Aviation Medicine

F16md I appreciate your answering my question a few weeks ago regarding my doctor prescribing me the blood pressure medicine; even though the response was not what I hoped. I have since been having blood pressure checked at both the doctor's office and my own personal machine I bought(while off the medecine), and it has been normal My aunt is a pharmacist and good friends with the local hypertension specialist. If he says that I don't need the medication, and that the other doctor's decision was hasty. What are my chances of being passing the physical. I have only been on the medication for two months and I saw in the regulations that you included in your response; i…

FYI for the general Air Force population: The new AFI 10-203 published the other month switched the PT restrictions on an AF 422 from the Exercise Physiologist back to the PCM (your normal doc) and everything is documented on the AF 469. So the AF 469 generated at your appointment for whatever condition you have can include, all on one form, the Duty Restriction (what you can't do at work), Mobility Restrictions (whether you can deploy), Fitness Restrictions (what PT activities you shouldn't perform), and Fitness Assessment Exemptions (self-explanatory). This is essentially switching back to the procedures in 2006. The reason this may not have been announced or impleme…

Had a kid ask me a question about dental req'ts. Recent OTS rated board select for RPA pilot. He has four lower back teeth broken off to the roots, non-restorable, but not painful or any observed decay. Will he pass the dental exam, or will they require him to have them pulled to eliminate the roots? I know cavities require fixing before they'll pass you, but I don't know about teeth that are simply broken to the gum line.

This is mostly aimed at the other medics, but I'd like to hear from some retrainees on the forum. The other week, a patient came to my office for a special duty clearance with a very short turnaround. The member had previously applied for an unrelated job and was medically cleared by the person I replaced. He obviously wasn't selected, so he applied for a different position. As he had been approved relatively recently for the first job, he thought it would be a pretty quick review process and relative formality for me to review his record and generate his 422. He's not wrong in that assumption; if another 4E reviewed and cleared him, I hoped the clearance process woul…

So I live in P-cola stationed with the navy. I've been seeing the orthodontist at Eglin, which is an hour and a half drive away. I really don't mind the drive and I'm happy with the care provided, however there have been some issues. Today, I had an appointment that had been canceled on me before, so before I made the drive today, I called to make sure I was still good to go. I was told yes, so I proceeded on my way to Eglin. Well, as luck would have it, I got a call right as I was about to pull through the gate...my doctor needed to cancel my appointment...30 minutes prior to my appointment time. So, not only did it take an act of God to get off the flying sched…

I want to become a fighter pilot. I have peanut and pine nut allergies. They are not severe or anything. I do not need any medication for them. Worst that happens is that I vomit. Nothing else. Would it be difficult to get a waiver in the Air Force? (I want to try to get into an Academy, preferably the AFA) Thank you!

Hey guys, long time viewer, first time poster. I am a pretty small guy around 5'3", and I'm just worried this will affect me when I go for a pilot slot. I'm about to be enrolled in ROTC so I know a have a couple years, but I really don't think I'm going to grow that much b/t now and then. I am just curious if any of you know anyone this short and if they have had any problems. Thanks guys

Well I guess this is something you can't fix. Atleast as far as I know. Anyways, I NEVER get car sick, sea sick, or air sick. Never. I'm a roller coaster freak too. Usually I tend to just go on one, get off, and run to the next one. After more than a few rides it starts to disorient me, make me wouzy. I don't care, I keep riding them until I can't bear it anymore. Hell sometimes I'll come home feeling wouzy but it's always worth it. Anyways, I guess when it comes to those things my stomach will tend to be a ###### every once and a while. You guys think I'll have problems at UPT or worse yet in a fighter?

In lieu of the FCI chaning locations from Brooks to Wright-Patterson, does anyone have any information on when this conversion is going to taking place? Have they stopped giving out FCI dates until they know when the conversion is going to be final? I've been "approved" by the SG to take my flight physical, but they have not provided dates yet due to the change in administering locations. Is anyone else in a similar situation or have any "firm" information?

When going for your FC1 prior to UPT, I'm sure they request all medical records. Do they pretty much leave it to you to bring everything? Or do they take your insurance information and obtain the medical insurance history, then request records based on that? Just wondering if insurance history is involved in the process at all. Thanks!

If you have any questions about whether you can (or should) take a dietary supplement, do two things first: Read about the supplement here--Human Performance Resource Center. This is a DOD-wide resource for legality, Talk to your Doctor and the installation Health and Wellness Center (HAWC). For flyers especially, military personnel have different standards beyond the FDA/USDA. Get the approval first.

Would a fractured coronoid process keep someone off of flying status? My friend has seen two dentists and an oral surgeon with regard to this, they all said there is really nothing you can do except let it heal on its own. Which should take about 6 months. I know that he has trouble eating foods that require a lot of tearing, but other than that he still gets along with no other physical issues. But again is this something that would cause him to be placed DNIF and if so for how long?

