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Asthma Waiver


piggy

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I'm an AFROTC cadet with a slot for pilot training and recently encountered some issues with my flight physical. Wright Pat had my medical records with a history of asthma (before my 13th birthday which is the waiverable date for childhood asthma). With that in my record, they sent me in to take a PFT and MCT. I learned that I had failed the PFT and was bad enough the pulmonologist didn't let me take the MCT. (The specific issues was a low FEV1/FVC w/o the bronchodialator and a >200cc increase in FEV1 post-bronchodialator.) I was then told that this is disqualifying for pilot but that I could appeal and probably still have a shot at commissioning. 

Since then, I took a PFT and MCT with my home pulmonologist. I failed the MCT on the last dose (my FEV1 finally went below 80% of my baseline on that 5th trial). I'm waiting on the official civilian doctor's interpretation of those results. 

The last big point on the issue is that I'm a fit runner and considered myself asymptomatic of any asthma related issue for over a decade and well before my 13th birthday. I've run a marathon in the 2:30's and can run 5k's and 10k's in the cold or in dusty, dry indoor tracks w/o issue. I'm not debating that I have measurable lung restriction as I got a good look at the research indicating exercise induced asthma can be common in cardio sports. However, I would like to know if my situation is different if I don't have symptoms that would warrant treatment for EIB (other than the positive asthma tests). In other words, if I can be a strong runner without medical aid, do I still carry the same risk as a pilot or even a military officer in general?

My question, given the diagnosis of mild asthma but also over a decade of no symptoms and athletic ability, where y'all think I can go from here. I believe I can make a strong case for myself to commission into the Air Force but if possible, I'm wondering if there's any shot of recovering my pilot slot. I've read through all the pertinent DoD and Air Force regs including the Aeromedical Waiver guide. Things don't look good from the pilot side reg wise. However, I believe my verifiable lack of symptoms meets the explicit requirements for entry into the DoD and Air Force, especially if my backup AFSC is in engineering or space ops. 

Edited by piggy
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