This is my only place to VENT, that people will UNDERSTAND!!! I received the 400 "free" (nothing is FREE) test strips, my son has to test his BS sometimes, 10 times a day...he is very active in sports, has many lows. My point in VENTING, is this, I go to the pharmacy to pick up his strips, which is supposed to be 300 per month, I received 200 - OF THE OLD, NO GOOD, RECALLED strips. I told the pharmacists, she had NO CLUE that there was an active recall on the strips. She looked online, she said, "This is not a recall, per se, it only has to do with Omni-Pod!!!!!! Use the Freedom meter! I contacted Abbot, I was told that they will "see" if my son can be approved for an additional 400 "free" strips! In the meantime, use my Freedom meter that the strips are approved for. When I told the "lady" it was absolutely, and totally unsatisfactory, to have to carry "two" meters!!!! Her answer, that is not OUR problem!!!!!!!!
I think Abbott & Omni-Pod BOTH, should be held accountable! Omni-Pod for allowing an out of date meter to be placed into a BRAND NEW PDM, and Abbot, for not caring about our needs! I was told, by a supervisor, WE DON'T KNOW when this "issue" will be resolved, we have to get people the strips before we can send to pharmacies, be patient with them. YOU don't mind taking our money, you don't mind telling us it's not YOUR problem! Whose is it?
Maybe the FDA can answer that question!
Thanks for allowing me to vent! I will JUMP off my soapbox now!!!!
Mike you have every right to be upset. I told them I did not have the freedom meter so they told me that they would send one out to me with the 400 strips (abbott). well the strips came and no control solution or meter, I called to inquire about it and was told that Canada did not have the freedom meter, I said ok, so what meter uses the same strips as the omnipod. Their answer was none, that Omnipod was the only one that used the regular strips. unbelievable. oh well. we do what we can.
I usually carry two meters. Nothing to get bent out of shape IMHO. Just remember, people don't make you mad, it's your choice to be mad or not.
It is extremely frustrating. I read that after the 400 free ones, you can exchange other 'bad' ones for new ones from Abbott.
https://www.abbottdiabetescare.com/press-room/2014/2014-c.html
I personally am ok with using the recalled ones and just code the PDM to 17 to make it read a little higher. Frankly, this is all a guessing game with our bodies. Ugh.
Vent away Mike. When the initial recall happened I had just received my 3 month supply of strips (1100) from Walgreens Mail Order. I am approved for 12 strips a day. My first call was to Abbott recall line and the lady said we will send you 400 strips. I asked her about my remaining 700 strips and she said I could use those in the Freedom meter. I told her I was not interested in carrying around 2 meters and if their strips didn't work in the PDM then they would have to replace all of them. She gave me a claim number and said someone would call me. Since then I have contacted my customer advocate at Walgreens mail order who was unaware of the "recall". I contacted my insurance company who forced me in to using Abbott products in the first place and lodged a complaint about how crappy Abbott strips are and how very poorly this recall was handled. Finally I contacted Abbott about 6 times
As a result of my calls I have so far received 1200 replacement strips from Abbott,3 Bottles of control solution - high, low and normal, a new Freestyle Freedom meter complete with 50 complimentary strips, a return kit to exchange the strips which Abbott has replaced. And a phone call from a higher up at Abbott Diabetes Care to apologize for my "inconvenience". I told her I had completely lost confidence in their strips and they could send me free strips for the rest of my life and it wouldn't make me feel any different. This was far more than just an "inconvenience".
My customer advocate at Walgreens Mail Order got back to me yesterday saying they still had not heard anything from ADC and if not for my email with a copy of the recall letter from Abbott, they would never have known. She has 2 customers affected and called ADC to find out what strips are compatible. The rep gave her 13 lot numbers but so far they are not available at Walgreens.
Abbott is making it our responsibility to check and make sure the strips we purchase are compatible. By not informing pharmacies, doctors, insurance companies, and sending out 400 "free" strips to all OP customers - they're just hoping this whole thing will go away.
Basically the louder I have been and the more people I get involved the more stuff Abbott sends me. Squeaky wheel ? My next phone call will be to Insulet just to let them know how awful this recall process has been.
They put out an updated press release on March 13 on Abbott Diabetes Care that said they hope to have strips to suppliers in 30-60 days. I called them again after I got my free 400 strips and told them I had 900 strips I just got and paid for through insurance (express scripts) that came via mail 1 day after the recall. They sent me and envelope and I mailed them all back 2 days ago, said it could take up to 4 weeks to get them back, have my fingers crossed that I will see them back. I will only get back 500 as they will minus the 400 they already sent me, nice right!! anyway I agree that omnipod is way to quiet about all this. Nobody wants to carry around another meter and its about accuracy anyway. My daughter has been double testing at times with both meters so we are going through a lot of strips, and her blood sugar has been all over the place due to hormones, only have 200 left now. The whole thing is a debacle
Mike: I agree with the frustration expressed here. Both Omnipod and Abbot share responsibility. How many of us had to sit on hold for hours to get test strips that would work? The amount being invested in the PDM, so that we do not have to carry multiple devices,is considerable and was a selling point to persuade us to change pump systems. While we can "control" our outrage at the way this was handled, I think we need to support each other, notifying Abbot and Insulet of our displeasure. We do have choices...we do not have to settle for this. If customer service does not improve quickly for both companies, we can start shopping around for a system that does not require weekly calls to get the services we were promised. My additional issue is that Insulet and my insurance company are no longer communicating well...which causes very disruptive delays in the shipment of new pods. I am starting to consult with my endo about another more reliable pump system.
