So - recently on this site, I was commenting with another member about old lancing devices. And how truly cruel they were…
Anyone diagnosed around the late 70s early 80s will remember this little number, also known as the guilletine:
And this one:
And people wonder why I still lance my fingers by hand - no devices required. These were the tools of the trade for many of my early years.
Only a sick, dark, twisted mind could have thought of devices like these…
OMG - I remember the first one you have posted - those things hurt like hell! lol
I was diagnosed in 86 and that was the standard device. My first machine was an Accu-Chex model. You had to drop the blood on the strip - wait a full minute - then wipe the blood off and stick the strip in the machine - and wait ANOTHER full minute for results!
Times have changed, thank God!
I used that top one too. The worst part was that you could SEE the sharp. And I think that Accu-Chex was my monitor too. It had a metal body and a little cover that snapped on. Well, once I got a monitor. The first year I used those strips where you compare the color of the strip to a little color chart like ketostix.
How funny. I know the guy who claims to have come up with these torture devices 
He’s convinced that nobody wants to lance twice so you might as well get it good the first time… oh and he doesn’t have diabetes which might explain a little.
I can understand not wanting to lance twice, but if the thing goes through your entire finger…
Just kidding, but that’s how it felt. 
Wow! I had both of these. I am so happy that things have changed. Although I do not remember the name of the meter, it fits the description of the Accu-Chex described in your comments. It also was carried in a brownish leather case that measured about 6"x6". I remember it cost about $300 in 1987 when I got it. Although I do not remember the name of it, I also had been giving a device that you could put your syringe in and after clicking the button, it would work the syringe for you - pushing the plunger in and dispensing the insulin. The noise alone on that thing would scare a kid. I only used it a couple times. Does this sound familiar to anyone?
I remember all of the things you guys are talking about. I also remember, for the first few months after my diagnosis, a number of different urine testing methods being used in my house in lieu of blood testing, because we couldn’t afford the truly brick-sized Accuchek meter… Those WERE the days, weren’t they?
Ah, those were the days, my friend…we thought they’d never end. How about the urine testing with the little beeper and you had to drop a tablet in it? Now THAT was a good time…and such a lovely bouquet. I remember going to diabetic camp and everyone dropping off his/her sample on the correct number of the table. What a great job: testing 200 urine samples first thing in the morning (and it’s not even yours).
…and where did you get your pics? Don’t tell me you still have them as keepsakes?
Indeed, Kimberly - and the glass you’d put the tabs in would get scorching hot…
I got the photos on Google… The keepsakes I have are my memories - I remember the names of the devices Autolet and Autoclix!!!
Yes, I remember the injector. I think it was supposed to be of help because you didnt see the needle. (Injections never bothered me so I really didn’t use it at all.)
Now I am going crazy trying to remember what the top one was. There were different sized “platforms” that you rested your finger on, which were supposed to control the depth of the puncture.
My first meter took 2 minutes to read. But, there was a sneaky way that you could cut the strips in half and still use the meter. The strips were “ChemStrip BG” and you could also match them visually (good luck).
I was dx’d in '74, just after disposable syringes became available, which was great.
I forgot all about the test tube pee test…wasnt that like 5 drops of pee, 10 drops of water - or vice versa…oh the good old days…
ChemStrips! That’s what they were called. I can remember my mother sitting down with a new bottle cutting them all up.
Yes, and then when dogs got into the trash there would be syringes all over the front yard.
The first one was the one I used when diagnosed in 1985. I vaguely remember my glucometer at the time. I think it took about 90 seconds. Where you put the blood on the strip, waited so long, then wiped the blood off and put it in the meter. I was only 4, so I can’t imagine what my parents went through trying to hold me down to check my blood sugar with the horrible lancet device.
God bless technology advancements!
WOA… I had NEVER seen that. I guess I am lucky to have been diagnosed five years ago! :S
Be glad. Be very, very glad.
I remember my first meter. It was the size of the boxes that meters come in these days. Blue sides, with a white top that showed three huge 8-segment LEDs. And you had to put the blood on the strip, wipe it off after a minute, put the strip into the ‘meter’ and wait for a long time (maybe another minute).
Plus the thing wasn’t battery powered, it had to be plugged into the mains. Definitely not very portable. But what a huge change from urine tests. The only thing I liked about urine tests was the fast chemical reaction when you dropped that tablet into the tube with the urine-water mix. But that got tiring really quickly.
I’ll take any of the current models over that monster.
This makes me wonder what our current testing methods will look like ten years from now. Maybe lancing at all will be considered barbaric by that point…