Medexpress & sleep aid

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Hope I can gain some insight before going down a dead end road. I just started flying and have a third class medical exam scheduled for next month but I honestly filled out the Medexpress and listed lorezepam use (twice a week .5mg) I use it for sleep. Am I a dead duck? Will my student pilot /third class medical be denied? Can I ask for another exam in 6 months after I stop taking the drug and offer to take a drug test? I only take this on occasion to help me fall asleep...I'm hoping there is hope...I'm otherwise a heathy 60 year old fit woman. Thanks in advance for any answers.
 
I can't help with your question, but I'm sure Dr. Bruce will be along shortly to help you find your way thru this. You might try OTC melatonin as an alternative.
 
Thank you PapaFoxTrot. Learning to fly has been a life long dream and only recently have I had the financial resources to start this journey...I would hate to see it come to halt. I am hoping the FAA would have some provisions for me to reapply at some point. I will give melatonin a try and if it doesn't work I will forego the lorazepam...my RX right now is a written for 3 x per week but I actually only use it twice or less a week..I'm sorry now that I ever accepted the prescription in the first place :(
 
Please clarify... you're 3rd class AME visit is in October, yet you filled out the form on http://medxpress.faa.gov within the past few days?

If you have not turned over the confirmation code from the submission of the MedXpress form to an AME, there may be hope of avoiding the impending denial.

But do wait for Dr. Bruce to provide the appropriate guidance.
 
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Never submit that MedXpress. If you have already, get another email address, and don't list it. Give the AME THAT download code.

Then go back to your doc and get a letter saying you have stopped the stuff, destroyed the rest, and that he/she is no longer prescribing it to you. Do that SOON, and turn in the rest of the pills for "on the record" destruction at the office.

Then in October (not in September), you can claim you don't use the stuff.

This is serious stuff. You really don't want to have to go to the psychiatrist. Yes, the way you are, you are a dead duck. So DIVERT!!!
 
bbchien said:
Never submit that MedXpress. If you have already, get another email address, and don't list it. Give the AME THAT download code.
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Dr. Bruce - just a question out of my own curiosity. Doesn't the Medxpress expire after 60 days if not acted upon after submitted. Since she's a student pilot - I'm guessing having the 3rd class in hand may not be time critical(unless she's really close to solo). Could she go back after 12/1 and resubmit after immediately following your advice above?

Don't want to confuse the issue with OP. Just curious if there's yet another gotcha' built into the system...
 
Papa Foxtrot said:
Dr. Bruce - just a question out of my own curiosity. Doesn't the Medxpress expire after 60 days if not acted upon after submitted. Since she's a student pilot - I'm guessing having the 3rd class in hand may not be time critical(unless she's really close to solo). Could she go back after 12/1 and resubmit after immediately following your advice above?

Don't want to confuse the issue with OP. Just curious if there's yet another gotcha' built into the system...
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To the OP: A Medxpress is not "live" until an AME uses the download code to move it from Northrup Grumman (where you filled it out, yeah it says FAA) to OKC. At 60 days they sweep them all into dust. Until picked up by an AME the Medxpress is unverified and not useable as evidence. I mean, you can put one on system and claim you are the president of the USA, and use his Chicago address!

But Medxpress will let you fill out another one, simultaneously; this one you can use, if you come in from a different email address. Use that one instead. But you SURE better have the documentation because if questions get asked, they'll see the proximate VERBOTEN med Rx that it would appear you did not report. Then your pilot certificate is made into duck soup.

So get the documentation, and do it over from a DIFFERENT EMAIL addy.
 
I positively think I'm a dead duck. Unfortunately after coming home from my "discovery flight" I was excited and wanted to get the ball rolling so the code from MedXpress is already in the hands of the AME :( :( I am wondering if my best bet at this point might be to cancel the AME appointment since it looks like I will be denied. I have an appointment scheduled with my PCP and will return the remainder of the RX and go on record as not refilling the RX and not being on the med anymore however I hope it's not too late. I am willing to wait the 60 days but since the AME may have printed out my MedXpress document will the FAA consider this some kind of manipulation on my part? Many many thanks to the wonderful folks on this forum and also thanks for allowing me to post as an unregistered user. Many thanks Dr. Bruce!!!
 
