Never should have been prescribed but I went along with it. Mistake, which is why I no longer take it.
As others have said, FAA considers all diagnoses of brain related medical conditions as permanent. That said they also consider ADD/ADHD a "spectrum" disease of the brain and there are ways to "prove" you're at the low end of the "spectrum".
Bruce knows ALL about this and the bureaucratic traps AND unlike some AMEs, he makes sure the evidence of you NOT being a "future problem" for FAA approving you to fly is compiled and in hand BEFORE applying to them. He side-steps the usual "apply to the government and wait for what they will say" that a lot of AMEs don't who cost their applicants months or years of difficult testing and missing arbitrary deadlines imposed by the FAA "process".
If you show up to apply on Day One (in the FAAs view) with all the documentation they're ever going to ask for and more, they'll often let Bruce (or any senior AME) issue the medical right then and there over the phone. But most AMEs simply won't get their act together and gather all of this information ahead of time, and they wait for official paperwork and letters to go back and forth for a year.
He's helpful, friendly, and an asset to the aviation community. And you need to call him. Like NOW. Then gather ONLY the things he says you'll need from your Docs and former Docs. Bruce knows if that letter you just asked your doc to write matters to FAA. They may not care. They have a specific set of rules they follow and it's got nearly nothing to do with your actual health. It's about how they want their documentation to look when someone in the Press says, "Why did you let that guy fly airplanes?", after you crash.
By the way, Bruce can also advise whether BasicMed is an option in your case. If so, or he thinks it's a better option for you, he will tell you so. But once you apply to the FAA for a medical, you start certain processes that can't be reversed.
As a CFI, I would want to be apprised of any medical condition that might even remotely affect a student's performance.
For what I'd think would be obvious reasons.
I think the "hide this from your instructor" advice is silly. Every instructor knows students who've fought medical issues. Childhood ADD diagnoses done out of the convenience of the parents and the schools is quite a common problem in folks in their 30s-50s who are hoping to fly airplanes these days.
Then again, one of the signs of ADHD is that people don't pay attention ;-)
By talking to the doc who wrote the script, he potentially creates exactly the paper record that will permanently sink his prospects of ever getting a medical.
At the risk of repeating myself. For the OP:
- email Bruce
- send him what he asks for
- don't talk to anyone else about this
- don't do anything like creating new records
- talk to Bruce
- get exactly the records he tells you to get
THIS. THIS. THIS.
Talk to a Senior AME and preferably Bruce before you sink yourself because you THINK you're doing the "right thing".
FAA does not CARE about what you think is right. Bruce knows what they want.
Especially if you can do him some good.
