I used code 12 on the omnipod for the butterfly test strips. I have been doing this for 2 days and comparing it to my one touch and my "classic/original" freestyle test strips and it has been within 8mg/dl every time. Try it out CODE 12
I think that’s like comparing apples to oranges. They utilize two different methods for analyzing the blood sample, so while the results may be “similar”, I don’t know that they are actually similar (lots of variables there).
Not to mention all of the ERROR codes that I was getting. I called Abbott, and they sent me 200 replacement strips for the ones I wasted.
What made you decide on code 12?
What I did was try a bunch of different codes until I got close. Code 12 seemed to be the closest. I have been doing it for 3 straight days and everytime I am using my one touch also and it is within 8 points everytime. As you know, if you put code 16 (what is on the package) people were consistently at 20-30 points different.
I’ve just been using the Freestyle Freedom that came with my starter pack. I tried the control solution with the butterfly strips and the Freedom was dead center of the normal range.
I think I have every Freestyle meter yet produced. Taking advantage of that, I did various tests, including testing the Freestyle Lite vs the older Freestyle stips, and using the various meters and settings. You should see the spreadsheet!
I came to the conclusion that testing with a drop of blood from the forearm with the freestyle lite strips and the Omnipod (setting “16”) was the equivalent (or very nearly the equivalent) of testing with the Freestyle strips and the Freestyle Meter, using a blood sample from my finger. I was 9-12 points off that way.
In one of the other tests, I used the Freestyle Lite strips and changed the Omnipod setting to 12. I was only 6 points off using the same blood sample from my forearm on both the Omnipod Freestyle meter and the Freestyle Lite meter. Usually, the Omnipod gives me a lower reading than the Freestyle Lite meter, even if by a few points.
I am very comfortable relying on the new strips. One of the things I keep in mind is that the reason for new way of calculating the BG value is to avoid the false highs that Abbott said their regular Freestyle strips commonly produced. Regardless, I do know that I can confidently use the strips as the BG values pretty well mirror how I am feeling at the moment.
Abbott told me as long as the butterfly strips don’t say “lite” on them that they are fine for the omnipod. Has that changed? I think they say code 16 on them… will go check… why would you change it to 12?
Because they aren’t FDA approved to use the butterfly strips on the omnipod. I believe that is on the insulet website. I was getting 20-30 points lower every time, so I fiddled around with the coding. THere are various discussions on how it isnt FDA approved for the omnipod and people are getting crazy readings.
Using the control solution, the Omnipod gave me readings with the butterfly strips that were 3 points below the minimum for the normal range and 14 points below the Freestyle Freedom. I never thought it was that big of a deal to get consistently lower readings using the Omnipod on the old strips, but readings below the control solution range for the new strips is something I don’t find reliable. I’ll just stick to the the same strips on the standalone meter.
I called Abbott early on in this discussion. They told me that the butterfly strips that just say “Freestyle” and do not say “freestyle lite” on them are fine for our PDMs. I have both used the corrections solution and compared my son’s Precision Meter to it and all seemed fine. They are always a few numbers off but never crazy. I keep his on code 16 and all seems fine. Have you called Abbott and asked them. Evidently, if I am remembering correctly, there are butterfy strips that say “lite” on them… those are the ones not approved for the PDM. I will call Abbott again to make sure of this. It is crazy how many variables we deal with trying to regulate things. Sure wish all of this was easier!
I have been using the new strips for 4 or 5 weeks already without incident with my PDM. Every bottle says code 16, so the PDM gets coded with 16 too; the readings seem as accurate as the old strips.
This seems all so random…
I did a quick test using a brand new Freestlye Lite Meter vs. the Omnipod 2nd gen. meter using code 12 and then 16. Results:
Freestyle Lite Meter = 70
Omnipod Meter Code 12 = 90
Omnipod Meter Code 16 = 77
OMG!!!! This strip drama is getting to me!!!! I had 3 phone calls with Abbott last Saturday about strip compatability. We were out of old strips and can't find any new ones. I had some regular butterfly strips ( just plain freestyle). I was going to buy a 2nd meter just to compare with our omnipod. (The meter that came with our omnipod is at school) Standing in the pharmacy, all I see are "lyte" meters. So I call and no those are not compatible with our strips. So I unload the omnipod/butterfly strip drama on this Abbot lady and don't know what I need to do. I tell her I'm going to go look for a meter that uses the reg. butterfly strips , and she tells me they are phasing those meters out. I thought this strange, since they just came out with all these strips, why phase 1/2 of them out? So after 2 more conversations, we worked out a deal, to get a meter and strips from the pharm, and Abbott was replacing them to the pharm. It's a freestyle freedom lyte. I've been comparing bg's between that and the omnipod using the lyte strips. The 1st check was like 20 points different. I think omnipod being lower. Kinda what i expected after reading all the posts. I checked with just the Freedom lyte meter for a couple of days and just manually enter the bg. After a day or so I compared them again, and they've been 2-3 points different fairly consistently, with the exception of last night when we had a 450 reading on the omnipod. The other read 432. With the last # exception my son had actually run low this week, on both meters.
The lady at Abbott was aware of all the recent strip drama, but never said anything about not being able to use the lyte strips. I even asked which strip was going to be approved and she stated she didn't have any info. This is stressing me out. I'm doubting every reading we get now. On any meter. There shouldn't be 2 different kinds of strips anyway. What was the point of going to "no coding necessary" if they are incompatible with 1/2 the meters! If I'm using a compatible meter to compare # then I'd think it would be ok. When there's a discrepensy of more than 10 points or so, I will usually go with the lower bg as not to over bolus. I just want to be able to check my child's bg an know it's right.
BTW I've been using code 16.
My pharmacy has never given me the Lite strips. The "butterfly" ones come in lite and regular and we get the ones that are the regular ones and they seem to work. How ever....I have a Freestyle lite meter....doesn't work w/ the old reg. strips...but does with the butterfly ones that do not even say lite. Now....as far as readings go? Not sure if his readings are off...he has been on a rollercoaster lately .....just leaving the honeymoon period and trying to get things settled. Really wish that the strips weren't one more variable in this mess...he has dropped really low twice since these new strips.... whether it is the strips or not...I don't know. All I know is..... I haven't slept though the night in over 2 weeks and things have been horrible.... strips fault??? Who knows.
I have pretty much settled on the 12 setting for now. With such a wide variety of test results, just in this small sampling, I am wondering if each shipment will have to be tested to see which is the most accurate at that time.
I tested the and got unacceptably wide variances once, close ones once and now the 12 have proven (to me at least) to be well within range.
I have also tested the same strips on the same sample of blood and gotten over 15% variance so none of them are perfect.
I think if you are really worried, call one of the other glucometer companies for a freebie and get their strips. Of course, then you get more carry along junk.
The thing is... I think the strips are fine on 16 and as long as they don't say "LITE" they are right. I hope I am not doing a big disservice to my son w/this.
I've been using the spiffy new strips in my OmniPod and I check it with a Freestyle Flash and most of the time they're 1-2 pts different. I keep my PDM cruising at 16. Given that the new testing method excludes other things that give false highs, I'm pretty confident that they're good to go.
What do you mean by "Given that the new testing method excludes other things that give false highs, I'm pretty confident that they're good to go." ? Love the new strips....but don't know what you mean by this.