H
HopefulPilot
Guest
Hi folks -
I'm in my late 30s and in the early stages of pursuing a PPL. I'm about halfway through ground school (doing really well!) and I've had three lessons so far (also doing great thus far!). My instructor told me to get my medical ASAP.
Problem is, I've been on Wellbutrin for about the last two years. About two years ago I went through a divorce, and I had some trouble with sleeping, keeping an appetite, just having a general low-energy state. I went to therapy for about a year and a half and worked through a lot. My primary care doc gave me a low dose (150) of Wellbutrin to help. He knew I was in therapy, and my therapist knew I was getting Wellbutrin from my primary care doc, and they were both happy with how I was doing. To clarify, just in case this needs to be said, I never had any feelings or thoughts about self-harm, violence, or anything even remotely like that.
I'm still doing counseling, but at this point I'm only going about once a month just to kind of check in. Things are going well for me. I had an annual checkup with my primary care doc last week, and he brought up the Wellbutrin, and asked if I'd like to try to start weaning off of it, and of course I said yes. So for the next two weeks I'll be taking a lower dose and then I'll check in with him. During this time I'm also increasing my therapy sessions just to check in more often with the therapist as a precaution since I'm coming off the Wellbutrin. The therapist thinks it's a good idea, and the primary care doctor is glad that I'm checking in with my therapist during the transition. My doc thinks I should be able to come off Wellbutrin completely within a month, if not sooner, as long as I don't have any issues.
I asked my doctor if I was diagnosed with depression, and he didn't give me a very clear answer. He said that everyone in their life at some point gets depressed. He went on to say that some people just have a kind of situational-depression during a really hard time in their life or following some kind of trauma, but other people have chronic depression that is persistent all the time, regardless of how well things seem to be going in their lives. He said sometimes medication can help with both types of depression, just like it helped me through my rough patch.
My questions-
Thank you in advance for any advice.
I'm in my late 30s and in the early stages of pursuing a PPL. I'm about halfway through ground school (doing really well!) and I've had three lessons so far (also doing great thus far!). My instructor told me to get my medical ASAP.
Problem is, I've been on Wellbutrin for about the last two years. About two years ago I went through a divorce, and I had some trouble with sleeping, keeping an appetite, just having a general low-energy state. I went to therapy for about a year and a half and worked through a lot. My primary care doc gave me a low dose (150) of Wellbutrin to help. He knew I was in therapy, and my therapist knew I was getting Wellbutrin from my primary care doc, and they were both happy with how I was doing. To clarify, just in case this needs to be said, I never had any feelings or thoughts about self-harm, violence, or anything even remotely like that.
I'm still doing counseling, but at this point I'm only going about once a month just to kind of check in. Things are going well for me. I had an annual checkup with my primary care doc last week, and he brought up the Wellbutrin, and asked if I'd like to try to start weaning off of it, and of course I said yes. So for the next two weeks I'll be taking a lower dose and then I'll check in with him. During this time I'm also increasing my therapy sessions just to check in more often with the therapist as a precaution since I'm coming off the Wellbutrin. The therapist thinks it's a good idea, and the primary care doctor is glad that I'm checking in with my therapist during the transition. My doc thinks I should be able to come off Wellbutrin completely within a month, if not sooner, as long as I don't have any issues.
I asked my doctor if I was diagnosed with depression, and he didn't give me a very clear answer. He said that everyone in their life at some point gets depressed. He went on to say that some people just have a kind of situational-depression during a really hard time in their life or following some kind of trauma, but other people have chronic depression that is persistent all the time, regardless of how well things seem to be going in their lives. He said sometimes medication can help with both types of depression, just like it helped me through my rough patch.
My questions-
- The medexpress form asks if you've ever been diagnosed with, had, or presently have -- depression. Have I had depression? Sure, most people have been depressed at one point or another in their lives. Surely they don't expect you to answer "yes" just because you had a bad month ten years ago when your girlfriend dumped you and you lost your job and had trouble sleeping and eating for a while... so what actually constitutes "depression" as the FAA intends?
- What happens in the background during this process? -- Meaning, does the medical examiner contact my primary care doctor to request a copy of my file? Does the medical examiner contact my pharmacy to pull a list of all meds that have been prescribed by me? Does the FAA do either of these things either initially for the application, or at any point in time as an audit?
- CAN either the medical examiner OR the FAA contact my doctor or pharmacy or therapist to get any kind of medical information about me? Do I have to sign some kind of waiver as part of getting the 3rd class medical that says that I give permission to the FAA and/or medical examiner to have access to my medical records?
- Since I'm progressing along with my ground school and lessons (about 1.5 hours of flight time per week) -- should I temporarily stop the lessons until I figure out what the process is going to be for the medical given my history? I've read stories on here that it can take people YEARS in some cases for stupid minor issues like mine. There's no point in me trying to build my skills as a pilot if I'm going to have to take a break for a couple of years.
- Honestly, what's the worst that could happen if I lie on the medical about never having had depression, AND --
- What is the most likely thing to happen if I lie on the medical about never having had depression (assuming I come off the Wellbutrin without any issues, and continue to see my therapist periodically and never have issues with depression again)?
Thank you in advance for any advice.