Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Katsz on October 5, 2010 at 8:26am

Abbott strips?? I get Freestyle strips from the pharmacy they don't come w/my pods in the mail. Is Abbott also free style?
My son has been running mysteriously low lately but he has been doing Overrides too and I thought it was cuz of that.

Permalink Reply by MaiaJane on October 5, 2010 at 8:33am

Abbot Diabetes Care is the "big boss" in charge of making freestyle strips.
(like Bayer is in charge of Contour meters + strips)
Don't worry, it took me a little while to figure it out too!

Permalink Reply by elaine peterson on October 5, 2010 at 8:27am

So you are thinking that they work OK with the oPod as long as they are coded correctly?

Permalink Reply by Seth on October 5, 2010 at 8:42am

Elaine,

I have no clue just repeating what I am being told. Easy answer use another meter you trust.

Permalink Reply by MaiaJane on October 5, 2010 at 8:40am

Thanks for the update.
I'm out of strips (for the most part...maybe 1 day left on the "old" strips) and my pharmacy had to special order the "old" ones from Abbott, so I'll be using the new ones for about a week...I'll keep you updated, and verify all my readings with a spare One Touch I've got lying around...

Hopefully it all works out fine, calibrating my Dex will be a total PITA, and so will carrying an EXTRA meter!

Permalink Reply by MountainDolphin on October 5, 2010 at 10:11am

While I'm not in the same country as the rest of you (I'm in Israel), just FYI:
my local pharmacy, which provides all my diabetes supplies, told me last month that the old-style strips were no longer manufactured anywhere, and that the new Abbot strips (the chief pharmacist indeed mentioned they were always Code 16) were indeed the suitable replacement both for the OmniPod PDM's meter as well as other FreeStyle BG meters. I've used a couple of vials (100 strips) of the new-style meters on the PDM with no issues.

(For folks confused about name changes, FreeStyle was always the name of range of BG meters; the company which developed & sold them was called TheraSense. It was bought out by Abbott Labs a few years ago)

Permalink Reply by AML on October 5, 2010 at 11:41am

I just got off the phone with Insulet Customer Support (11:30a Pacific 10/5/2010). The OmniPod absolutely DOES support use of the new FreeStyle strips. These are not the FreeStyle Lite strips--they are just labeled FreeStyle and have the butterfly and the new tip on the strip. The canisters indicate to use code 16. I called Abbott as well and they transfered me directly to Insulet.

Permalink Reply by Gil DePaula on October 5, 2010 at 4:22pm

And you should set the code to 16 in the configuration section.

Permalink Reply by Katsz on October 5, 2010 at 5:41pm

So now I am really confused... are the butterfly strips just not approved yet ....but work or are we getting bad readings from them.... this is very important to know.

Permalink Reply by Kurt on October 11, 2010 at 10:25am

In my (short) experience, the butterfly strips are about 50% off with the PDM, compared to using them with an actual Frestyle, and compared with my OneTouch. They consistently read way too low.

Permalink Reply by AML on October 5, 2010 at 5:56pm

CORRECTION ON TEST STRIPS - INSULET IS NOW RECOMMENDING WE DO NOT USE THE NEW STRIPS
I got a follow up call tonight from Insulet Customer Support and they gave me new instructions. They are recommending that we do NOT use the new FreeStyle strips and that they do NEED FDA approval. Please verify this on your own.
I have asked Insulet to put a notice on their website.
Insulet and Abbott have completely botched this up and neither one seems to have a handle on it. What is worse is that neither of them seem to be working with the insurance companies--who are actually distributing the new strips. I am sorry that I have added to the problem by repeating their misinformation.

Permalink Reply by Katsz on October 6, 2010 at 5:16am

I called Omnipod last night too. The woman that I talked to said that they can not reccomend the new strips with the little butterflies at this time. The FDA has not aproved them for the use w/the pdm....
However... I have been testing on my own the effectiveness of the strips using the control solution....they seem to be fine. So I am going to continue using them. She did suggest if I was to keep using them that I remember to check any abnormal highs or lows on another meter and to use the control solution. She just can't come right out and say...they are safe. Infact she also implied that the pdm might need to be recalibrated for the new strips at some point.... wow what a pain in the tookus that would be.
She said that some people are having a tough time getting the old strips from their pharmacies but that there are still plenty of them out there to be had. I am not sure that I could just turn in my already opened boxes of strips anyway for an exchange. My son likes the new strips sooo much better... I am just going to keep an eye on the numbers if they look fishy. Crazy....that in the mean time.... this is one more variable to throw into the pot of the Diabetes Soup! If there weren't enough already!

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