My DD's Omnipod system is set to be delivered on Tuesday. I have been reading up on the pod and read that in the past the Freestyle strips had a habit of running low.
Is this still the case, is there a way around it?
I'm trying to decide if I should ask for a script for the new test strips tomorrow or if we should stick with our Accuchek Aviva, even though I'll have to manually input the BG numbers.
In your Omnipod system you should actually get another additional meter. I can only assume that Insulet is aware of the meter problems and provides this meter to use instead.
Also, I've found by testing with yet another meter, comparing it to the PDM, that changing the calibration number to 17 from the 16 which is on the strip bottles makes the PDM meter work very closely to a correct number for me.
We haven't been having trouble with incorrect readings in 9 months or so. When freestyle first switched to the new strips we did have trouble, but it has been accurate since then.
In 10 years of testing I've never found 2 meters that give the same readings...close but never the same. So I usually test twice using different meters, but with blood from one stick.
Deb - My experience last night illustrates for you (I'm a long time and current user of OneTouch) - I was headed to bed and was on the borderline of low on my Dexcom (whom I affectionately call "Herman"). I coudln't find my last vial of One Touch strips I had left (mail order came today) and so I pulled out some backup freestyles and used the meter. Now I was feeling at worst in the high 60s and probably closer to the 82 that Herman (my dexcom CGM) was telling me. The Freestyle gave me a 31.
I'm fairly sensitive even after 10 years, I know I was at worst 60.
I've had a number of these occasions with the Omnipod (whom I call Elvis) - so I seldom use Elvis for testing unless it's an utter emergency.
I'm interested to see if anyone else has had a similar experience.
cut/paste from my prior post...
I read the little paper that comes with the test strips--all folded up with super small print. Looks like BG accuracy is affected mostly by where you draw the sample (finger/palm/other) and if your TRUE BG is <>75. I scanned it to make the section on accuracy more readable. This is the section I found interesting:
I am only 68% likely to get a reading that is within 5% of true BG.
I am 94% likely to get within 10%, and 99% likely to get within 15%.
It looks like the control solutionrange of 83-125mg/dl is 104mg/dl ±21 which is the broadest range in the expected accuracy table.
The way I interpret this is if the control solution read is 104, then the meter and the strips are spot on. If your meter reads are consistent and near the extremes of this "Normal" range, you may want to consider either getting a new meter or replacement test strips to see if your readings get closer to the 104 target.
I found this via www.fda.gov: http://diabetestechnology.org/FDA/Scott-%20State%20of%20the%20Art%2...
It looks like this level of accuracy is pretty standard across all meters.
Hi i'm new here (does anyone know where I can find an introduction group or something like that?). 25 years old, live in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Diagnosed with Type 2, april 4th this year, began with Lantus 1X and NovoRapid 3X and now since two weeks on the Omnipod
And i'm too are getting a large difference between the Contour USB - and the PDM of the Omnipod with the Freestyle strips.
So my diabetic caretaker called Abbott - Netherlands, and said something about it, of course they weren't happy, and Bayer. And they both said, why not test them. I'm waiting for the fluid to test them but last week I had to do a check of both meters.
From one drop of blood they took two small straws, and I've tested 2 seperate Bayer Contour USB meters and the PDM.
The PDM of the Omnipod is very accurate the meter says 122,4 mg/dl (6.8 mmol/l), the lab 118,8 mg/dl (6,6 mmol/l)
About the Contour USB meter 140,4 mg/dl (7,8 mmol/l), lab 120,6 mg/dl (6.7 mmol/l)
The second Contour USB meter 142,2 mg/dl (7,9 mmol/l), lab 122,4 .g/dl (6.8 mmol/l)
I find that a big difference. So i'm now using the PDM. Still waiting for the test fluid to test them both for accuracy.
Do you still use cal code 17? Have you checked it against other meters?
Yep, still on code 17 even tho the bottles say 16. I check with 2 other meters I have from time to time. Ususally the PDM is around 5% low to almost perfect with those meters, so I call it close enough to be good. I've also been using the "lite" strips, which I know are not the ones to use. But someone at Insulet told me that it's OK, they are just not verified by the FDA for use. I'll try some regular strips sometime and see if there is a real difference or not.
I've been on Omnipod for almost 6 months now and I've wondered the same thing about accuracy. The past week I've done several multi-meter tests simultaneously and they usually land something like:
Omnipod = 67
Freestyle (came w/ the Omnipod) = 78
One Touch Contour (my old faithful for past couple years before going pump) = 86.
one time it was:
Omnipod = 46
Freestyle = 58
One Touch = 73
In all these cases I feltcloser to the One Touch.
It's consistent, though, that the Omnipod gives the lowest reading.
It seems if my blood sugar is in the "perfect" range of 110 - 125, the differential narrows, and grows as my blood sugar drops and rises.
The frustration is in what to trust. If Omnipod says my reading is 46 but I feel like I'm in the mid-upper 60s, does that mean my awareness is changing? Or does it mean something's not quite right with my meter? Or that my awareness isn't changing, but I'm now learning what my awareness really is?
(After 27 years with this, my fear is losing the awareness factor.)
I've considered asking Insulet about the quality of my PDM, but at the same time I figure I can muddle through until the next generation comes out. (Soon, supposedly.) Has anyone heard of PDMs getting replaced?
You might find this discussion interesting. It offers a solution to your problem.
http://www.tudiabetes.org/group/omnipodusers/forum/topics/a1c-surprise?xg_source=activity
Thanks! Interesting thread. I like the post about testing the control solution and finding the right calibration # for the meter.
In case anyone's interested...I eventually got some control solution, and tested my strips and they fell below normal range on two tests. I finally contacted Omnipod about these results and the glucose differences I'd noted between the three meters. They immediately decided to change out my PDM, and overnighted a new one. I have 30 days to return the original, but I'm going to spend a day or two double-testing between the two PDMs. The first test differed by only 1 point. (??)
I suspect they may have only done this because the new system should be coming out soon, and once it does they'll have unused stock, so it was an easy replacement. I think their customer service is great.
We use Code 17 with the correct strips. When we used Code 16, the readings were WAY too low.
Okay so I've been using the Omnipod for 2-1/2 years. About a year ago I started getting high readings. Over 200. Some over 300. It was rare that I got a reading below 160. My Endocrinologist kept upping my basil rate plus put me on metformin. Nothing worked. So she upped my metformin fro 500 mg twice a day to 1000 mg twice a day. Still nothing worked. Due to the constant pod errors halfway through my pod life, which was costing me double the amount of insulin, I shopped around. I had my meter replaced twice. I got fed up with a pod rarely lasting 18 hour. I found tech support at Insulet totally worthless. I asked about all the insulin I was using, they said that was not their problem. Those words. I threatened to get another pump, the local rep called me and got me a box of new pods and promised they would reimburse me for the insulin. Two months went by and they forgot all about reimbursing me for the cost of the insulin. Then three pods had pod error in a row. Three pods in less than 36 hours. I got approval from Aetna to get a One Touch Ping. I've had it three days now. I went from readings of 165 and up to over 200, every reading, on the omnipod, to immediate lower readings on the Ping. The first 4 bg readings on the ping were 72, 68, 77, 80. Goodbye Omnipod.