although I think it was perhaps coloured purple and white. Do you remember it? Bill
 
  • Like
Reactions: Grant_Vicat

porl69

Well-Known Member
Messages
3,647
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Dislikes
Stupid people
Me too. My late brother bought it for me only a year or two after I was diagnosed and I couldn't pull that trigger. I also couldn't use the little steel tube injector that Hypoguard manufactured all those years ago. It terrified me just as much. I've never used any finger pricker because I'm braver just sticking the lancet in. I see an ongoing theme here! Bill

Oh I had forgotten about that steel barrel. I did use that a few times
 
  • Like
Reactions: Grant_Vicat

Mutley

Member
Messages
6
Type of diabetes
Type 1
I’ve been diabetic for 61 years, glass syringes I was allergic to pork insulin so was on ox insulin. Urine tests to check sugar levels, 10 drops of water to 5 drops of urine and it would bubble up when you added the tablet. Blue was good as I could have a biscuit at night, orange meant no treat. Also a tiny tablet to test for keytones. I was under the Birmingham Children’s under Dame June Lloyd and Prof Wolf. On ward 8. I was allowed a sweet ration of 15 smarties, 4 squares of CDM, 3 opral fruits etc. We had rations, which then became portions. Things have changed so much for the better. My mom was told I’d never be able to have a baby.. I have 4 healthy children.
 

Penquin47210

Member
Messages
23
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Long before finger pricks, the staff at Kings College used to take a sample from an earlobe and put a bit of paper there afterwards (styptic paper ?). Not a pleasant experience for an 11-12 year old.....

All sorts of mixed memories eg Consultant at King's telling parents "Don't worry about Christmas it won't make any difference in the long run", followed by Diabetic children's party (Complete with Father Christmas - probably one of the Consultants) and "party games" plus unlimited food....

My parents joined the Bromley Branch of the British Diabetic Association in 1962 but gave up going as they had no transport and it was two bus journeys to get there.

Also (don't) remember first really serious hypo at Grammar School - only from what I have been told, as ended up collapsing at lunch, then hitting Deputy Head in face (gave him a black eye) before waking in Bromley Hospital three hours later. I gained some "street cred" for the act, but he kept well clear of me for years....

As I said, this thread evokes many memories, I never had the autolet, just told to do it so did....

Keep the memories coming, please, did anyone else go on the BDA Holidays not too far from Whipsnade ?