-
Please take a moment and update your account profile. If you have an updated account profile with basic information on why you are on Air Warriors it will help other people respond to your posts. How do you update your profile you ask?
Go here:
Edit Account Details and Profile
The Doctor is in! Ask a Flight Surgeon!
- Thread starter FlightMD
- Start date
PrudasJiest
Haze Gray
No problem. The letter was sent by NAMI to OTCN while I hung out in student pool following OCS. The doctors at NHCNE suggested waiver but I guess NAMI wasn't buying it. They asked me if I wanted to appeal, and I had had enough of newport and took SWO to leave as soon as possible.
Question for a flight surgeon: Last summer I had a laceration (~1 cm deep) in the webbing between my middle and ring fingers on my left hand, requiring about 10 stitches to close it up. However, since then, I have had no issues whatsoever with finger/hand motion, pressure being exerted onto the webbing/fingers, exercises, lifting weight, etc. The webbing where the laceration occurred is naturally a bit thicker compared to the webbing in between other fingers. Nevertheless, will this be an issue when I go for my flight physical this summer, and what kind of documentation will they require, if any?
Jenlm
Well-Known Member
Hey everyone!
I recently found out I got NPQ for SNA for 2 reasons.
1) I was given an inhaler when I was 15 because I was out of shape and got wheezy when I ran. I never actually used it because I felt pathetic and I didn't need it. There was no asthma testing or diagnosis with this but as soon as they saw "inhaler" apparently I got NPQ. This is no longer a problem because I run miles a day and weight lift 5x a week so I am definitely not out of shape anymore.
2) I had taken ambien for 4 years during college. It started because I lived in a noisy dorm so the doc gave it to me to help with quality of sleep and then I basically just became dependent on it. I haven't taken it for over a year now and sleep just fine. There was never an insomnia diagnosis with this either.
So they're trying to NPQ me for asthma and insomnia. I got letter from both of my doctors emphasizing there was no diagnosis of either condition and that I am perfectly fine and good to go.
Should this be sufficient? If not, what should I try next to convince them that I'm good to go?
I recently found out I got NPQ for SNA for 2 reasons.
1) I was given an inhaler when I was 15 because I was out of shape and got wheezy when I ran. I never actually used it because I felt pathetic and I didn't need it. There was no asthma testing or diagnosis with this but as soon as they saw "inhaler" apparently I got NPQ. This is no longer a problem because I run miles a day and weight lift 5x a week so I am definitely not out of shape anymore.
2) I had taken ambien for 4 years during college. It started because I lived in a noisy dorm so the doc gave it to me to help with quality of sleep and then I basically just became dependent on it. I haven't taken it for over a year now and sleep just fine. There was never an insomnia diagnosis with this either.
So they're trying to NPQ me for asthma and insomnia. I got letter from both of my doctors emphasizing there was no diagnosis of either condition and that I am perfectly fine and good to go.
Should this be sufficient? If not, what should I try next to convince them that I'm good to go?
exNavyOffRec
Well-Known Member
There are many things that are a "history of" and while a doc now may say you don't have insomnia you took the medication and there are many medications that it doesn't matter if you had the condition if you took the medication that is still a problem.
If I were your recruiter I would say you need a methacholine challenge test and good results to get that out of the way.
I would have your recruiter find out if the ambien is something you can overcome, new accession requirements are much stricter than those who are already in.
RiseR 25
Well-Known Member
Hate to say this but NavyOffRec raises a good point. Any history of insomnia would prove to be detrimental in the OCS training environment. You can chose to proceed to try and override the NPQ with some meddocs but odds are if they caught it at this point flight surgeon would raise eyebrows with you at OCS.
RiseR 25
Well-Known Member
Don't get me wrong you can choose to do whatever you like. I'm just trying to see if it's even worth your time unless you can get some sort of consultation from NAMI before shipping out to Newport. The ways things have been going now NAMI has been rejecting people coming out of OCS.
I would ask for a courtesy review from NAMI in your case if it's possible. Talk to your recruiter because N3M and NAMI have different PQ requirements.
I would ask for a courtesy review from NAMI in your case if it's possible. Talk to your recruiter because N3M and NAMI have different PQ requirements.
Jenlm
Well-Known Member
Very good to know. I'll ask and see if that's an option.
This has ALWAYS been the case and likely always will be. It's where the phrase NAMI Whammy comes from.
exNavyOffRec
Well-Known Member
If the doc gave you the drugs he thought you had it, so you have to overcome that and the fact you took them, hell, I had a guy DQ'd because he took ADD meds for a few weeks? the doc then figured out he was ADD or ADHD or whatever but because he took the meds he had a several year waiting period after the last time he took them before he could apply.
exNavyOffRec
Well-Known Member
yes, but you have to get past N3M before you get to NAMI, the N3M letter will say NPQ for Pilot because that is what you are applying for, but if you met basic entrance requirements it would say "qualified for 1390, N3M defers to NAMI for suitability in aviation programs"
so the issues you have are not just for trying to be a SNA but ALSO for entering the USN as an officer.
I am betting the MCT will put you in the clear for that, and while the sleep study may clear you (unless if shows any other abnormalities), the big question is does N3M require a waiting period after taking ambien.