I have been searching and searching and searching and searching and searching… well, you know. I was diagnosed in 1984 with type 1 diabetes and my mother tells me that when I was diagnosed she made sure that I had all of the top of the line equipment to make sure that I would be as healthy as possible. I have been researching for awhile now and have not been able to find a picture of the first blood glucose meter that I had. I remember that it was an Accu-Chek meter and it was supposed to be one of the very best at that time. The only thing that I’ve been able to find is a picture of this Reflolux meter that seems to look a lot like the Accu-Chek meter that I remember when I was 8 years old. Mine was a beige color with brown buttons but had the same shape as this one. I have never even heard of Reflolux. Why is it that I can’t find any information or pictures of the early Accu-Chek meters or test strips?
Jared, that old meter looks a little bit like my first meter. Mine was a LifeScan one though, it was all grey and took a couple of minutes to produce a result, and it was huge! I am glad our meters can fit in our pocket today and they don’t have a lot of moving parts. I am on the hunt for a picture of my first meter, and like you have found, the search is…
??? I never said Jared was nuts! I also was D before meters came around. The Lifescan meter was better than peeing on strips or the blood test of drop/count/wipe/compare to a color chart. It was just another brand of big meters.
Wow. thank you guys. I still haven’t been able to find anything out about Accu-Chek’s old meters though. I just remembered my old finger pricker too. Back when there weren’t any pen shaped finger prickers. Mine was flat and about as big around as a tennis ball. Bigger than most meters today. The shape of it always reminded me of a turkey. Does anyone remember or know what I’m talking about?
That looks just like the pictures of the Reflolux II that I’ve seen. I’m not sure why I can’t find anything on the Accu-Chek version of that same meter. That’s the same color as my first one with the brown buttons. Chemstrip BG was the same test strip that it used. Accu-Chek used those for a long time. I couldn’t remember that name until now. Thank you. I do remember those prickers. That was my second one and I thought it was SO hi-tech.
Thank you Doris D. I found a LOT of great pictures in Danny’s group. He does have a picture of what looks like it could be the same meter as the one I used but it is open and you can’t see the Accu-Chek logo. Pictures of my old finger pricker too.
That does look a lot like the old beige and brown Accu-Chek that I used in the early 1980s, though mine had streaks of blood on it from wiping the large bead off of the strip :). This one is much nicer looking, though (more colorful!) and it also has the Boehringer-Mannheim logo on it as well!
That was my first BG meter. You open the lid, put that clear barcoded calibration plastic thing in, and then an unused strip. Then close. Then open. Then apply a H-U-G-E drop of blood. Press Timer (the yellow button, only it’s brown). At 60 seconds, wipe the blood off of the strip with a tissue or cotton ball, then place back in the open lid. Wait 60 more seconds, then close the lid. Read the result. Open the lid. Remove and discard the strip. Close the lid.
(Or, if you’re me, forget about the last two steps until the next time around, when the strip is stuck to the little photo-window and you need to peel it off and clean it with an alcohol swab!)
I think the lancet device you are talking about is an Autolet (“guillotine style Autolet” to differentiate it from the later pen shaped ones). I used one like this through all the 80’s and some of the early 90’s. Eventually I ran out of the “platforms” (the skinny yellow piece with hole that goes over the finger… for some reason in this picture it’s green and not yellow but all of mine were yellow) and couldn’t get any more.
I used that AccuChek meter - I was also diagnosed in 84 (and so was Danny). This is funny because I was trying to find a pic of one the other week for the July Blog Carnival!
Karen I was making a joke there! LOL! I kinda thought the Dr had lost his mind when he brought one into me the 1st time. Sorry I should have put a LOL out there.
I know I’ve found alot of my old testing pic’s in there. I thought it might help. Someone put up the “hangman” what I called my old lancing device. You know the one you could watch rotate 1/2 a circle then poke your finger? I HATED IT!
