Blood test machines get funkier with this little number – it has a touch screen! Aimed at those who’re on insulin, you can add your own image into the phone as well as add various other personalized settings. It’s PC and Mac-compatible and comes with FreeStyle Auto-Assist software which you can use in either colour or black-and-white, as you prefer. From Abbott Diabetes Care, it uses the company’s FreeStyle Lite blood glucose test strips so no change in prescription if you already have a FreeStyle meter (no coding required).
The touch screen is icon-driven, so you press the relevant icon to get into that part of the set up. There is an onboard bolus calculator. There is only one button, which acts as the home button, just like many a mobile phone these days.
As well as testing your blood, if you input the insulin that you’ve given yourself, then the meter can do a host of other things to help you keep good all-round conrol. The InsuLinx name reflects that the meter is about linking blood tests to insulin. For example, the little figure of a man on the screen shows if you have any active insulin still in your system and it will warn you if you’re ‘insulin stacking’ (where you keep popping in a bit more insulin if your numbers are high – which tends to lead to a big drop later on and a hypo).
Due to the nature of this meter requiring input of certain personalised settings such as insulin-to-carb ratios, it is only available from your healthcare professional.
