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The good old days, weren't.

Although not as far in the past as OP, the days (6 years ago) before Libre 2 were hard in comparison, obviously there were CGMs available but none on the NHS and I couldn't self fund because I had to take other expenses into account, nonetheless I had to rely on blood glucose strips and frequent 'toilet visits' which work wasn't always accommodating with, but now employers are required to take reasonable steps to ensure I can do whatever I need to do.
 
Fairygodmother said:
Did anyone else compare the sugar content of diabetic chocolate bars and some of the non-diabetic, laxative free bars? A lot of those expensive diabetic bars had more carb in them than cheaper non-diabetic options.
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Yes I did, and realised that it wasn't worth the digestive assault or the sickly taste. A Type1 who is a friend of mine had a father who would demolish 2 bars of Wander chocolate in one session with no ill effects!
 
Fairygodmother said:
Did anyone else compare the sugar content of diabetic chocolate bars and some of the non-diabetic, laxative free bars? A lot of those expensive diabetic bars had more carb in them than cheaper non-diabetic options.
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My wife got some low sugar biscuits once. Like a plain tea dunker.
I compared the carb content to what I know in a digestive & these biscuits contained 3 to 4g mor carbs?
 
Ushthetaff said:
I know the insulin I was on was insulatard 40 strength was on that til I ended up on the pen I think old age has made my memory in and out , compare to then these days is a doddle bearing in mind 45 years of experience is probably the ace in the hole
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Any chance it was "Leo Retard" rather than Insulatard. I had experience of both and seem to remember I was switched to U100 Insulatard when they standardised. The "short acting" was Leo Neutral, with an activation time in what seemed like hours........
 
Still_Here said:
Any chance it was "Leo Retard" rather than Insulatard. I had experience of both and seem to remember I was switched to U100 Insulatard when they standardised. The "short acting" was Leo Neutral, with an activation time in what seemed like hours........
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Hi,

I remember insulatard being in a penfill in the the late 1980s early 90s?
It had a green bung cap. Or screw on for the needle.
The pens I had in that era where like a cm longer plastic light beige like the computers from that decade.
You could peel a colour coding off the insulin box to put on the pen to tell your basal from bolus.
It was also cloudy & needed rolling to mix the consistency??
 
Fairygodmother said:
Was it glargine? PZI, that was the one the life-style-changing basal replaced for me.
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PZI was protamine zinc insulin? I was definitely on that for a while. Pre MDI I was on animal insulins, a short and long acting insulin. Both went into the same syringe (my parents splashed out and bought disposables, which I did re-use a bit). You had to shake the cloudy one first? I also remember not bothering to keep my insulins in the fridge in those days. (At university I didn't have a fridge). Like eggs, it seemed to last forever out of a fridge. Are human insulins less long lasting?

Looks like PZI is used for cats and dogs now....
 
EllieM said:
Looks like PZI is used for cats and dogs now....
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My old boss back in the late 1980s had a newly diagnosed Jack Russel.
Actually he had 2 of them, mother & daughter.. He’d taken them both on feeling it cruel to slit them up?

So I’m round his house having a coffee. (His accommodation was onsite.)
This dog starts stumbling nosediving into the water bowl & head-butting the closed kitchen door leading out to the back garden.

Oi mate. Throw your dog a biscuit. It’s having a hypo…
 
Phaid said:
I work for a large group that makes ready meals. Not sure I would trust the carb count on the side of the packaging. They fiddle that much with the sauce to get the right consistency by either adding water if it's too thick or starch if it's too thin.
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I really should have known that ! I worked for a packaging machine manufacturer and I can remember one of the service engineers saying to me after working on site for a big food manufacturer that the adding of the ingredients was a bit shambolic .
 
I can remember Holsten Pils lager and Marston low C which only about 3 - 4 carbs a bottle , I don't know if there is anything that low nowadays is there ? I remember the Pils used to have a label on the side saying recommended by the British diabetic association .
 
jaywak said:
I can remember Holsten Pils lager and Marston low C which only about 3 - 4 carbs a bottle , I don't know if there is anything that low nowadays is there ? I remember the Pils used to have a label on the side saying recommended by the British diabetic association .
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I seem the remember the Pils slogan as “all the sugar brewed to alcohol?”
In the advertising..
 
Jaylee said:
I seem the remember the Pils slogan as “all the sugar brewed to alcohol?”
In the advertising..
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Yes I remember that, it said all the sugar turns into alcohol ,I think they had to remove it as it seemed like they were promoting alcohol .
 
I used to go to the local pub on a Wednesday (mum worked so not at home) and had pie and chips and a bottle of low C with my dad (as low C was low carb so ok).

Didn't think about it till years later - was 14-16 and went back to school to do double maths or whatever after a fairly strong beer...

Ho hum - no one ever said anything....and I passed maths ok
 
Pils was advertised in the balance magazine but was removed as it was in the time when they didn’t realise that alcohol dropped your blood sugar like a stone , so you had diabetics drinking Pils and having serious bad hypos hours after they’d drunk it
 
Ushthetaff said:
I remember my mother buying me disposal syringes she asked why not on prescription was told cos they are a “ luxury” also with the old glass and metal syringes the needles in comparison to the 4mm ones we use today were like the Apollo 11 rocket and being told to change them when they were blunt. The only diet soft drinks were 1 cal and Tab cola both were rank. I do wonder how people today would manage they would of course as the alternative isn’t good but I wonder how
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I was diagnosed in 1966 aged 11 , and well remember those glass syringes and the “ blunt” needles . Doctors were quite pleased when I was diagnosed as diabetic after having been admitted to hospital with suspected leukaemia. Doctors cheerfully reassured my mother I might live 50 years ( now 57 years ago!) . On the day she came into hospital to learn on me to administer my infection ( I had already learnt by practicing on oranges for days and found it was far more fun to suck up the orange juice and shoot it across the ward!) she managed to stick the needle right through the pinch of skin ( I was very thin) and out the other side! Neither she, nor anybody else, ever administered my insulin injection ever again.
After 3 or 4 years I began to develop what would now be described as an injection phobia. I would draw up the dose and sit on the bathroom stool finding it incresingly difficult to actually insert the needle . These were not the short thin needles we use today but were of such a diameter I doubt they would have bent - ever. It began to get steadily worse as I would sit there almost paralysised whilst my father sat in the car on the drive with engine running , waiting to take me to school and get to work on time himself. The solution proved to be a metal spring operated gun , which held the loaded syringe . You cocked the spring , placed the “barrel” against your thigh and pulled the trigger. All over in a moment and the crisis solved . Later when I was put on a regime that involved injecting twice a day , I used to scare my fellow school pupils by calling to attract their attention just as I was injecting into my stomach . Probably be considered bullying these days, but for me it was my way of dealing with having to inject at school.
To this day I inject in public , discreetly and only noticeable to anyone looking hard , but nobody has challenged me yet.
 
I can remember those injection guns , I think mum & dad bought me one for my 17th birthday I think it cost about £5 , boy did I get some black and blue bruises from using it .
 
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