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FreeStyle BG Monitor

Dillinger

Well-Known Member
Messages
1,209
Location
London
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Dislikes
Celery.
Did anyone else get one of these; there was a give-a-way last week or so?

I did and like the set up; it has an 'insulin suggestion' feature that needs a pass code to set up - there is very little information about that other than it saying your health care provider will give you the pass code. That sounds a bit weird. Does anyone know about this?

I kind of get the feeling my health care provider will just say 'eh?' if I phone them for a pass code...

By the way I spent quite a lot of money on the iGB Star meter and overall think it's pretty ****; very low battery life, impossible to read the meter outside unless it is attached to the iphone, not easy to customise or alter the BG information. Not great for £50...

Best

Dillinger
 
I take it that you are referring to the giveaway offer of the Freestyle InsuLinx which has the bolus wizard on it.... Yes, the bolus wizard does need to be activated by a DSN. I think this is so that Abbott can protect their backs a bit so that diabetics dont start entering an insulin to carb ratio that will then give too little or too much insulin. How a DSN can know exactly what ratio people will need to use..... beats me, as they will probably be as much in the dark as diabetics will be when they first start using carb ratios and that its only by doing frequent bg tests that everything falls into place so that bg levels fall between the current bg guidelines as stated on this forum, although some dsns might want people to use different target levels....

Maybe Abbott should have also included a copy of Think Like A Pancreas to guide them using bolus/basal lol.
 
Hey Dillinger, iHs!

Well, that doesn't sound very useful! Surely each person knows their own ratio and target better than their DSN does. My GP and surgery DSN agree to disagree on my target - they say 7ish, I say 5.5 - if they were able to set my target on my meter and I couldn't, I'd be furious! I think I'll give that type of meter a miss and stick to my manual calculations.

Smidge
 
Personally, I wouldn't want to use a target of 5.5 myself Smidge as that would probably start me going towards having low bg levels even with using a carb ratio but if a dsn is the only person who can change the carb ratios and not the individual, then the InsuLinx is not an attractive option as everyone should be encouraged to use their own judgement and not rely on a DSN.
 
Dillinger said:
Did anyone else get one of these; there was a give-a-way last week or so?

I did and like the set up; it has an 'insulin suggestion' feature that needs a pass code to set up - there is very little information about that other than it saying your health care provider will give you the pass code. That sounds a bit weird. Does anyone know about this?

I kind of get the feeling my health care provider will just say 'eh?' if I phone them for a pass code...

By the way I spent quite a lot of money on the iGB Star meter and overall think it's pretty ****; very low battery life, impossible to read the meter outside unless it is attached to the iphone, not easy to customise or alter the BG information. Not great for £50...

Best

Dillinger

I use the ibgstar app on my iPhone and it's great, you can change edit and do a lot, I don't have the meter for it though....
 
Hi,

Thanks everyone.

I'll see if I can phone the DSN at the practice to ask about this. I'm sure it is a liability issue with Abbott, but it is a bit annoying - can't trust these child like diabetics to take care of themselves...

The meter is good I think; better than my old One Touch and more sturdy and thought out than the iGB Star meter.

Best

Dillinger
 
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