Urine testing only gave somewhat of an estimate and not the current blood sugar status. Before the strips came out (not sure when but it wasn’t all that long ago - maybe 50 years?) people had to place a measured amount of urine into a test tube with an eyedropper, drop in a reagent tablet, cork the tube, place it in boiling water for a few minutes, and then compare it to a color chart.
Sugar usually doesn’t show up in urine until the BS goes over about 200.
Here’s a link to a paper about the history of home glucose testing. The first home blood glucose meter came out in 1970. Clinistix (the first home urine test strip) was first marketed in 1957. Before that, they had Clinitest and probably others.
http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.468.2196&rep=rep1&type=pdf
Now to go read that paper. It looks interesting.
Dextrostix, which used color comparison charts instead of a meter, was launched in 1965.
My friend was in her 30s when one day she got on the bus to work as usual and then couldn’t remember who she was or what she was doing there. Luckily she had a card from work in her bag and called them and they could come get her. She was in the hospital at least a week and was diagnosed then. She gave herself shots for years and eventually got a pump which improved things a lot. Now we get to say “um, you’re beeping” when she tunes it out.
It’s curious that this paper is from 2012 and references the failed “Glucowatch.”
http://www.diabetesmonitor.com/glucose-meters/what-happened-to-the-glucowatch.htm
I know you’re quite the foodie! 
But I was being glib.
I’m a Type II who is nearly bereft of any appetite (and I also have gastroparesis which makes me feel full all the time) and I often find myself in situations where I failed to eat, my BS is low, and I need to scramble to find something to eat that will fix it. And satiate me (because, thanks to the gastroparesis, I’m suddenly hungry). And not take me too far in the wrong direction.
One of my BFF’s is a Type I, for about 25 years now, and what she is eating is always on her mind. She has to count carbs and count insulin, and make sure she eats at the right time. And when she gets low she has to drop everything and eat. And what she’s been “able” to eat has changed over the years - from the “no cupcakes for diabetics” when we were little to realizing it doesn’t matter as much as long as she has the right amount of insulin. And I think she’s developed a complex about food - eating more crap now since she was so strict as a kid.
Anyway, when I say “eat to live” I am thinking of myself, and her, and how it seems like I am always having to be eating. And honestly eating is the last thing I ever want to do. But if I want to live, here I am. Eating.
Obviously this is not a problem in the **Athena **household, where good food and people who love to cook it abounds!
I have a friend who is Type I, and although usually he’s got it under good control, seems to have two types of blood sugar excursions - The Stupids (where his wife has to holler at him to eat something), and Turbo-Goofy (where she has to shout “check your blood sugar”).
At one time, I could never remember which effect was caused by what (blood sugar too low or too high), until low-carb became all the rage a few years ago and suddenly people were wandering around at work in a ketosis-torpor.
Both of my grandmothers had to urine test, Roderick. Essentially, you peed on a litmus strip. I knew enough that I knew that purple meant so many units of insulin (Granny was blind and by age 10, I had learned to help her with insulin). They both had to keep candy in their pocketbooks for the inevitable low blood sugar episodes. Thank goodness for inexpensive glucose meters.
It sucks ass.
This pretty much sums it up. 