World Health Organization's tried Abbott's fresh FreeStyle test strips with their fancy new "ZipWik" applied science? These are the ones with the Butterfly happening them, and the new tapered ends that poke out for a good deal-developed blood consumption. I wrote about them when they were first introduced in this Test Strip Newsworthiness send.

Trouble is, now that they're being shipped out to customers, cipher's sure whether they'rhenium compatible with the built-in meter on the OmniPod.

A bunch of the great unwashe pinged me on the issue this calendar week, and there's a great deal of online discussion / confusion at the moment. Many PWDs and parents of T1 kids have been automatically upgraded to the new strips past their mail-order pharmacies.  Should they insist happening returning these for the age-old strips?!  And suddenly I realized, this happened to me too!

Some people have flatbottomed tried comparison the older and newer strips in their OmniPod PDM and set up "improving to 40 points difference in all test." Yikes! (Simply there's an allowable sport of capable 20% in glucose readings anyway, none?)

And so I contacted the common people at both Abbott Diabetes and Insulet, makers of the OmniPod, and here's the pertinent information I found out:

1. Be aware that there are TWO varieties of FreeStyle exam strips — the "classic" strips for basic FreeStyle meters and "lite" strips made specifically for the party's mini-sized FreeStyle Lite meters. There are also two varieties of the new test strips to service these systems. The meter well-stacked into the OmniPod is the "classic" variety, not Lite.

2. This is the important bit: at this steer, the newer test strips are only FDA sanctioned for Abbott's cardinal varieties of FreeStyle meters, and have Non YET BEEN FDA Authorized FOR OMNIPOD USE. Because of this, the PR folks at both companies were pretty overmuch below a gag order and unable to make much comment otherwise to say "people are using them."

3. The new strips expect No more Cryptography, so when victimised with a regular FreeStyle measure, the system apparently doesn't ask round you to input a code amoun. If used with the OmniPod, however, you would use the coding on the vial, which seems to e'er be the add up 16. (whatever – as good a number as any, rightish?)

4. It seems pretty obvious that Abbott plans to phase angle out the older strips in time, just for now, they're making a big point of stating that the older strips are still obtainable. Any OmniPod users who've been shipped newer strips and would like to replace those (up to 500 at a clip) simply require to contact Abbott Customer Robert William Service and they volition transport kayoed an equivalent quantity of older strips for you straight away, accordant to Abbott's Director of Public Personal business Greg Miley. He says they'll take you along the honor system if you state that you need a certain quantity of surrogate strips (the older ones) instantly; you'll be expected to transport the newer strips back to the company in exchange.

While they're waiting on approval from the FDA, the companies have no choice merely to state that they "do not recommend" using the newer strips in the OmniPod system. But many of U.S. feature time-tested it and plant that they work just fine — myself enclosed. I can certainly understand why people don't want to go to the trouble of returning the Butterfly strips (what a PITA).

I've been deliverance my new batch of Butterfly strips for utilization subsequently I've run out of the old ones. I tried them out, all the same, and was absolutely shocked at how apace they absorb blood line. Near too cursorily. Information technology seems like you could just skirmish your hand nearby and abruptly — beeeeeepppp! What a departure from aggressively scraping roue onto to the old strips, which I often had to coiffe in order to get a response.

Why would I want to return these new blood-suckers (that's a good thing here!) for something older and harder to use? Who wants to move backwards?

So in summary, you've got two choices: if you're not willing to take the leap of religious belief that the new strips will follow OK in the OmniPod, then contact Abbott to help you pander older strips asap. OR, like my supporter Leighann of D-Mammy Blog, you can assume that FDA approval is a formalities, and go ahead and start using the new strips right away. As Leighann notes, the FDA is notoriously slow; we might also enjoy the newest technology, with little blood required, piece we wait.