Blood Glucose Meters

[cornton]

I was out walking my dog this morning and I was thinking to myself, how did people test blood sugars prior to the invention of blood glucose meters? If anyone can enlighten me it would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[Rachox]

Home testing was performed by testing urine with testing strips, not very accurate I believe as blood glucose needs to be over 10mmol/l to spill over in to urine.

 

[spasternak]

Well... In the early days, you would test your urine with a dipstick to see if there was glucose, which meant your glucose was elevated (it had a 1+, 2+, 3+ scale associated with the color of the dispstick). This was not very accurate and only really showed if your glucose was above ~ 180 mg/dl.

Then, in the 1980s there came out blood testing strips. You would prick your finger with a hideous looking device and put the drop on a strip. You would wait for the reaction to complete (like 60 seconds), then wipe off the strip and read the colors compared to a color chart on the strip bottle.

A short time later, some manufacturers released a "meter" that would read the color on the strip when it was inserted.

Then came the meters with strips that you actually applied the blood and got instant readings...