When I got that return kit jojo, I called Abbott and said I would be caught short if I sent them the 700 strips for replacement and had to wait up to 4 weeks to get them back. I had no interest in running short because of their negligence. They put in a request for 400 more strips so I didn't run out. I received those the other day and then returned the 700 strips in their UPS envelope. I was heartened to see the package was going to "SteriCycle" not being returned to ADC for repackaging and shipment to somewhere else.
It is very annoying that OmniPod and Abbot(I also find Abbot quite annoying) ;have not collaborated smoothly to keep both of their consumers happy. That being said, regardless of the issue. You ALWAYS need to carry a back up monitor system in case something goes wrong with your PDM. It only makes sense to have the backup use the same strips. Abbott does (or did) have a meter that uses the same strips as the Omnipod.
I had 1400 of the old strips on hand when the recall happened (I too use 10 per day or so)
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After the initial 400, last week they sent me an exchange envelope to replace the others. I have returned the old strips and expect to get back good ones shortly.
They did send me control solution free on request...but I did have to ask for it.
My back up monitor system is my Dexcom only problem is I have to calibrate the Dexcom with an accurate number or it all goes to hell.
Basically Insulet wanted to stay as far away from this mess as possible. All they did was send a letter to their customers with the pithy little comments like "You can always use an alternative blood glucose meter and strips. The OmniPod Insulin Management System makes it easy for you to manually enter blood glucose readings from any unaffected blood glucose meter made by any manufacturer - reacquaint yourself with the easy steps in the attached document on how to do this". and "As a general reminder, always refer to your User Guide for instructions on approved use of the Omnipod System - Yours Truly The OmniPod Team. Frankly this "Team" is having a losing season while the pods themselves are reliable and I won't go to a tubed pump, I am really disappointed in how Insulet has responded to something that affects absolutely every single one of their customers.
I had the exact same response from Walgreens when I went to get my new months supply of strips yesterday. They knew nothing about the recall and after calling Abbott got the same information from them that you did. Abbott sent me only 400 strips also and then called to make sure I got them and then called again to tell me that my pharmacy now had the new strips.
Here is something else no one is talking about. I have been a Adult onset type one diabetic since the end of 2009. My AlC's have been totally high all this time from 8 to over 9. How much damage has been done in the last five years to my 72 year old body because of their mistake. I am new to this website and didn't know anything about having to adjust from 16 to 17, etc.
The stress that what we have to go through every day as a diabetic is bad enough, being raped by this company for these very very expensive test strips that don't work properly is a crime. I also get enough for 12 tests a day. I'm on medicare and Abbott charges over $1,600 a month for that amount of strips according to my pharmacist. That is highway robbery as far as I'm concerned and especially for a product that not only doesn't work but endangers our life. I think that Abbott and Omnipod definitely in some way need to be held accountable. Sorry to vent so much but this really angers me.
sorry for everyone's frustration , but glad to see that it isn't just me having this problem , it took forever for me to even get the letter telling me there was a problem , been reading about it for a few months and figured it wasn't affecting me here in Canada , Wrong ,same story with a little twist , I have about 600 in reserve they will send 400 then I have to jump through their hoops to have the rest exchanged , I test 10 to 12 times a day it is going to take 7 to 14 days to get the new strips which I cannot go that long with out testing , so I contact my pharmacy and get a meter that will accurately work with these test strips , but when I unpack and prepare to do my first test my brand new meter the battery is dead and it won't work , so I call them again , they will be more than happy to send me a new battery ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, in a week or 3 , thanks for the concern for my health abbot and costello , when I was dealing with accuchek they would over night me a battery or a meter , I guess glucose levels just aren't that important with diabetes who knew , thanks for listening and good luck in your battles
I am in the same situation, not sure what I`m going to do once my 400 strips I got from abbott are done. it's totally unacceptable that none of the companies providing us with strips are aware of this recall.
My pharmacy was aware a day after I got my letter as I took mine in to show them, they misunderstood I was just coming in to show the letter and they started scrambling around like lost mice in a maze. Then they showed me their letter which stated that I should call Abbott directly for strips??? Well they were relieved that I was not asking for strips but just showing my letter but was amusing to watch them running around for sure lol
Not disparaging any of the venting and frustration here at all. I'd be pissed about this too -- if I was having the problem.
Why does my PDM meter work? It's accurate -- quite so -- with the original "bad" strips.
Oddly, this worries me... Is the failure a hit-and-miss thing? Is it know that some proportion of PDM meters work, and the rest not?
When this whole debacle arose, I checked, double-checked, and triple-checked my PDM again two other meters several times. All good.
Yet, the strips are supposedly "bad". So, I'm worried now that once the newly-formulated "good" strips are on the shelf, my PDM will start reading wrong.
Dave, just consider yourself one of the "lucky" ones. My PDM worked perfectly well until I got a bad batch of strips and then the PDM kept telling me to treat my low blood sugar and the meter kept saying I was 97. There are not entire lots or even tins with entirely crappy strips. There are bunches of lots with maybe 2 strips in the entire batch of 50 that suffer from the problem. Initially Abbott recalled 20 lots of strips which were thought to be "bad" but once they received more and more reports of erroneous low readings they were forced into recalling them all. Your strips are probably ok, and you're smart enough to double check if you get a funky reading. The problem for Abbott arose when someone who wasn't quite smart enough to double check went in to DKA and died as a result of treating his "low" blood glucose.
Lucky you, all my bad strips were reading much much lower. not sure if I can play around with the codes to make them work or not.
One way I believe is to calibrate with a different code than 16. The higher you put the number the higher the result will be. Some people find 17 or 18 is ok for them, others go even higher.
Just wondering... did you guys get a follow-up letter recently (last few weeks?) that you're supposed to take to your pharmacy when you're getting your next prescription filled to make sure they give you the right ones?
I'm just wondering how that went. Thanks!