ADHD Diagnosis, But No Treatment?

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Dr. Bruce,

What effect on a medical application for an individual who may have been 'diagnosed' ADHD as a young child, even if that diagnosis is only for the purposes of an insurance code as you mention, but their parents took no action on the diagnosis -- no treatment, no prescriptions written -- and the child subsequently grows out of it into normal adulthood? What effect on a medical certificate application then?
 
How do you know you were diagnosed? Who made the diagnosis? Often that's something between the doctor and the parents and the child doesn't always know about.
 
Brad Z said:
How do you know you were diagnosed? Who made the diagnosis? Often that's something between the doctor and the parents and the child doesn't always know about.
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He said it was for insurance coding, so that means it was on the bill to the insurance company. Depending on what year that was, it may or may not be on an accessible record. There are advantages for being a cash customer for medical stuff.
 
Brad Z said:
How do you know you were diagnosed? Who made the diagnosis? Often that's something between the doctor and the parents and the child doesn't always know about.
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Exactly. The declaration you sign is based on your personal knowledge of your medical history. A young child is very unlikely to know what insurance code was used at a doctor's visit, and the FAA could not prove that a child "knew" that something was diagnosed, known to the child, and later omitted on the form.

I'm not advocating intentionally signing a false statement, but don't poke a sleeping bear.
 
Jeff Oslick said:
Exactly. The declaration you sign is based on your personal knowledge of your medical history. A young child is very unlikely to know what insurance code was used at a doctor's visit, and the FAA could not prove that a child "knew" that something was diagnosed, known to the child, and later omitted on the form.

I'm not advocating intentionally signing a false statement, but don't poke a sleeping bear.
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Right. Best to ignore it. That way if the FAA does find out, they will come crashing down on you and revoke your medical (which locks you out of sport pilot), but you will have plausible deniability which leaves you miles up the creek without a paddle.
 
Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe said:
Right. Best to ignore it. That way if the FAA does find out, they will come crashing down on you and revoke your medical (which locks you out of sport pilot), but you will have plausible deniability which leaves you miles up the creek without a paddle.
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Maybe, but at least you would have had a chance to do the canoe trip. In this case, the worst outcome would be that the FAA could require the psych-evals that would otherwise be required upfront with a "known" ADHD diagnosis. The FAA could not prove intentional falsification of the application, which is obviously the big no-no.

Given the massive over-diagnosis of ADHD that has occurred in the last 20 years, if the OP has led a normal, productive life, has not required "special accommodations" in school or work, and can get through the FAA testing without undue difficulties, I'm having a real hard time red-flagging his case for attention to the FAA.

I respect our government, but I will not live in fear of it.
 
By the way, I'm not advocating lying at all. My point is that unless you are absolutely certain that you were diagnosed with ADHD, you have nothing to report. As a child you may misunderstand treatments and diagnoses.

By the way, my sister told me when i was seven that the doctor said I had cooties. I didn't mention that on my application.
 
If you were a third or eighth grade boy and knew what insurance coding was . . . . I'm really sorry about your childhood . . . .
 
Brad Z said:
By the way, my sister told me when i was seven that the doctor said I had cooties. I didn't mention that on my application.
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Do I need my Doctor to say it is OK to fly with cooties or can I self certify? :dunno:
 
bbchien said:
How old are you now?
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I am the parent. Child is ~10, and enjoys flying with me. Office visits are happening in real time. My real Q is -- am I cutting off my child from PIC for the rest of their life if we proceed with medication for the ADHD; and have we already crossed that bridge just by getting the evaluation and diagnosis? Is the only hope the eventual elimination of Class III for private pilot flying (setting aside glider/balloon/SP) some time in the next 6 years?
 
The fact that you had the kid on the medication to begin with will be a red flag for the FAA.
 
If the kid "don't 'need'" meds - and that I think requires a comparison to other 10 year olds in the classroom environment - and a discussion with a long tenure teacher who has seen 1000 kids in their career - then don't TELL the kid.

What they don't know, they cannot be responsible to chatter about later - there are all sorts of things we don't tell our kids- this can be one of them. I dropped my son on his head when he was month old - when his mother passed out from BPV I dropped her too - I didn't tell her either. Its been 25 years.

You can [not] do it.
 
Unregistered said:
I am the parent. Child is ~10, and enjoys flying with me. Office visits are happening in real time. My real Q is -- am I cutting off my child from PIC for the rest of their life if we proceed with medication for the ADHD; and have we already crossed that bridge just by getting the evaluation and diagnosis? Is the only hope the eventual elimination of Class III for private pilot flying (setting aside glider/balloon/SP) some time in the next 6 years?
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The bridge is crossed. The problem isn't the medication, it's the diagnosis. If said child can benifit from treatment, then please proceed for your child's sake.

A little LSA can be lots of fun, there is no shame in being a sport pilot.
 
Unregistered said:
I am the parent. Child is ~10, and enjoys flying with me. Office visits are happening in real time. My real Q is -- am I cutting off my child from PIC for the rest of their life if we proceed with medication for the ADHD; and have we already crossed that bridge just by getting the evaluation and diagnosis? Is the only hope the eventual elimination of Class III for private pilot flying (setting aside glider/balloon/SP) some time in the next 6 years?
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Let me suggest something far more important.

Accurate diagnosis. I don't mean to "lecture". What are the qualifications of the ones telling you this ?

If diagnosed by a schoolteacher + social worker, 80% wrong.
If this was diagnosed by a Family doc, I'd say 60% of the time, it's incorrect.
A pediatrician, probably 33% he's incorrect.

The best way to tell is with a cognitive profile by a Ph.D.child psychologist. Even better if that person has a residency afterwards and can state he is then a neuropsychologist. Maybe you're already done that, but what you want is to define whether among your 10 year old's cognitive skills, he/se has a marked weakness in auditory and in visual attention, or whether there is a processing disorder. Or whether or not there is undetected petit mal epilepsy and no cognitive disorder at all, save after a petit event unrecognized by our ACE-at-diagnosis school staffs (not).

The old "lists of characteristics" in the DSM4 are slowly moving down the obsolesence chute. If your diagnostician is saying, well he has this behavior, that behavior, and two other so he has ADD......that guy is living in 1985.

Get a GOOD opinion, so his growth and development are more normal. You'll have to do it age 17 anyway if you want him to fly, so why not get the REAL skinny and equip the child correctly for the next 7 years.

And, yes, it's painful, both as a parent and as a fiduciary. A good work up will cost $1,500 and insurance is unlikely to cover it. But if you get this right, you will be the best parent a kid might hope to have.
 
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Don't put your kid through the system, and if you have to then pay cash. I don't trust these psychiatrists... in my opinion they over diagnose so they can pocket more coin.

example, go see a therapist for relationship issues and walk out with an anxiety diagnosis code on your record.
 
Unregistered said:
Don't put your kid through the system, and if you have to then pay cash. I don't trust these psychiatrists... in my opinion they over diagnose so they can pocket more coin.

example, go see a therapist for relationship issues and walk out with an anxiety diagnosis code on your record.
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Godawful advice.
You'll get what you pay for.
In this case you'll get zip.

The analysis of cognitive functions (all 12 of 'em) is the province of the the neuropsychologist, anyway. You got that wrong.

*******

Eh.
Neuropsychololgist schmologist.
Psychiatrist psychmiatrist.
They're all the same.
Yeah, that's the ticket.

unreg #2, put your beer down.
 
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