Ladybirdy75
Well-Known Member
- Messages
- 281
I've still got my Autolet in a drawer somewhere. It was like a mini guillotine with the lancet whipping around - all in view unlike the enclosed devices now.
On the advice of my diabetes clinic I remember spending ages cutting my BM sticks in half to get twice the amount (these were the originals as made by Boehringer Mannheim).
So glad you did Ladybirdy, I enjoy your posts immensely40 years then for you, wow that's fantastic
Still brings back bad memories, who on earth though of making that device
Funnily enough, I was grateful for it as there was no way I could have just pricked myself with the lancet!Must of been a male, a former darts player, no dismiss that onea former Javelin thrower perhaps lol, The trepidation just waiting for that to stab the finger, I think made it so much worse, it was painful wasn't it
Still brings back bad memories, who on earth though of making that device
....... who on earth though of making that device
YES! The scary guillotine! I was given one of those when I was first diagnosed and it was the worst bit of having diabetes for me. At least I could get used to the injections, but each experience with the Autolet was uniquely terrifying! It used to take me literally 10 minutes to test my blood. Often the stupid thing went crooked and mangled the side of my finger, or - the anticlimax - didn't work at all and so had to be reloaded. I used to close my eyes and tremble, using that. Every blood test was a bloodbath.
Oh, the joy of discovering I could buy a gentle finger pricker in Boots! It made blood tests so different.
Evil guillotine! I didn't keep mine. It'd have given me nightmares knowing it was still lurking in my kitchen drawer!
I resorted to stabbing my finger with the yellow lancets, I couldn't bear the anticipation of pressing the guillotine button on the Autolet and the twang as it headed towards my finger, it used to hit the finger with such force it rebounded.
The picture of it does make me shudder !
Remember these natty little numbers? The Reflolux S with test strips and old school insulin too!
Remember these natty little numbers? The Reflolux S with test strips and old school insulin too!
The ones where you could check your BS by eye too by comparing the strip to the colour chart on the tube?
It didn't so much stab the finger as actually slashed it. Or maybe it was because i used to not pull my finger away in time lol. It was so brutal wasn't it.
Could that of been the start of those teen slash horror films
My very first bg meter, remember it took 2 mins to take a bg reading, you had to apply the blood to the test strip and wait 60 seconds and wipe the blood off with some cotton wool, then you place the strip into the meter and it would take a further 60 seconds to come up with a bg reading.
At the time it was life changing from having to use the Clinitest Kit, did you get the disposable syringes on prescription @Dillinger, I was told I had to pay for mine but others have said they got them on prescription, sure in the early 80's they were around £3 for a packet of 10
Following advice from my DSN I use to cut the strips up and just use the colour chart on the side of the container if I wanted a rough guide on bg levels, obviously with the design of the strips nowadays this isn't possible and the colour charts are sadly long-gone.
Yup, and they were definitely reused... I still have BD syringes as spares. Last time I got some the pharmacist made a mistake and I ended up with a box of 100. I have about 88 left.The disposable syringes were on prescription where I was; made by BD I think and came in a pack of 10.
We use cookies and similar technologies for the following purposes:
Do you accept cookies and these technologies?
We use cookies and similar technologies for the following purposes:
Do you accept cookies and these technologies?