• Guest, the forum is undergoing some upgrades and so the usual themes will be unavailable for a few days. In the meantime, you can use the forum like normal. We'd love to know what you think about the forum! Take the 2025 Survey »

Old (and I mean old!) T1D tech

E

ElmerBP

Newbie
My first post!
I have been T1 since 1991 and now have 2 children with T1 too. I've seen so much change and frustratingly I got rid of all my old meters many many years ago.
When my eldest was diagnosed, I started a family support group and have mentioned how different things were back then to some families.
My meter took about 30 seconds to give me my result, had to be calibrated/coded and felt like it took an enormous drop of blood (I'm convinced it hurt a lot more too!) and my syringes were huge (thankfully only needing to inject twice a day!).
I'd love to provide a "show n' tell" for our families but for the life of me I can't remember the name of the meter. I've been trying to find one on eBay and whenever I search for "vintage BG meters" the results still show newer meters.
Can anyone help me with what to search for?!
I'd love to go back as far as possible for all things T1 related including BG meters, the original insulin pens (I had one with BD 12mm needles!) and anything else I can get my hands on!

Any help appreciated. Many thanks for reading.
 
May be One Touch Basic? I was diagnosed with diabetes in 2004, but I remember that there was something like that

big.jpeg
 
SimonP78 said:
autolet2.png
Click to expand...
Gah, I remember those torture devices, and people wondered why I always hated blood tests and just refused when I was a kid
 
Zhnyaka said:
what is depicted on the last photo?
Click to expand...
Its an old school finger pricker, the lancet was in the white bit (shown near the bottom), you pushed it upto the top (against a spring in essence), you put the beige bit (at the bottom) on your finger tip you then pressed the button on the top and it released it and it sprang down and stabbed you in the finger - it was not painfree by any stretch of the imagination! (must've been mid 80's ish)
 
SteveGlover said:
My first meter looked like this
collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk

Ames Glucometer II Blood Glucose meter with memory (model 5626) manufactured by Miles Inc. | Science Museum Group Collection

Ames Glucometer II Blood Glucose meter with memory (model 5626) manufactured by Miles Inc. , Diagnostics Division, Elkhart, Indiana USA (1986)
collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk
Click to expand...
Goodness me i had one of these bad boys.......
I was diagnosed in 1974 and you could only test your urine then unless you went to the Path lab at the hospital.
There have been pictures of old kit on floating about the this site over the years.
Even an injectagun......that was a weapon of torture.......

Good luck

Tony
 
ElmerBP said:
My first post!
I have been T1 since 1991 and now have 2 children with T1 too. I've seen so much change and frustratingly I got rid of all my old meters many many years ago.
When my eldest was diagnosed, I started a family support group and have mentioned how different things were back then to some families.
My meter took about 30 seconds to give me my result, had to be calibrated/coded and felt like it took an enormous drop of blood (I'm convinced it hurt a lot more too!) and my syringes were huge (thankfully only needing to inject twice a day!).
I'd love to provide a "show n' tell" for our families but for the life of me I can't remember the name of the meter. I've been trying to find one on eBay and whenever I search for "vintage BG meters" the results still show newer meters.
Can anyone help me with what to search for?!
I'd love to go back as far as possible for all things T1 related including BG meters, the original insulin pens (I had one with BD 12mm needles!) and anything else I can get my hands on!

Any help appreciated. Many thanks for reading.
Click to expand...
Hello
I’ve had Type 1 diabetes for 56 years; diagnosed aged 4. I too wish I’d have kept my many old meters etc too! Especially when my daughter was diagnosed aged 19. I advise you to ask your Endo, or perhaps there’s a museum displaying vintage medical equipment.
The first meter I received in London in 1980 (I was about 17 or 18) took 2 minutes to do a blood test! It was a bit larger than an iPhone 7Plus and heavy. I remember my Endo saying to me “one day they'll be a meter that fits in the palm of your hand”. The strip had to be inserted to calibrate, a drop of blood applied (yes bigger than required now), and then after one minute, the machine beeped loudly. After wiping the blood off, I had to wait another minute for the result. Looking back it was such an ordeal, but way better than checking the urine which I’d done for years until then. The first-ever finger prickers were brutal too compared with now.
When I was very young prior to going on a week-long camp with Diabetes UK for children with diabetes (I was 8), my mum used to put the old-fashioned syringe in a type of metal gun with a trigger that injected the needle. I’m sorry I never kept it. They’re museum pieces now. How times have changed thank goodness. I started using the Dexcom G6 in December and am finding it fantastic - so long as I drink enough water.
I have a few meters that take a minute to give result.
Good luck finding some old machines.
 
