Access to a stethoscope at home when you were growing up

How many here had access to a stethoscope at home when you were growing up? Perhaps a parent in the medical field, or parents had a steth and BP cuff for monitoring BP at home? Were you ever given the opportunity to listen to your own or a sibling's heart, or did you pick it up and try it out when no one was looking? Do any of us who have kids at home let them listen to their hearts or leave the steth lying about where they are likely to see it, pick it up, and try it out?

I never had access to a stethoscope at home. However in kindergarten we had a real one. I used to listen to the hearts of the girls there. It was pretty fun and I think that this was, what helped developing my stethoscope and heart fetish.

Often listened to my own chest growing up most docs let you have a listen some nurses to

I was always desperate to get hold of one, usually had to resort to various homemade concoctions involving hosepipes, showers and funnels! As far as the doctor letting me have a listen, I wish I'd had the nerve to ask - that didn't come until much later....

My parents never had one but....my grandmother did. I remember finding it in her room one day, around the age of 5. I was playing with it for a while, listening to my own beats when she walked in and caught me. She was a nurse, so she asked if I wanted to learn how to use it, and showed me a few things. She also listened to me herself. Fairly certain this is what started my fascination!

For a few years from around the age of 17 I used to house sit for some family friends when they went away. They had a large house and were both consultant doctors. They each had consulting rooms in the house which were fully set up for exams. One doctor was a cardiologist so had loads of stethoscopes of all types and the other doctor was into orthopaedics. I would have happily stayed at their house without payment ?

Matt - sounds like the stuff fantasies are made of! Did you ever have anyone with you to "try out" the stethoscopes on?

My parents gave me a stethoscope when I was 5 so my heart interest began early. Naturally i'd take it along sometimes playing in the neighborhood so it got passed around w/ everyone taking a listen to themselves and others. Eventually I realized I preferred listening to myself when no one was around. I bet that's pretty common among cardiophiles 😃 .

Fonendo - sadly I did not ? I was a fairly innocent young guy back then and did not fully make use of the opportunity....

I got one as a gift from a cousin when I was about 4. And we had a little toy medical kit but it was red plastic.

At home for a long time I only had toy stethoscopes or self-made ones that were at least a little better.

I actually was 23 years old when I finally dared to walk into a pharmacy and to buy a real one.

At home for a long time I only had toy stethoscopes or self-made ones that were at least a little better.

I actually was 23 years old when I finally dared to walk into a pharmacy and to buy a real one.

Why were you afraid to buy a stethoscope? It isn't a sex toy and it's not only necessary but a perfectly reasonable thing to have when you do blood pressures.

I had a toy stethoscope in a kit when I was young. In my teen years, I ran across a real stethoscope tucked away in a drawer at my grandparents' home along with a BP cuff. In later years, I became a EMT and finally had one of my own. Through the years, I have acquired several.

Did not have one at home as a kid and I was in my very early 30's when I found out you didn't have to be a medical professional to buy one. (I had one before then, which a friend traded me for a sweater of mine she loved)

I bought a stethoscope and BP cuff when I was in high school. In biology class we did simple vitals on each other, pulse, resp, bp and auscultation and listened for breath sounds, murmurs and steadiness of the pulse before and after running in place, except only the boys got auscultated. I'm not sure why. 😁 😁 I got to auscultate a couple of hunky guys but that never got reciprocated. DAMN!

At home I was the young nurse to be who was the official BP taker when older relatives came over for a visit if health issues ever entered into the conversation, which was not unusual when older grandparents of great aunts and uncles came over.

Had a working plastic toy steth that I kept for years! Finally bought a cheap real one before college at the drugstore.

Mom was a nurse. We always had one of her older ones to play with.

I had the Fischer Price toy stethoscope that actually worked as a kid, then upgraded in my later teens to a sprague style stethoscope 😃

I think Fisher Price has a lot to answer for! I had one too, plus my mother was a nurse so I had access to one of hers. I was 17 when I bought my first.

I agree Fischer Price does have a lot to answer for. I had a doctors kit as a child and if I recall right,it had a semi functioning steth. It was difficult to find others to play doctor with so it was another toy added to the collection. My neighborhood did not have a lot of kids that were similar ages.

I had the Fisher Price solid plastic, non-functional version. 😢 The rest of the kit was pretty poor with a syringe, reflex hammer, 'medicine' bottles, kidney dish and scissors, all made from soft, cheap plastic. Not even a swimming armband type BP cuff. Still had good fun with it. Like Fonendo I remember improvising and using shower tubing for listening in the bath. The flared rubber bulbs that fitted over the hot and cold taps made not a bad stethoscope bell, the other end cupping nicely round my ear.

As I said in a previous post long ago my only other experience was using my cousin's steth and BP cuff at around age 12 or 13. Didn't have the first clue how to use it to the point where I couldn't work out how to deflate the cuff and had to rip it off my arm and return it to the drawer in its inflated state!

My first real stethoscope was when I was 18, a Duophon. Not the best quality but Ok for BPs. It was bought along with a Speidl & Keller aneroid sphyg.

Why were you afraid to buy a stethoscope? It isn't a sex toy and it's not only necessary but a perfectly reasonable thing to have when you do blood pressures.

Daft as it might sound, yes, I was afraid (probably more embarrassed) when buying those. I guess because I wasn't really buying it for true medical/professional reasons, I suppose I was viewing it as a sex toy! Which in turn probably explains the extreme white coat effect that has plagued me since.

Do any of us who have kids at home let them listen to their hearts or leave the steth lying about where they are likely to see it, pick it up, and try it out?

I have two teenage sons and there's absolutely no way I'd leave any of my gear lying about. I think I'd probably die of embarrassment if they came across it. Even with the pretext of "yeah, the doctor said I have to keep an eye on my BP." I think I'd be absolutely mortified. As has been mentioned in other posts, even everyday conversations with friends and family where the topic turns to anything medical/heart/BP related I find awkward in the extreme. I realise it shouldn't really be that way but can't really help it.

Never had a real one, but whene ever I went to a friends house they had the fisher price doctors case and could never resist getting it out.

We had a real one at home when i was a kid. My mum worked in a medical clinic and she brought one home one day. I remember one day my sister who is 10 years younger than me had a doctors appointment one day and was scared of going so my mum told her there was nothing to worry about and role played the doctor by using the stethoscope first on me then her.

Not at home until I bought one in my 17's

But my parent had friends where the husband was a doctor, and I often tried to escape the main room to go to his office o grab one and listen a few seconds

Cool topic. Keep the answers coming. I got my first stethoscope at 23.

I did from around twelve to this day. My mother got a Littman when she was in grad school to become a nurse practicitoner. I would sometimes "borrow" it & steth my chest & abs. I have that stethoscope now, and still use it.

My friend’s mom was a nurse and she used to leave her stethoscope on a counter. I never expressed outward interest in it and neither did my friend (however, as a cardiophile, it killed me to walk past it and not try it out). When I spent the night at my friend’s house, I would wait until everyone was asleep and get it and take it back to my room. I spent hours stething myself with that thing!