Air travel with insulin pump

The way we handle it (17 year old son with medtronic pump and dexcom cgm) is that first I give my son the option ; take your pump off and ask for hand screening of the pump. That should always be an option with TSA but, I generally suggest to people that we don't get in that habit because you should not have to remove a medical device. We don't want to give TSA the idea that they can suggest it. They can't. But we should be able to.

Then, we watch to see if the body scanner or metal detector is in use. If it's the metal detector, we don't say anything. 9 times out of 10 nothing happens and we go about our business. no alarms, no bells, no screaming TSA agents (we put the dexcom receiver in one of the carry on bags on the belt). If it bings, he says "oh, I do have an insulin pump" and he gets swabbed.

If the body scanner is in use, we tell the TSA agent that he cannot use the full body scanner as his pump manufacturer says not to put the pump through. Then we tell them that he is CAN go through the metal detector or a pat down, or both. We try to make sure they understand we're perfectly happy to comply, just not use the full body scanner. Almost every time, it's a full pat down. He's done it so many times that he doesn't even care anymore. When we load the belt we typically send me first, him second and dh last. That way I can begin collecting our stuff and then stand with our son while he gets his pat down. The past year, our son has been working on speaking up for himself at the airport and that's effing HUGE (pardon my language) because it means we've given him the tools to do it on his own. :)
 
next question... Ok I hand my pump so they can hand search/inspect it, I feel weird/strange handing my pump to someone and the connector that goes into the site is out in the open. I do not like that it could get touched by something non-sterile/dirty. I know it is not sterile but who knows what they have touched and then i have to put it into my site/body??? am I crazy?? Do I even have to disconnect it??
 
next question... Ok I hand my pump so they can hand search/inspect it, I feel weird/strange handing my pump to someone and the connector that goes into the site is out in the open. I do not like that it could get touched by something non-sterile/dirty. I know it is not sterile but who knows what they have touched and then i have to put it into my site/body??? am I crazy?? Do I even have to disconnect it??
I never disconnect I just do what the TSA ask me as long as I do not go though the boady scanner
 
next question... Ok I hand my pump so they can hand search/inspect it, I feel weird/strange handing my pump to someone and the connector that goes into the site is out in the open. I do not like that it could get touched by something non-sterile/dirty. I know it is not sterile but who knows what they have touched and then i have to put it into my site/body??? am I crazy?? Do I even have to disconnect it??
Nope, disconnecting is your choice. They cannot ask you to disconnect.
Though, you do know your connection isn't actually going on / in your body, just connecting, so any thing it touches wouldn't matter. You could always just wipe it down with an alcohol wipe before connecting. I also think the TSA wear gloves when touching these things, so you could ask them to put on gloves first.

But you don't have to disconnect.
 
Yeah, i do know it does not go "in" my body but the needle does and that is what I do not want them to touch. thanks for the idea about new/fresh gloves, never thought of that...
 


My son in law had a Medtronic pump and went through security wearing it many, many times with no problems. Maybe he was just lucky, but his brother has the same pump and has never had an issue either. I think the easiest thing would be to take it off before he enters the line and telling security that it cannot be x-rayed. Unless there is a really long line it should not be a problem.
 
dragonfly.... in that Linc you posted, what does the '1' and '2' mean for under the cell phone??
 
dragonfly.... in that Linc you posted, what does the '1' and '2' mean for under the cell phone??

here you go ( the graph is for Medtronic pump other pumps should be the same but I would check with the pump manufacturer on what they recommend for there pumps)

https://www.medtronicdiabetes.com/customer-support/equipment-interference

1 = Common consumer electronic devices that transmit in the same frequency band used by the MMT-7703 MiniLink® transmitter may prevent your CGM monitor or insulin pump from receiving the glucose information sent by the transmitter. Most cellular (mobile) phones and 900 MHz cordless phones, when transmitting or receiving, may cause significant interruption of transmitter-receiver communication. It is likely that other devices operating in similar frequency ranges will have a similar effect. This interference, however, will not cause any incorrect data to be sent and will not cause any harm to your transmitter.

2 = Common consumer wireless devices that transmit in the same 916.5MHz/868.35MHz frequency band used by the MMT-7709 CGMS iPro Digital Recorder (DR) transmitter may prevent the DR transmitter from downloading appropriately to Solutions CGMS iPro through the MMT-7304NPRO/MMT-7304WPRO COMLINK iPro receiver. Most cellular (mobile) phones and 900 MHz cordless phones, when transmitting or receiving, may cause significant disruption to communication between the DR transmitter and the COMLINK iPro receiver. It is likely that other wireless devices co-existing in similar frequency ranges will have a similar effect. This interference, however, will not cause any incorrect data to be sent and will not cause any harm to your digital recorder.
 
I leave my Omnipod on and request the pat-down. So far, I've been lucky enough that all the agents doing the pat-down were gentle and respectful about it. I'm switching back to a Medtronic pump soon, and I'm pretty sure I'll continue to do the same. Maybe I'm paranoid, but the idea of disconnecting my pump and handing it to someone else makes me nervous. It feels like a part of my body.


Long after my last trip, another pumper said they’d been told they shouldn't ride the Peoplemover in the Magic Kingdom with a pump because of the big magnets in the track. I hadn't heard that at the time, but I didn't have any problems after I rode.
 
interesting about the people mover.... I hadn't thought of that or any other rides.... hmmm you have me thinking now!
 
I have rides the people mover a number of times one times I did it 4 or 5 times with out getting off never had a problem
 
My DD14 uses an insulin pump (Medtronic). We just tell them this and they take her aside and, yes, she does get the full body pat down and for a teenage girl that is quite invasive. However, she takes it in stride as part of air travel and knows she can't avoid it.

The worst experience that I have had with airport security was in Orlando actually. As usual, we informed the agent that she was using an insulin pump and couldn't use the xray machine. They took forever to get a female agent as we stood on one side of security and she on the other....that must have went on for 10 or 15 minutes before they actually got to her. They asked me to stand by and observe while they did the pat down in full view of everyone....a veeeerrrry thorough pat down. I know they have to do this but even knowing this, it seemed a little over the top to me. My DD was quite flustered by the time it was done as it was so extremely invasive. To top it off, we were travelling with a travel pump as a backup which they had to take and examine. Understandable. However they went off with it to do so and then misplaced it. After speaking to 6 - 7 people, they finally located it after 10 or 15 minutes. Totally unacceptable when dealing with a piece of medical equipment worth over $5000.

Usually it is just another little hitch but this time around, it was a very stressful experience.

I somehow always manage to get a pat down after the body scanners at MCO (my wife thinks it is because my behavior sketches them out since I have a horrendous amount of anxiety and difficulty with the TSA process) and i always feel it is extremely invasive. My travel clothes are generally leggings and a T-shirt. I’m not readily concealing anything. Yet I still end up getting felt up every single time. Being touched by strangers is something that triggers a meltdown for me, so it is always just a horrendous experience all around. Your feelings on MCO being overly invasive on their pat down is something I have personally experienced, so it does occur.
 

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