Another happy pilot! Thanks, FAA!

This can't possibly be why the pilot rolls are relentlessly shrinking, can it?
 
So, your instructor / flight school told you to fill out the medexpress and didn't provide any information on what sorts of things such as medications could be an issue? And, further, didn't point out that failing the medical also locks you out of other options such as sport pilot?

Your instructor just threw you under the bus.
 
Unregistered said:
I positively think I'm a dead duck. Unfortunately after coming home from my "discovery flight" I was excited and wanted to get the ball rolling so the code from MedXpress is already in the hands of the AME :( :( I am wondering if my best bet at this point might be to cancel the AME appointment since it looks like I will be denied. I have an appointment scheduled with my PCP and will return the remainder of the RX and go on record as not refilling the RX and not being on the med anymore however I hope it's not too late. I am willing to wait the 60 days but since the AME may have printed out my MedXpress document will the FAA consider this some kind of manipulation on my part? Many many thanks to the wonderful folks on this forum and also thanks for allowing me to post as an unregistered user. Many thanks Dr. Bruce!!!
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The AME can delete even a downloaded file. But most do not download until you show up. So NEVER go.
 
Jesse, Mari, Spike, Adam, and other PoA MC -- Can we make a sticky "Read this before doing MedXpress" post based on Bruce's advice and instructions about filling out MedXpress but not handing over the confirmation code until the AME says he will sign the medical?

We might save many a student from being run over by that bus and getting stuck into denial hell.
 
Doctor Bruce - how would the FAA handle the situation where the airman still has a couple refills left on file at a pharmacy . . . .

Look at the OP - gets an Rx in April 2013 for 30 pills - take every 3-4 days for insomnia with 12 refills - Rx valid until April 2014??

The turn in of the drugs negates the Rx in the eyes of the FAA?
 
comanchepilot said:
Doctor Bruce - how would the FAA handle the situation where the airman still has a couple refills left on file at a pharmacy . . . .

Look at the OP - gets an Rx in April 2013 for 30 pills - take every 3-4 days for insomnia with 12 refills - Rx valid until April 2014??

The turn in of the drugs negates the Rx in the eyes of the FAA?
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Good question, Joe. While the doc might help the airmen get the "pills returned and destroyed documentation", the doc and staff might not tell the pharmacy to close the loop. So in some database somewhere, "XX refills permitted" of this verboten concotion might exist.
 
comanchepilot said:
Doctor Bruce - how would the FAA handle the situation where the airman still has a couple refills left on file at a pharmacy . . . .

Look at the OP - gets an Rx in April 2013 for 30 pills - take every 3-4 days for insomnia with 12 refills - Rx valid until April 2014??

The turn in of the drugs negates the Rx in the eyes of the FAA?
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Yes. To write that the rxing doc is no longer rxing, he has to cancel the rest of the rx at the pharmacy. Perfectly within the nurse's power.
 
bbchien said:
Yes. To write that the rxing doc is no longer rxing, he has to cancel the rest of the rx at the pharmacy. Perfectly within the nurse's power.
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Its ALWAYS these crazy details that get you with a bureaucracy too . . . .

make sure this piece has to happen as well . . . .

might be a little unusual in that the doc might not even know how to do it and the pharmacy, esp if its a big chain like RiteAid/Walgreens/Walmart etc might not even really 'cancel out' the Rx - but the airman does not have make sure other people do their jobs - just that the effort is made and the doc can testify that he canceled the Rx . . .
 
comanchepilot said:
esp if its a big chain like RiteAid/Walgreens/Walmart etc might not even really 'cancel out' the Rx
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I was thinking the same scenario. Airman does as instructed with his doc. But it's the pharmacy records that comes back later to bite his ash.
 
AggieMike88 said:
I was thinking the same scenario. Airman does as instructed with his doc. But it's the pharmacy records that comes back later to bite his ash.
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Well, the pharmacy will also have record of when the scripts were filled, so as long as everything else is above board, it'll be ok.
 
Henning said:
Well, the pharmacy will also have record of when the scripts were filled, so as long as everything else is above board, it'll be ok.
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Yep - as long as the effort is made and the Rx not refilled - the airman is ok.

Bureaucrats innately understand that you cannot get someone else to do their job properly . . .
 
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