Medical with Diabetes

[VS1711]

Hi folks, sorry if this is a repeat question but can anyone tell me what impact being diagnosed with diabetes is going to have on my retaining my class 1 medical?

[arem]

Having suffered from the same thing, two thing:

If type 1 - forget about flying!

If type 2 - in my case, I was grounded for six months whilst the medication was sorted out to bring my Hba1c down to about 7 - I was only on Metformin - the CAA gave me a restricted 'as or with co-pilot' medical certificate - so it was back to work again!!

Unfortunately I was not too careful with my diet, my weight crept up again as did my Hba1c to the extent that my GP changed to a composite the CAA didn't like, so med.cert. was withdrawn

Keep your weight under cotrol and watch the medication combinations - the CAA do produce a list of possible combinations - good and bad!

I would suggest it is possiblby preferable to fly short haul - its far easier to control the medications with mealtimes than in longhaul

Excercise a lot - increased metabolism helps control

I still fly privatley using the NPPL although the CAA have suggested I could get a restricted Class 2 medical but this would only be of real use if I wanted to fly outside the UK. The FAA do a class 3 medical, but I'm not sure of all the requirements for this

Best of luck

arem - I had 40 years of commercial flying and 23000+ hours of pure enjoyment and still miss it but I shouldn't be greedy!!!!!

[TripleC]

arem is correct, Type2 OK if only on Metformin. Anything else - forget it. I am lucky to be on 'Diet Control' with no drugs but be prepared to have to fork out for expensive medical checks as required by the CAA such as 'Exercise ECGs', angiograms, cardiovascular reports, retinal screening, chiropody et al.

[Whitehatter]

Metformin or Glucophage (brand name) are resistance treatments for T2. If you are on any other treatment for T2, such as a sulphonylurea like Gliclazide, then they won't accept that the same way.

The reason is hypoglycaemia. Metformin won't cause it except in certain extreme situations and generally if there's something else going on. The other drugs overstimulate insulin production so therefore can drive blood sugar levels down, just like insulin injections can.

There are a few new resistance drugs (ones similar to Metformin which basically help the body use its own insulin more effectively by reducing the resistance, such as actos and avandia) but whether the licence people will accept them is something you'd have to ask about. I have a feeling they won't as these drugs come with side effects and very occasionally can cause cardiac problems.

[Flyin'Dutch']

Spoke to the CAA Medical Branch about this a few days ago.

For a class 2 they want:

HBA1C of less than 7.5%

Evidence of the absence of neuropathy and retinopathy.

Medication they accept:

Acarbose, Metformin and Glitazones;

They furthermore accept:

Gliclazide and Glinides but if you use those you can only get a medical with a safety pilot endorsement.

Algorithm to be published on the website shortly.

FD

[VS1711]

Thanks guys. Just had the first diagnosis last week so won't know the type (I'd suspect type 2), severity and medication for another week or so. I don't have any evident symptoms (it was a routine check at a new doctor's surgery) so I'll keep my fingers crossed and take the facts to the CAA when they're known. I'm not going to be operating in the meantime.