Wow just hearing words like "glucometer" and "test tape" make me cringe. I still hear nurses use the term glucometer to mean any kind of meter.
I had the paramedics called a few years ago when I had a low event, and they carried both oral glucose gel and a GIANT DEXTROSE syringe for IV injection.
I live in the US but I guess every state is different. Orange juice and sugar seems silly as orange juice alone is usually pretty potent.
I was dx,d in the late 80s and they showed me how to clean a glass syringe because it was part of their checklist. Of course no one had used glass syringes for 30 years prior.I believe it had a 12 gague needle too. Someone had described an injector device similar to the lancet device that was posted here for that giant needle in that glass syringe.
Speaking of old automatic injector devices... This may have been the first "insulin pen". Helinos Insulinpen. This was still being sold when I was diagnosed. I think the idea was to hide the business end (that big fat needle!) inside the giant metal tube. I'm pretty sure it's just a Luer-Lock needle and a glass syringe wrapped up in some sort of metal mechanism. My guess is that it was "loaded" by cocking a spring, and then that handle on the side was squeezed to pierce the skin and deliver the insulin. Red numbers on the glass mean... U-40? I think so. I guess that because it was over 30 years ago that the actual operation of this device was described to me... and my imagination may have been adding something. Positively steampunk!!!!
The worst was that those ranges were so broad that even if you believed in eating like a survivor on a desert island, and that's what I believed in, you really didn't know if you were or weren't where you wanted to be. We weren't onto intracarb differences because of the testing inaccuracies. I'm sure that's why I so revel in CGM output, believe everyone needs a whirl with one, and never worry about its performance out of the center range. And why I consider my BG testing a walk in the park.
I remember everything you have shared. Plus! My Granmere was diagnosed with Diabetes (no one talked about Type 1 or Type 2) around 1956. I carry Skittles now and Grandmere carried Chuckles.
OH! the stainless steele lancets were terrifying. When I was diagnosed (10 years old) they used the painful device at every opportunity. For a child, it was torture. Much better, but still not great for children today.
I have used Testape, Clinistrips (we put it in a test tube and dropped URINE? on it, it turned colors and was a step up from tesTape.) Insulin of ALL types (lente, 30/70, NPH, Regular...) insulin pens of all types,and numerous pumps and CGMs.
It is all about the tech. 50 years later, I have survived.
I remember those but I was diagnosed 38 years ago (will be 39 in August) I guess I can kinda answer ur last question. Back when I was 1st diagnosed (now please remember I was 10 at that time we still didn't have A1C's to go by) I would check my urine with clinitest and keep a record of wheither I was neg, 1+, 2+, 3+ or the dreaded 4+ in my urine and the dr would go from there with the dosage of insulin I took. Yes done the animal insulin for years. Things have REALLY changed since then!
