Diabetes on Call the Midwives

Both me and hubby watched this last night .

What amazed me was how they used to test for the blood sugars .
In the test tube with a tablet thing that fizzed up 'orange' for high blood sugars :shock:
[Have heard about this - just never seen it done.]

It makes me realise how far we have travelled given all the choices available of fancy testing kits nowadays!

Anna.

I remember the fun off being a five year old trying to pee in a test tube and dropping that magic tablet in there

I also remember testing pee in a test tube, in the dark days before BM strips and then meters

claymic said:

Hi

Whilst watching Call the Midwives yesterday, they showed the nurses visiting a guy who was diabetic. When they tested his urine and found it was high in sugar, they told him to stay off the pies, potatoes, beer etc...so it made me think...when did the NHS change its nutritional advice.

Call the Midwives is based in the late 1950's and it seems that a reduction of carbohydrates was being advised, versus the ' you must have carbs with every meal' advise you get nowadays.


i just thought it was curious.....


take care
clay

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This reminds me of a recent consultation with my endo. she had students with her and introduced me as 'this is Judith.....she has decided to deal with her diabetes in the old fashioned way' - the students were actually most interested, I am lucky in that I can control bg with diet and exercise alone, no need for toxic medication. I only wish I had known about this earlier, could have saved myself a lot of grief.

in the UK the Lawrence lines diet was often used This was first developed in the 1924 by Dr R Lawrence (co founder of DUK)
It was low carb but still explicitly high enough to avoid ketosis.
A line was divided into halves .The first half included 5g carbohydrate, the second 7.5g protein and 15g of fat. Each line was 185 calories.
There were lists to work from so for example a patient could choose 6oz of beans from the carbs line list and 1oz of bacon from the protein/fat list.
A person was told how many lines they were allowed.
A man that weighed 165lbs would be allowed 10 lines so 50g carbs, 75g protein and 150g fat.
( there is an example of the lists and explanation here p262)
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/article ... 4-0015.pdf

Eight years later it was modified to increase the carb and reduce the fat.
By the 1940s a line comprised 10 g carb (black line) and 7.5g protein plus 9- 10g fat (red line)
An active person might be prescribed 10 black/10 red lines so that was 100g carbs plus un weighed green vegetables plus 75 grams protein and 90g fat

but if it fails and insulin is necessary, then more carbohydrate-15 or more blacks (150+grammes C.)-should be given in a definite arrangement to balance the insulin and the protein and fat (some 10 red portions) eaten at the various meals as desired and as most convenient .

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http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/article ... 2-0012.pdf

This diet was used widely and his books went through many editions (so presumably were read and used) until at least 1954

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Line-Ration ... p_t_1_FD4A

THose tablets for testing urine were what my husband had when he was first diagnosed about 40 years ago. They contain a reagent which goes orange in glucose and an alkali which boils the urine. When Boehringer Mannheim brought in blood test strips, which were read by eye against a colour chart, patients found that better and more aesthetic. AND it tested BLOOD. Urine testing isn't very useful. It tells you that your blood glucose has exceded your renal threshold[ usually about 10] in the last couple of hours or since you last emptied your bladder. The BM strips [yes that's what BM means} were discontinued in 2002[I think!] A continuous level of 9 in the blood might never show in a urine test!
Most medical personnel thing BM means something to do with blood measure.
When there was nothing better, any improvement in monitoring above a once in 3 monthe hospital lab test, was progress. I don't know when the low carb advice was dropped. Probably about 30 years ago.Someone probably decided that things should be made "Easier" for patients. Unfortunately "easier" doesn't equate to "safer"
Hana

Urine strips are still used in my surgery. The DSN doesnt do finger prick tests. She uses a urine test, despite me explaining that it only shows over 10 : (

The BM strips [yes that's what BM means}

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I could never understand why the French use the word 'dextro' . It wasn't in the dictionary though obviously had something to do with dextrose.
Its for a similar reason. The early strips used in the early Ames meters were called dextrostrips.

Hi

Yes i remember having to test my sugars by peeing into a tube then adding a tablet if it was yellow or orange your sugars were high, but if it went blue or purple they were normal. That was in the 80's.

I did see that part of call the midwife last night.

tracey167