Initial FAA Class 1 Physical

[WannaBePilot21]

I’ll be doing my initial class 1 physical soon and I have some questions on how to proceed with a couple past medical issues.

When I was somewhere between 1-5 years old I was diagnosed with nephrotic syndrome. A kidney issue where your kidney basically try and dump all proteins from your body. I don’t remember this at all and was cleared up with prednisone and I have never had any other kidney problems. I’m 32 years old now.

When I was probably 10-11 I was taken to an allergist for seasonal allergies. I took allergy shots for a couple years and was given an albuterol inhaler. I’m assumig the inhaler was for some sort of asthma? Maybe allergy induced I have no idea or recollection of the reason. My parents made me use it a couple of times before a basketball game. I tried explaining to them I’ve never felt the need for it. It they wouldn’t have it. In middle school I played football, basketball, and wrestling all the while never having an attack.

Post high school I’ve been to the doctor maybe 3-4 times for pink eye or some small crud. Overall I’ve been really healthy. I’ve also been in the military for the past 12 years passing all my PT tests with no problems.

So last week I decided I would go obtain my medical records. Unfortunately I cannot get any from the allergist as I was told they couldn’t find me in any of there digital archives or on any of there databases of records they have stored. I was a patient there in the mid to late 90s.

I also attempted to get the records from the kidney ordeal but the treating physician didn’t have them as I switched to a different family doctor and transferred the records. That small town family practitioner passed away 10 years ago and I’m assuming those are gone too. I’d have no idea on how to go about finding them anyway.

In 2003 I had an acl reconstruction surgery. The day after I went to the ER after a day of a fever, throwing up, and heavy breathing. Initially the small county hospital said I had pulmonary embolisms. I was transferred to a larger hospital where the doctors redid a scan and did other tests and diagnosed me with pneumonia vice pulmonary embolisms. I can remember the first hospital doctor saying, “we think he could have PE but the scan quality wasn’t the best”

I did manage to get those notes where I was listed as saying that I had asthma and used an albuterol inhaler as needed. I was 17 at this point and literally hadn’t even had an inhaler for probably 5 years. I never ever relied on that thing.

I really want to say nothing about all this because the kidney deal I can’t even remember. I truly don’t believe I had asthma based off my Athletic past and my need to continue cardio training for the military. I couldn’t tell you what an asthma attack feels like because I’ve neber had one. Furthermore I can’t even get records for myself to read and see what was said back then.

I plan to apply to obtain a military flying position and I’m assuming before I go to my military flight physical they will want to review FAA physical. My fear is that by telling the AME what I just have written that it will be annotated on my medical certificate and really make passing the military flight physical much much harder or even potentially not making it.

Looking for any solid advice

 

[azure]

Dr. Bruce Chien should be along soon to give an authoritative reply but... on the asthma issue, I also have an "asthma" diagnosis based on a methacholine challenge when I was going through PFTs for an unrelated issue. I have never had an asthma attack either. The diagnosis was, I believe, treated as a "CACI", a Condition AME Can Issue and I never had any trouble getting a 3rd class medical because of it. I can't say whether it would cause an issue for 1st class though.

I'll bet the PE diagnosis will require documentation, but would be surprised if it turned out to be a problem since it was overturned.

No idea about nephrotic syndrome.

Good luck!

 

[bflynn]

First piece of advice, it's a good idea not to publicly post your medical issues under your name. Potentially TMI here.

But otherwise - when you have questions about your medical, hire a good AME as a consultant to help you understand your situation. Find one and tell them you would like a consult - if you take nothing else away from all this, remember this one. Yes, you will pay for the consult, but I think you'll find that it is well worth the cost.

What will matter is what is in your medical records, what diagnosis was put down. Set reality aside. If the wrong diagnosis was made (and it's something that matters), then it is up to you to prove that the previous diagnosis was wrong or at least not relevant anymore. The FAA deals with possibilities. If you were diagnosed with pulmonary embolisms then they look down the list of things which that can infer and if they find something critical, they will ask you to prove that this is not an issue for you. A good plan is to do all this BEFORE your medical so you can hand them the stack of testing in the medical. A good AME will have your situation pre-wired with the FAA medical staff and may be able to issue you a medical the day of your exam instead of taking a deferment and having to wait.

 

[bbchien]

Wannabe, this is easier than you imagined.

The PE or whatever it was 15 years ago. You are on no meds for that. Therefore it is a condition evaluated on current inquiry and exam. If the handles it correctly should be historical interest only.

The nephrotic syndrome- if you had any lasting renal dysfunction after years of no treatment. you should be dead. Bring a serum creatinine which is normal. End of story.

For Asthma, bring your pharmacy record. If you can show only one renewal of the inhaler in the preceeding 12 months, he can issue you in the office. If not, get a set of pulmonary functions from your PCP, and a letter from him evaluating your control. That would be the stuff a special issuance is made of.

 

[WannaBePilot21]

Thanks for the replies! Doesn’t sound all that difficult. The thought of having a special issuance is less than ideal. Sounds like it would crush my chances at successfully completing my military exam but it is what is I guess

 

[WannaBePilot21]

So for the asthma piece it sounds like I’m just going to have to go get a pulmonary function test if I’m reading your response right.

Due to the fact that I really never go to the doctor my pharmacy history should be blank. The last precription I can recall getting was for a prescription eye antibiotic for pink eye.

Although if I can get a printout showing nothing maybe that would suffice?

 

[bbchien]

No inhaler for 5 years? Then you have asthma not symptomatic nor in need if rx. That is not an FAA condition unless you are putting up with substantial disability, untreated. The AME should be able to handle this, too.

 

[WannaBePilot21]

Again the inhaler non-sense was something that was given I’m guessing at 10 or 11. I never felt the need to use it and truthfully don’t know the root cause of why I ever needed it. Won’t ever know either since the records are unobtanium from the doctor.

I’ve been on my own insurance since 22 or 23 years old and can guarantee I never had an rx for an inhaler let alone filled it. I’m guessing a precription wasn’t filled for that in 15-18 years if in fact a script was ever written. Possibly the doctor just loaded my parents up with samples I haven’t a clue.

I’ve virtually been off the medical radar since 2004. Sure I’ve gotten the common cold a few times over the years but nothing that required anti-biotics. In fact I don’t even have a PCP. After thinking about this I actually scheduled an appointment to obtain a doctor that I can utilize in the future. While not Old I do need to atleast see a doctor once a year just for a checkup. If something were to be not quite right I’d like to catch it as early as possible.