A friend of mine started her son on an insulin pump earlier this week and so they’ve been going through pump classes for a few days. Today she asked me about traveling with my pump and I mentioned I just did the awesome patdown when I went through on my last trip. She then mentioned that her nurse told them that they need to keep the pump away from his cell phone as this will damage his pump. What the what? She said it was akin to passing your credit card over a magnet. Well I’ll tell you, I’ve never put my pump and phone in the same pocket only because they don’t fit but I’ve clipped my pump and had my cell in the pocket of the same side according to this nurse this is a big no no. Has anyone else ever heard anything like that?
The CDE was blowing some serious smoke. If cell phones screwed up the pump this would be a warning the pump manufactuer’s would have to scream about from the mountain tops to appease the FDA. I would also imagine there would be an awful lot of us folks with broken pumps too 
I do trainings for all the pumps and I assure you it is not part of any warnings the pump manufactuers give.
Thank you! That’s what I said, but I’m new to my pump as well. I’m going on a year with it but for instance had no clue about going through security with it. On the way to my destination I took it out and put through with my carry on’s on the way back I just wore it through. According to Medtronics it’s best to wear it through unless it’s one of the new screeners so that was news to me. But my cell phone? I didn’t think so.
I agree with MossDog on that one. I’ve been pumping now for 24 years and never heard of that one.
Medtronic does not advocate passing it through the X-ray belt nor wearing through the full body scanner (which uses X-rays). It is safe to go through the metal detector. Never herard of a cell phone conflict.
On the phone with the Medtronic help center, they often ask me if I am on a cell phone. If I say yes, they request I remove the phone to another room for 5 minutes (I don’t have a landline), and then we try again. I don’t know why, but that has happened several times.
I actually asked my Medtronic rep about this when I got my last pump and she said that, as far as anyone knew, cell phones did not damage the pumps. She also said that the damage caused to the pump by x-rays and full body scanners wasn’t absolute, but because Medtronic didn’t know a whole lot about it (especially with regard to repeated exposures), they basically just say “Don’t do it.” The last time I flew, I opted for the full-body patdown because I didn’t want to go through the hassle of disconnecting, and all was fine.