I'm looking for some advice on what to do in this situation. I'm a civilian pilot with a first class medical who will be applying to the guard/reserve in about a year. Starting back as far as I can remember I would get sick an average of once a month or so (sometimes more, sometimes less) with stomach aches/intestinal pain lasting 1-3 hours. I chalked it up to a weak system and didn't make any changes. Doc said I might have "IBS". I had some tests done early on in life and they came back negative (including Celiac). Around last March it began to get much worse. I was getting stomach achs an average of twice/week. My Dad has these exact same symptoms and once he stoppe…

This is for the flight doc's or other people who went through the same scenario. I was diagnosed with Mood D/O NOS in 2002 saw a head doctor off and on until the beginning of 2005 when I was cleared of treatment. Never suicidal, never homicidal, never psycho. I was on different meds over the course of my treatment as it is custom for psychiatrist to try something new until one is found that dosent have adverse effects on the pt. I think the longest one I was on was Lexapro. I can show where I have been performing like a normal person in society since that is what they want to see. I am in a flagship university, live in the dorm, & a member of the rowing team among ot…

Please help, I am really stuck. In March I lifted something wrong and hurt my back. Since then, I have had sciatica down my right leg. I have been taking it easy and been doing physical therapy for 1.5 months, but I'm not seeing much improvement. I am able to walk, run, etc. with no issues. I feel my pain when I bend my lower back with my right leg straight (touch toes, etc), or when standing up after sitting. It is pretty intense pain. I was really hoping it would resolve on its own before OTS, but I'm losing faith and I'm not sure if I could endure all of OTS with this. I'm a Civ RPA select from 12OT03 and am supposed to leave for OTS in November. I already hav…

Hello, I was wondering what the requirement was for AF RPA Pilots and the depth perception test. Is it the same standards as any other pilot position? Reason I asked is I had a hard time on the circle depth perception test at prescreening and wanted to know if it's waiverable or if a different test is adminstered at Wright. I have done other depth perception tests online and have done just fine on all of them. Thanks!

I'm in a bit of a fix! I always wanted to be a military pilot when I was young, but I gave up those dreams because my vision was just too bad. Now I've had PRK and am going for my PPL and then applying to OTS. After getting into the process I found that asthma was an issue. My problem is that I was diagnosed with asthma as a child, but now that I've been studying up on A.F. and general medical diagnostic criteria, I think I was misdiagnosed! After telling my recruiter my whole story, he thinks it's best that I don't go through a MEPS examiner and just go straight to the nearest base for an FC1. I think he figures a flight doc will be more likely to not just see the …

This is just a general question regarding the physical. Do you automatically bust your physical if you a couple pounds over the max weight? Any help would be appreciated.

Searched to no avail... I've had on ongoing pain in my neck for the past couple weeks and I've been thinking about going to a chiropractor to try to get them to work it out. Is this something that I can get a referral from TRICARE for, and has anybody tried it?

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Any docs perusing this board (or anyone experienced), a keg to you (I mean it) for any help you can provide. I'm getting out of AD for family reasons and have been hired at a non-flying reserve unit that needs rated folks. I’m also on the short list for two IMA positions so at the unit level the Reserves want me and my experience. I had absolutely counted on getting into the Reserves to continue my service, work towards retirement and still get to feel kind of cool. While on AD I had several bouts of kidney stones that ended up with an MEB and an ALC (C-2). I have been symptom free for over a year and as long as I take my medication (urocit-k) it looks like I ha…

Hi all, I wanted to get some opinions on the FC1 Medical History review. I am thinking about applying for ANG UPT, but I don't want to go through years upon years of trying only to be stopped at the FC1. I have seen a lot of back and forth on just what to include on the DD 2807. I think it is fair to argue that the majority of folks, to say the least, leave out some information on the DD 2807. For many folks on the civilian side this won't present much of a problem because there are no medical records directy accessible by the flight doc. However, for the prior enlisted/commissioned guys there are electronic records and hard copy records readily available. My question…

Problem solved

Hey everyone, so I fractured two bones in my hand today and the doctor said it'll probably take 6-8 weeks to heal and my flight physical is on March 9th. I'm pretty sure I have to move it to a later date, or can I go with a cast? I'm just a little worried this might affect me more than I would like. I tried searching, but couldn't find anything on this.

while looking over i saw that you must meet the standards for both Refractive Error x.xx and Visual Acuity 20/xx. My plan is to become an officer and a pilot in the Air Force, but for now I am enlisting because i need the direction and motivation. Right now my contact prescription says 3.5 which would put me within limits of the pre-prk refraction error of 5.5.My question is what is the difference between the two test, and why are both needed? Also, Since i will work Mx on the flightline does this give me a better chance at receiving the surgery?