ElmerBP said:
My first post!
I have been T1 since 1991 and now have 2 children with T1 too. I've seen so much change and frustratingly I got rid of all my old meters many many years ago.
When my eldest was diagnosed, I started a family support group and have mentioned how different things were back then to some families.
My meter took about 30 seconds to give me my result, had to be calibrated/coded and felt like it took an enormous drop of blood (I'm convinced it hurt a lot more too!) and my syringes were huge (thankfully only needing to inject twice a day!).
I'd love to provide a "show n' tell" for our families but for the life of me I can't remember the name of the meter. I've been trying to find one on eBay and whenever I search for "vintage BG meters" the results still show newer meters.
Can anyone help me with what to search for?!
I'd love to go back as far as possible for all things T1 related including BG meters, the original insulin pens (I had one with BD 12mm needles!) and anything else I can get my hands on!

Any help appreciated. Many thanks for reading.
Click to expand...
Hello
I’ve had Type 1 diabetes for 56 years; diagnosed at age 4. I’ve often wished I’d have kept my many old meters too etc! I advise you to ask your Endo, or perhaps there’s a museum displaying vintage medical equipment.
The first meter which I received in London in 1980 (I was about 17 or 18) took 2 minutes to do a blood test! The strip had to be inserted to calibrate, a drop of blood applied (yes bigger than required now), then after one minute the machine beeped really loudly. After wiping the blood off, I had to wait another minute for the result. Looking back it was such an ordeal, but obviously way better than checking the urine which I’d done for years until then. The first ever finger prickers were brutal too compared with now.
When I was very young prior to going on a week-long camp with Diabetes UK for children with diabetes (I was 8), my mum used to put the old-fashioned syringe in a type of metal gun with a trigger that injected the needle. I’m sorry I never kept it. They’re museum pieces now. How times have changed thank goodness. I started using the Dexcom G6 in December and am finding it fantastic - so long as I drink enough water.
I have a few meters that take a minute to give result.
Good luck finding some old machines.
Rokaab said:
Gah, I remember those torture devices, and people wondered why I always hated blood tests and just refused when I was a kid
Click to expand...
Rokaab said:
Its an old school finger pricker, the lancet was in the white bit (shown near the bottom), you pushed it upto the top (against a spring in essence), you put the beige bit (at the bottom) on your finger tip you then pressed the button on the top and it released it and it sprang down and stabbed you in the finger - it was not painfree by any stretch of the imagination! (must've been mid 80's ish)
Click to expand...
I had one of those brutal finger prickers. 1980.
 
diagnosed in 1980, god how things have changed , how did we survive , blood sugar was done at hospital , bought my first bs meter second hand , the meter was the size of a house ( relative to now) it took 2 mins to get a reading , remember “ chemistry” set to check urine sugars which involved test tubes pipettes and tablets which burnt hotter than the devils bum , glass and metal syringes with needles like darts which were used til blunt , syringes were sterilised in surgical spirit , but we are still here even with the antiquated equipment and attitudes to be honest, so there has to be some confidence for newly diagnosed diabetics to live long lives if we have with the old stuff we had back ten.
 
Ushthetaff said:
diagnosed in 1980, god how things have changed , how did we survive , blood sugar was done at hospital , bought my first bs meter second hand , the meter was the size of a house ( relative to now) it took 2 mins to get a reading , remember “ chemistry” set to check urine sugars which involved test tubes pipettes and tablets which burnt hotter than the devils bum , glass and metal syringes with needles like darts which were used til blunt , syringes were sterilised in surgical spirit , but we are still here even with the antiquated equipment and attitudes to be honest, so there has to be some confidence for newly diagnosed diabetics to live long lives if we have with the old stuff we had back ten.
Click to expand...
I remember the chemistry set urine test set too, though I assume I quickly moved onto the strips (it's a long time ago and I was quite small). I didn't have a blood test meter for many years, instead I stuck with the wipe at 1min and look at 2min (iirc) strips, though when I was younger I didn't much like blood tests (which is understandable given the torture device!).

Does anyone recall how ketone tests were done? I read all these posts about people needing to check their ketones if their blood sugar is slightly elevated, and it does make me wonder (I'm sounding old! ;)) - I have just got an electronic meter for ketone tests, but mainly because I do long distance cycling and was curious as to the effects. I don't think I've tested for ketones in the preceding 30 years before I got this meter.

I can't find anything else in my house, I'll have a dig around in my parents' house when I'm next there and see what artefacts I can re-discover :)
 
Back
Top