Terry, so glad to see you here! Hopefully Discourse won’t glitch again for you. Sorry for the trouble! Btw, my wife MP (also on the forum) was a liveaboard in SF Bay in the late 80s.
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Type 2, new to this site (and most sites). I tried a British site, got ejected because apparently they thought my posts were chat gpt (never used it, have never seen it). Prefer talking to adults.
My chief concern is employment, aside from health; my employment requires regular medical certification, which is possible with enough documentation. I travel constantly, and am out of the country most of the time. It makes managing supplies challenging at times. Presently on my own dieting, metform, and atorvastatin. I avoid carbs like they have eight legs.
I lost a bunch of weight following diagnosis, and along with that, muscle mass, so that’s been an issue, too. Diagnosis was an unpleasant discovery that led to a lot of stress over medical certification, but ultimately meant changes that improved sleep, exercise, and general health. Had I not been diagnosed, my dietary habits would have been a steepening downward spiral; this was the incentive to make significant changes. I went from no medication to twelve pills a day, the weekly pill carriers, and so on, making me feel more like the grandpa I am.
I have no idea where this will go, but presently using finger sticks and a G7, and managing as I go. I need to work a few more years and need to manage it until then. After that, it doesn’t matter much what happens to me…but just need to maintain, until then.
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Man… I hear you. When I was first diagnosed that’s all I could think of.. “my career is over”. I was certain I I couldn’t get the med certs with diabetes. It turned out to be a nothing burger though. I don’t know what you do and you don’t what I do… but I certainly hope it turns out to be a non issue for you too.
I send in my paperwork every year, in usa, in transportation industry, and it flies through without a second glance.
can you imagine the disruption the world would face if every medically certified professional could no longer be certified bc of diabetes? Trucks would stop driving, ships would stop sailing, taxis would stop driving, cranes would stop lifting, even the faa has been lightening up on diabetics flying commercially… would love to hear and share more bc not a lot of people have understood the professional concerns
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The medical certification is a FAA medical certificate. Every six months is a potential career-ender. I was out for several months with the initial diagnosis. I was out previously with a foot surgery and with kidney stones; going out on a medical triggers a host of problems; medical certification among them.
A problem with the FAA is the ongoing issue of documentation. Pilots are medically disqualified, and require a “special issuance” medical certificate. The FAA takes an extended period to produce that, and may require continuing documentation. A pilot may be out several months, for example, then told no, we need more…more is sent, then told no, we need more. Any change in condition, medication, complications, etc, adds to that. Kidney stones, for example are not uncommon to the diabetic; one occurrence requires documentation that one is stone-free and can be reasonably expected to remain so. A second occurrence is a very big deal, and a grounding event. One goes non-current, meaning one requires additional simulator training to return to flying, and checkrides…each of which is a separate potential career ender. The nature of flying is that one’s job is constantly on the line, every time there’s a training or check event, medical, etc. There are six and twelve-month events, and line checks, no-notice checkrides, etc. The medicals are every six months, with an EKG as well as the other items required, and for the diabetic, external exams from the FAA medical process, exams for diabetic retinopathy, blood work, and so on. The FAA special-issuance is revocable at any time, and unlike a regular FAA medical, expires and is not valid for any use after six months. It cost a few thousand in medical consultations, and presently presents a significant ongoing expense. It’s a necessary one, though. The FAA will tolerate exactly zero low blood sugar events…which is one reason why the constant failures on the Libre 3/3+ sensors was a big problem…documenting regular low events (that didn’t exist).
The concerns for a diabetic pilot are valid, of course; nobody wants a pilot with impairment or diminished capacity in the cockpit, or for the potential to exist, and for the diabetic, the notion of having a complication while one is in a location that doesn’t offer good medical services, or in the middle of the ocean where there are no services, is also problematic. Additionally, as diabetics are subject to significantly elevated possibility of coronary problems, strokes, eyesight problems, etc…all are valid concerns if one is to be operating the aircraft. Presently I hold a first class medical, special-issuance, which allows use of an airline transport pilot certificate internationally…the practical application is the constant change in time zone, diet availability, medication availability, exposure to a lot of pathogens in water, food, and the air, and so on. It’s hard to stay healthy. It also means things like my former go-to for getting sick, like large doses of Vitamin C, aren’t happening…and one needs to consider other treatments and foreign medications, which have different names or entirely different products, availability, and so on.
I enlisted a service initially that specializes in medical special issuances, which was costly, but well worth the expense, and did ultimately decrease the time needed to get a special-issuance medical certificate. The mission, for now, is to maintain that certificate until I’m forced to retire by age.
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Geez I hear you. I know the faa medical process is a nightmare… not anywhere near as close to home as you do.. but I hear you. It’s prevented me from pursuing my own private pilot’s license for decades… just bc I don’t have the remaining capacity for that headache… I can only imagine the nightmare of having to depend on that mess for you’re livelihood.
I’m a marine (ship) pilot and have to deal with both the feds and my state for certs… luckily they’re nowhere near as much a mess as the faa and if my own docs sign it off they don’t have their own bureaucracy to second guess it
I certainly hope the hurdles are manageable for you but I can well imagine the ball crushing uncertainty. And the absurdity is that it you, or others like you, or like me, become unreasonably medically disqualified… we’d be replaced with less experienced, less skilled people… whose “immaculate health” won’t get them out of situations our decades of experience would… and really does nothing to further the safety of the transportation system… only deteriorates it
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I’ve known a few aircraft pilots who were also certificated for sea vessels, who lost their FAA medical but were able to continue on the ocean. Their loss wasn’t associated with diabetes, but the two aren’t necessarily mutually exclusive.
Today, for the FAA pilot, especially for the private pilot, once one has been able to demonstrate the ability to hold a medical certificate, one can let it lapse and continue without the certificate under a program called “basic med.” One can’t fly professionally with that, but for private flying, it’s acceptable, and there are a large number of pilots flying privately (own aircraft, renting, etc) under Basic Med.
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I ’s so nice seeing familiar faces over here after the business with TUDiabetes. Very happy to see @Terry here too 
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I’ve had diabetes since the age of 10 and am now 48. I’m lucky enough to have dexcom and tandem tslim supplied on the NHS and absolutely do not take this for granted. Since getting this tech I no longer feel like diabetes is an extra job and sometimes can go an hour or maybe more (!) without thinking about it. Best wishes to everyone
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Ah, come on, Charlotte, it’s always in the back on our minds. Welcome, I remember you at TUD. There I am known as Luis3.
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Hi there! Ha, maybe you’re right, but at least not left, right, front and centre, 24/7 
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