I am a new pilot, just passed my check ride last Friday. During my last primary doc visit my cholesterol and blood pressure were high, he said come back in three months and we can check it again. If its still high we will need to think about meds.
Three months have passed and I am anticipating he wants to prescribe some meds. My questions is how do I handle this so that I can still fly? Are there certain medications I should request that the FAA is OK with? Will I need to follow up with my AME before filling any prescriptions?
Any advice is greatly appreciated!
First (and most rewarding) is to improve diet and exercise and lose any weight that is adding to this problem. It is something I'm struggling with myself. But there are so many positive stories from those who make progress in this area.
Second, documented hypertension may trigger a special issuance (Dr. Bruce will know for certain). If it does, getting one isn't difficult, but you'll need your primary doc on board to create status letters that are simple worded and straight to the point with no $5.00/word-out-of-the-medical- thesaurus additions.
There is worksheet provided by AOPA (sample version attached) that will needed to be filled out by you, have data added by your primary doc, and signed by your primary doc. This plus a copy of the necessary labs that Dr. Bruce will remind you of, and a status letter with all of the necessary info about exam, results, medications, lack of side effects, and no evidence of coronary artery disease (CAD) will be needed to satisfy the folks at OKC.
Finally, a major point to keep in mind is to really own your medical and do all the steps outlined by Dr. Bruce.
The primary benefit is that once your file reaches the top of the stack at OKC, the initial reviewer can say that all is here and good and issue the SI and Certificate.
If you let it get compliated or worse, left things out, it get's passed up to one of the very busy doctors, set at the bottom of another larger pile, and you're waiting even longer.
The nuts and bolts are: Not a complete showstopper for your flying, but there are things to be done and documented by yourself, your primary doctor, and your AME. But more improtantly, make the right lifestyle changes to fix this. It does take effort, but so did obtaining your PPL, and the results are just as rewarding.
