I spent my lunch today reorganizing my bookshelves and I dug up a forgotten treasure. This is dated 1968. A friend rescued it from the "pulp" pile at her work. I'm tempted to post highlights in a thread later on if people are interested. #diabetes #diabetic #t1d @diabetes
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All right, doing my flip-through of this diabetes advice book from 1968 because it's snowy and I'm bored. Strap yourselves into the time machine.
Tagging @diabetes #diabetes #diabetic here but the rest will be in an unlisted thread to avoid clutter.
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For context: The first blood glucose testing system hit hospitals in 1974 (six years after this book). Before that, it was all urine testing and super complicated color matching stuff. At-home blood glucose monitors were introduced in the early 1980s. The first one that made it into homes at scale was in 1983 (15 years after this book was published) and it was very large and clunky. Synthetic insulin was a decade away yet, it was all regular/NPH. So this book is written with that in mind.
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Actually a correction: this actually says 1967, and it's the second edition. First edition was 1956.
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The intro is written by Ham Richardson, who became a tennis star in the 1950s and died in 2006 (aged 73). Good start.
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After the intro, the book focuses on the experiences of a patient named Margaret "Peggy" McDowell, highlighting the things she deals with and generally using her as a reference patient. Patient names and info have been changed, but I think Peggy is real, with her obituary at https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/legacyremembers/peggy-mcdowell-obituary?id=27299980.
It starts with her interviewing/working at the diabetes clinic at the University of Pennsylvania, where she looks forward to being a living example for people.
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Chapter 2 follows Peggy as she helps a newly diagnosed patient through being diagnosed. Weirdest thing so far is there's no mention of "type 1" or "type 2" anywhere, it's still "juvenile" vs. "adult." Peggy is type 1 but this fictional patient is presumably type 2 (she goes on oral meds). Bit of culture shock there.
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"Peggy continued, 'I often think of diabetes as being like a high-spirited team of horses -- capable of causing trouble if not firmly handled, but under good management the driver is the master and controls his destiny.'" I think I like her.
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...One of the sample patients talks about taking 84 units of insulin. π¬ It's treated like a normal thing, so I'm expecting there's been a few changes to how units are defined in the last 60 years. He does go low as a result, but it's mostly due to increased exercise, and he gets kicked out of a restaurant. He then sues the restaurant owner for ruining his outfit ($75 in damages).
Also there's at least one reference to blood glucose levels in "milligrams per cent".
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The section on urine testing has a footnote "helpfully" pointing out that Eli Lilly makes the tests in question. The more things change, the more they stay the same.
52 pages in and it actually gives a reference range for "milligrams per cent." Normal is apparently 60-100. So... probably not an exact match for mg/dL.
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Lots of comparisons of the two styles of urine glucose tests at the time. Apparently one is cheap but fiddly, and one is easy but expensive. And some types of sugar water will set them off, but others won't. Which is a far cry from "use your BGM to see if that's actually diet soda."
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There's a digression on antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Huh. Neat.
And another one about the sudden vision changes that can happen when you start insulin. Also neat. (And something that panicked the crap out of me when I was newly diagnosed.)
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Good job on the book pointing out that in any humane religion, fast days become optional when you're diabetic. And it also (rightly) points out the changes to make if you choose to fast. This is surprisingly non-judgmental.
...This is followed shortly by a discussion (Peggy's attending a symposium on diabetes and this is the Q&A session) of "thin" diabetics vs "obese" ones where today we'd clearly go with T1/T2.
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The list of treatments for lows includes glucose tablets, juice, soda, and something called Air-Bons that I'd never heard of, but apparently they're still a thing. They're butter mints, from the looks of it. Makes sense.
Lots of talk about calories in the "diet" chapter but very little on specific values (ie. grams of carbs). ...Which, apparently the Nutrition Facts label in the US started in 1994? That's newer than I thought.
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Aaaaah, and 110 pages in and we get to the exchange system. Dear holy fluffy goddess, am I ever glad I missed out on that.
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...Just a digression on how to sharpen needles, like it's a thing you do every day. I suppose it would have been. (It also points out that disposable needles are a thing at that point and you should really consider getting them. Retro!)
Also a section on tuberculosis as a diabetic complication. Which I'm lucky enough to have never had to think about but it absolutely would be. TB is a bugger.
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There's a chapter on a camp for diabetic children! I wonder if it's going to mention Camp Jened at all. ("Crip Camp" is quite a good documentary, incidentally.)
(It didn't, but that's OK.)
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On to the appendices! This book is about 40% appendix.
There's a copy of the ADA's diabetic ID card and a recommendation to get "dog tags" or a bracelet.
The strengths of insulin at the time are listed as U-40, U-80, and U-100.
Oooh, and step-by-step instructions for the various urine tests. Wow, that looks like a pain to do four times a day.
...And I'm skipping the rest because it's specific height/weight charts and sample diets and there's no need to share those.
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And that's it, aside from some folded-up cheat sheets that were tucked in (and a bookmark from the Manistee County Library in St. Cloud, Minnesota).
Thank you all for coming with me in this journey, y'all.
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@elmiller0330 @diabetes subscribe
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@elmiller0330 Yeah, I did that urine testing in nursing training 1970.
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@elmiller0330
I was lucky in 1974 that disposable needles were a thing. My dad when I was young used to boil his syringes and sharpen the needles with a whetstone that he kept in a jar of alcohol. His needles were big too!!
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@nerb Yeah, I had a great-uncle who was diagnosed in... late middle school I think? Maybe early high school. It would have been the late 50s at the latest. And he did the same thing.
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@elmiller0330 @diabetes looking forward to the ride. I remember those good old days or urine testing for your sugars
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@T1J I did thread my musings in responses to the original post, they're just unlisted.
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@elmiller0330 I will solidarily check my BG once per week π
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