Special
Feature
FreeStyle Tracker First Impressions
Dave
Joffe, Pharmacist, FACA
Editor
in Chief
I am always looking for gadgets
and new devices and when I first saw the Freestyle Tracker
device for the Handspring Visor at the AADE conference in
Louisville last year I wanted one. Every time I saw a Therasense
Rep or was at a conference I asked for one. I wasn’t sure what
I would do with it but I had to have one.
While at the ADA in San Francisco
I received a FreeStyle Tracker
for my Handspring Prism.
I had finally got one and yet I
didn’t have a reason to use it. I don’t have diabetes and
although in my early days as an educator I would often check my
glucose 4 or 5 times a day for a couple of weeks at a time I
really was not committed to doing that again.
I had been out enjoying some of
San Francisco’s best places and developed a really sore and
swollen throat and had started on a prednisone dose pack. During
one afternoon I had my A1c and Cholesterol checked at an
exhibitors booth. Even though I had not eaten for 4 hours, my
glucose was 168. Our publisher, Steve Freed, thought it might be
the prednisone. I now had a reason to use the FreeStyle Tracker
.
I started checking my glucose and
that first day I checked it 4 more times. I found the device to
be quite addictive. The set up was simple and once the software
was loaded, it worked just like any meter only better. The
combination of the Handspring’s memory and processor and the
FreeStyle Tracker ’s software made documenting and tracking
simple and easy.
I used it 22 times in the next 4
days and immediately had a line graph of my readings as well as
modal day and a complete log. In addition I was able to input my
carb intake as well as my exercise. The Graffiti software that
all Palm operating systems have, made it easy to make notes as
to my sick days, exercise and food intake. There is even a list
of over 5000 foods to help you estimate your carbohydrate
consumption.
I have been using the FreeStyle
Tracker for the
past 19 days, and with a tap of the screen I can instantly see
the following:
