Anyone recently been through the new TSA screening with a pump? What was yoru experience?
I am travelling next week and I am nervous about the uprising about the new screening. I know there are no full body scanners on my first leg to Florida, but I plan not to use them anyway as recommended by MM. I plan to be honest about my pump upfront as to not cause any issues if the see tubing, or a blge in my pocket, etc. I plan on leaving lots of time for screening.
Anyone recently travelled in the US with the new screening? Please share your experience. Thanks!
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by marti w on -
i haven't flown with mine yet but my doctor and the manufacturer say to keep my pump out of xrays. the full body scanners [backscatter] emits xrays so if i ever fly again i will make sure my pump is inspected by hand.
-
Permalink Reply by Donna H on -
I have a number of times already. I can't tell you whether the pump will set off the metal detector because I set it off due to a knee replacement regardless, But the search hasn't been terrible. Sometimes they just look at the pump, One time they had me touch it and then they swabbed my hands, One time they didn't even look at it at all. I travel a lot. I always announce to the TSA agent that I have a pump. It saves time and questions.
-
Permalink Reply by Bill Halper on -
My Animas Ping set off the metal detector. The TSA person sent me through it again, with the same results. The hand patdown that followed was professional and through, but not the most pleasant.
Next time, I'm going to disconnect the cannula from the pump, turn the puppy off, and stick it in my backpack. I can live without insulin for ten minutes.
-
Permalink Reply by dep on
-
The x-ray scanners for carry on luggage are OK for pumps. The 'no x-ray' warning relates to much higher power x-rays found in some medical and industrial settings.
-
Permalink Reply by Tom T on -
It's not the x-rays per se, but the magnetic field that could impact the pump. Those belt scanners are powerful and will have an enormous magnetic field. The lower the magnetic field, the safer for the pump. You are much better off wearing it than sending it through the belt scanner even if it adds screening time.
-
Permalink Reply by Tom T on
-
I've now flown twice. Both times I did go through the scanner with my pump, but the secondary screening was different between airports. At BOS they just patted down the pocket where my pump was and swabbed my hands for explosives, all without pulling me aside, an extra minute tops. At SFO they did the full pat-down and swabbed my hands for explosives, an extra 5 minutes (much better than the last time which was an extra 20-30 minutes). It seems that procedures are more consistent now than before, but a lot will always depend on the TSA agent.
Now that scanners are being used more often, MM will probably test to see if they are safe for the pump. I suspect (and so far have experienced, fingers crossed) that they will be found to be safe for the pump.
-
Permalink Reply by Jennifer on -
Until then I won't walk through with a pump in case it does affect it as I don't want to void my warranty. I have heard reports of MM pumps that had.their motors cease following passing through airport security x ray belts. Don't know how true it is. Again it could be from the magnetic fields.
-
Permalink Reply by Cary on -
Did 2x cross country trips in the past two weeks with my OmniPod. No issues -- basically the same security with a pat-down or two added in.
Flying internationally next week and expecting basically the same thing - business as usual. Still have not gone through the new scanners -- we'll see if that starts creating some questions.
-
Permalink Reply by Bradford on -
I have flown since the new screening techniques were initiated. The Tulsa airport has used millimeter-wave technology machines for quite some time, and I go through with my pump w/o any major issues. I let the TSA agent running the machine know that I have an insulin pump on (point to it's location on my body--I wear the pod so when I fly I try to wear it on my arm so they can see it easily), and when I step through the usually have me wait for a minute while the agent running the booth gives me the "green light" to go gather my stuff. I've had them wipe the pod down before and run the swab through the spectroscopy machine (the "sniffer" machine). My most recent flight they also did the thorough pat-down (before it's just been a local pat-down around the pod, and that's it). As others have said, the newer, more thorough pat-down was not "fun", but it was not horrible by any means...and it may have added a whole extra one or two minutes to my quick trip through security--not really an issue to me at all. If everyone in line is getting more thorough pat-downs, then it could slow your travel down and you'd need to leave lots of time for the screening. If not, I would not factor in much additional time, as something as simple as having a pump on you is not going to impede you significantly.
The TSA agents are much more familiar with the tubed pumps (animas, MM, etc) and most of my conversations with them when I let them know that the pod is a pump usually revolve around how different this one looks compared to the others. I don't think you'll have any major issues with your MM.
The x-rays that the pump manufacturers request that you keep the pump away from include medical diagnostic equipment, specifically the primary beam of the x-ray. If you're getting a chest or ankle x-ray, for example, you'd want to remove it from the area being imaged (which any legit radiographer would have you do so that it would prevent artifacts on the image), and just make sure it's covered with shielding (the heavy apron they should lay over your reproductive organs). If you're having a CT scan done, I would recommend the same (either wrap it in the lead shielding, as just covering it on one side is useless since the CT unit's x-ray tube travels throughout the gantry (the "doughnut") all the way around you, passing x-rays from all sides) OR I would suggest removing the pump for the duration of the scan (which in most imaging procedures on today's equipment should be <10 minutes from start to finish).
The backscatter machines used in airports provide a much lower total dosage than even a chest x-ray (which is typically a very minimal exposure), and exposing the pump to that level of remnant radiation should not adversely effect it. I would suggest wearing it through the body scanner rather than placing it on the baggage belt though, as the energy and quantity of x-rays emitted by those machines can vary as the agent adjusts the settings to see through more or less dense structures within the conveyor belt. The more dense a structure, the more energy required to penetrate the object to see its contents. If the pump is laying next to that dense item (i.e. something metal) then it is being unnecessarily exposed to that primary beam as well.
Hope you have a good trip without any major screening issues! :-)
Advertisement
REsources
Groups
From the Diabetes Hands Foundation blog...
Congratulations Diabetes Advocates Scholarship Recipients!
The Diabetes Hands Foundation and Diabetes Advocates Program is proud to announce and congratulate the members of DA who were granted scholarships to attend diabetes conferences in 2013! Thanks to a generous grant from Novo Nordisk, in 2013 we were …Continue Reading
La Familia de EsTuDiabetes Sigue Creciendo
El Centro Nacional de Prevención de Enfermedades Crónicas y Promoción de la Salud en el Estados Unidos encontró que a partir de 2002-2009, el 11,8% de los hispanos mayores de 20 años, que viven en los EU, viven con diabetes …Continue Reading
TuDiabetes Team
DHF STAFF
 Manny Hernandez(Co-Founder, Editor, has LADA)
|
DHF VOLUNTEERS
Lead Administrator
 Bradford (has type 1) |
Administrators
 Lorraine (mother of type 1) |
 Marie B (has type 1) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
LIKE us on Facebook
Spread the word
This site complies with the HONcode standard for trustworthy health information: verify here.
© 2013 A community of people touched by diabetes, run by the Diabetes Hands Foundation.
