ADD HIMS Success
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ADD HIMS Success
tl;dr: 50 weeks from start to first-class medical with a history of ADD medicine
I found so many helpful stories and reports on this forum that I wanted to share mine in hopes it would help someone else.
Like so many people my age, I was prescribed ADD medication in elementary school when a teacher noticed I was having trouble paying attention (turns out she was just boring). I took myself off of it a couple years later. As an adult, I mentioned to my doctor that I wished I could focus more at work, he saw that I had taken medicine when I was younger, and boom, I was back on it before I even knew what happened. I took myself off of it again a few years later when I realized it was doing more harm than good.
I've had two first-class medicals previously in my life (one in mid-2022, when I was no longer taking medication, and one in the early 2000s, between my childhood and adult medications). Like so many others, I had no idea a history of ADD medication qualified me as having a "mental disorder." I discovered that a few months after my 2022 medical, and kind of freaked out.
I reached out to the incredible @bbchien in the very last days of 2022, and within a few days was on the year-long journey to get this all right. This will probably sound fairly familiar to those of you who have seen this process before. I had to gather all of my medical records for the past decade. This took almost 5 months. Some doctors & pharmacies got them to me right away, others I had to fight with for a few weeks, and some I had to go back for another appointment for them to give me a note to say that everything was good from their perspective. Some of those appointments took months to get. This is why Dr. Chien recommends getting all of this done before you submit anything to the FAA - I believe they only give you 90 days for everything.
Once I finally had those records, I was able to schedule the neuropsychological testing (including the one everyone talks about, the cogscreen). I had the testing in early May, and apparently did quite well. It was a tough, full day, but I've definitely had worse days that were more mentally taxing. I only had to do the initial battery.
Side note: I did have to travel to have this testing done. It turns out the hotel I had originally booked had rock-hard beds, and I knew I would get zero sleep. Sleep is the most critical thing you can have for this testing. I checked into a different hotel down the street, and even though I'm fairly frugal, I've never once second-guessed my choice to pay for two hotels that night. It was worth every penny for a good night's sleep.
Once that was done, it was 2 months before I could get in to see Dr. Chien. When I was finally able to, the appointment was quick and great. He told me that day that with the scores I had gotten, I would be in the "fast track" line at the FAA, which at the time was "only" 75 days.
Time passed, and as 75 days came and went, I reached out to Dr. Chien to see if he might know anything. He let me know that the timeframe for even the fast track had doubled or more, and there was no reason to think it wouldn't keep growing. Instead of September/October, I was now looking at February or later. I had read on here that your congresssman or regional flight surgeon could sometimes help speed things along, so I reached out to my US House Representative and RFS (the FAA is required to respond to a congressional inquiry within 10 days, even if just to say they have received your application). I waited about a month and a half with no results, and then decided it couldn't hurt anything to also contact my senator.
A week later, I had my medical. I have no idea if the senator carried more weight, or the timing just happened to work out, or having 3 separate groups bugging them did something, or what. Either way, I'm happy.
People always want tips, so here are a few:
1. Talk to an AME FIRST. Either reach out to Dr. Chien, or find a HIMS AME in your area, or something. Make sure you make an appointment for a consultation, not an exam. You'll be able to talk off the record, and get instructions on how to proceed. This is not a process for the faint of heart, and not something to even consider doing without professional guidance.
2. Patience. You're moving at the speed of government, and at this point, a severely understaffed portion of the government. It will take longer than you think.
3. Prepare for your cognitive testing. This one is a little controversial, because people say you can't prepare for that. I strongly beg to differ. I used apps like Lumosity and BrainHQ to get my mind back into that kind of thinking. While I'm fully capable of split-second observations, reactions, and decision-making, that's not something that's normally a part of my everyday life (at least not on this level). By doing those exercises, I definitely improved my reaction times vs what they would have been if I had gone in cold.
There are also lots of resources to help you better understand what the cogscreen is. I'm the type of person who likes to know what I'm going in to, so even just having read a brief description of most of the exercises was a huge help. This isn't some closely-guarded secret like some like to pretend that it is - they're published right on the cogscreen website.
Feel free to ask any questions. I know the process, and know how much it sucks, and would be happy to help anyone else who finds themselves in this crappy situation.
I have some very helpful links that I would post, but it looks like I'm not allowed to until I have more posts. Maybe I'll go make some random ones until I can post those, or maybe a mod can remove that restriction for me.
I found so many helpful stories and reports on this forum that I wanted to share mine in hopes it would help someone else.
Like so many people my age, I was prescribed ADD medication in elementary school when a teacher noticed I was having trouble paying attention (turns out she was just boring). I took myself off of it a couple years later. As an adult, I mentioned to my doctor that I wished I could focus more at work, he saw that I had taken medicine when I was younger, and boom, I was back on it before I even knew what happened. I took myself off of it again a few years later when I realized it was doing more harm than good.
I've had two first-class medicals previously in my life (one in mid-2022, when I was no longer taking medication, and one in the early 2000s, between my childhood and adult medications). Like so many others, I had no idea a history of ADD medication qualified me as having a "mental disorder." I discovered that a few months after my 2022 medical, and kind of freaked out.
I reached out to the incredible @bbchien in the very last days of 2022, and within a few days was on the year-long journey to get this all right. This will probably sound fairly familiar to those of you who have seen this process before. I had to gather all of my medical records for the past decade. This took almost 5 months. