You can do the body scanner with tandem and dexcom. You hold the pump in your hand, still connected to you. After the scan they swab your hands, takes 20 sec and you are through.
I’ve done it a million times.
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For what it’s worth, on my last trip, I decided to stop worrying about the body scanner and it happened just like Timothy said, they let you hold your pump in your hand and then swab your hands and it’s much quicker and easier than the pat down where they sometimes make you wait for a while.
You do lose some of the advantage of TSA pre because those lines do seem to be metal detector lines and you have to be switched over to a non-TSA pre line.
From page 257 of the Dexcom instructions:
Security Equipment to Avoid
Body scanners: Don’t go through an advanced imaging technology (AIT)
body scanner, like the millimeter wave scanners.
Just saying
According to this, Recommendation is metal detector: yes
Body scanner: no
X-Ray: no
hand pat-down: yes
So you can get the full body masssage li I do EVERY TIME
(Too much metal in me)
I had my Medtronic pump fail after I walked through a metal detector. That’s the reason I won’t do that again. There is nothing in the body scanners that seem to be harmful. The energy of x rays are many times greater for those who put them through with their luggage.
So I started doing the scanners and never had an issue. I know that Tandem says not to, and it’s likely a liability thing for them, but I was traveling so much a few years ago, I needed to figure something out. I knew a few people who did the scanners, so I just started doing it. People with pacemakers go in the scanners and not the metal detectors.
There is No easy solution. The pat downs take a very long time and the guy doing them is usually irritated he has to do it. And it’s just not something I want to deal with. If my pump fails from it, I’ll figure something else out. I always travel with some syringes and Lantus if I had an emergency need.
But it reminds me of when I was a kid in the 70s and the first metal detector I saw was wheeled in on a random basis. So most of the time you didn’t use it and only sometimes, you did.
And it was right there at the gate as you got on the plane.
There was no security line or anything.
A couple of uniformed men came and told you to empty your pockets and go through. I don’t know if they were police or airport security.
It was more like a random sobriety checkpoint to catch drunk drivers, you just didn’t know when it would be set up.
Very few people had pumps back then and I wasn’t even diabetic yet.
But you could go to the gate and meet people and say good bye. You could even walk your loved one onto the plane if they needed help or something like that.
It’s sad that that vulnerability was exploited so many times that now we have the security nightmares we now have.
I often wonder how many guns got on planes in the early70s.
Ohh and remember when if you had scissors or a pocket knife on you, they would give you an envelope and you could mail it back home ? I wonder why the ended that policy.
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It’s troubling that both Dexcom and Tandem explicitly say not to go through the body scanner and that, at the same time, airport security will not let you go through the metal detector with your pump on (but will let you keep it on in the body scanner) so a catch-22 for keeping the pump on in security and following both Tandem and TSA rules.
Going back, though, does anyone have any experience with a body scanner causing a problem? I’ve done it a number of times without incident.
I go through the body scanner every time without removing anything and haven’t experienced anything untoward regarding tandem pump function or Dexcom. They do always follow up by the pat down plus swab presumably for explosives residue?
On a side note, I forgot that I had a orange juice box in a jacket pocket which went through the X-ray and of course they wanted to take it but when they saw my pump they told me I can keep it no problem.
Which I did not expect.
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I’ve gone through all of the airport screening devices for years now with my Dexcom attached to me, and it has never caused a problem with my Dexcom. I hope I didn’t just jinx myself as I’m flying next week. I don’t wear a pump so I can’t speak to that.
i am glad folks have had good luck with all of the airport security and diabetes devices. I will continue to do pat downs. I like being called a terrorist by the little kids at the gate.
As for what TSA allows or not, it is not TSA’s job to determine what can or cannot go through the devices. It is 100% our responsibility. We have to know it is all on us. I realize most walk through with no issue, but I would never do that. Besides I have to be careful that the combat crash helmet I wear in the airport can get through.
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I’ve always had issues with the TSA Overzealous scanning techniques. Flying out of Wichita Kanas I was stop and frisked because the found explosive residue in my carry on.
In spite of scanning me again and find my Dexcom again. (to their surprise ). After an hour and almost missing my flight. They contributed the explosive residue to laundy Soap. I real think this job of security should be left to the military NOT RENTA COPS.
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I don’t really mind the experience of the actual pat down, but half the time they just seem to deliberately slow walk the whole thing. They’ll tell you to wait to the side until someone is ready to do it and just leave you standing there for ages with no idea when your wait will end or if they’ve completely forgotten. Maybe they’re really busy and maybe I’m overly sensitive, but I feel like I’m being punished for asking. Once they finally arrive though, they’re generally very courteous, so, I don’t know. But I’d really rather go through the equipment in terms of time and not being made to feel like an annoyance.
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I wear a sign on my back that says T-erorist Slimbassador
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Sense Airports DO NOT have standardize scanning and x-ray equipment between them. ( I use to repair said equipment) I would advise still having it with your carry on and have it hand checked. All it would would take for a fluoroscopic scanner to be slight off of calibration to fry a Tx Battery
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When I was going through Seattle airport on the return trip from a vacation several years ago I didn’t even get a choice. I tried to explain that I was told not to take my diabetic stuff through the body scanner and the TSA person was like “Oh it’s ok, it’s not xray so it will be fine” and pretty much pushed me in there. They swabbed my hands and my pump afterwards before letting me go. I was pretty irritated that they didn’t listen to me, but didn’t seem to have negatively affected anything.
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I go through the scanners. But you just need to say the magic words” “ I don’t want to enter a scanner, I’m requesting a pat down”. Then they will put you to the side while the find the most large and aggressive man to come after a 10 min wait, he will stare you down and karate chop your family jewls. Treat you like a felon and then let you go through.
But hey. It’s a choice.
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I am going to be flying for the first time in a few years at the end of June. This will be my first time flying with a cgm - Dexcom g6. In the past, I’ve had an insulin pump only, and have always opted for a pat down.
I have gathered from reading this thread that many people do a body scanner with no problem. I think that I will still opt for a pat down, but my concern is with the additional sensors and transmitter that I will be bringing with me. I read up thread about having these supplies hand checked. How does that work? Do I need to keep those supplies in a separate bag and tell the TSA agent that it can’t go through the carry on luggage scanner?
I recently travelled on EuroStar, which has airport-style security. This was my first trip with a CGM (Dexcom) and with a pump (Tandem T:Slim).
I held my pump and spare Dexcom G6 transmitter in my hand as I approached security and said I had medical devices. If I had a spare travel pump, I would have held that as I approached too.
Dexcom G6 sensors can go through the baggage scanners without problems, as far as I know, so I left those in my bag. If I had the Dexcom G7 or Freestyle Libre, I would have carried those through as they have integrated transmitters.
Going one direction (France to UK), they showed me the label on the metal detector saying it was safe for insulin pumps (and several other medical devices), I walked through, and then they waved a wand over my body.
The other direction (UK to France), they waved me past the metal detector, patted me down and swabbed the spare transmitter and my pump.
Both directions were really straightforward and I imagine it’s be similar in an airport. I think the only difference between EuroStar security and airport security is the liquids rule.
To simplify things, I had my spare transmitter easy to get to in my bag so I didn’t have to dig it out when we got to the bag scanner. I also wore clothes that would make my Dexcom easy to access if they wanted to swab it but I don’t think they actually spotted the Dexcom I was wearing in either direction.
I know others go through security without mentioning they have any medical devices. In my trainings for Dexcom and Tandem T:Slim, I was specifically told not to go through the full-body scanners with my devices and not to let them go through the baggage scanners, so that’s what I follow.
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Yes. It’s less of a hassle than getting patted down though it does lead to a short delay in my experience. They do the thing where they check your hands and the packaging for explosives residue.
I don’t really see how the G6 sensors would get damaged by the luggage scanner. (That said, I don’t have any special knowledge. It just seems implausible.) The transmitters seem like they might, though I don’t think anyone has reported that happening here. You wouldn’t want either in your checked baggage, of course, because of the temperatures in the luggage hold.
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The scanners could corrupt the software on transmitters and pumps, and maybe damage the chemistry of the batteries. Probably worst-case scenario, but something I don’t want to risk.
People used to worry about memory cards and computer disks getting damaged going through x-ray machines. X-rays are pretty powerful.
Dexcom G6 sensors don’t have software or transmitters (those are in the separate transmitter) so as far as I know, the Dexcom G6 sensors should be fine to go through the bag scanners.
This is what my diabetes team told me: don’t let Dexcom G6 transmitters, my pump or spare travel pump go through the bag scanners.
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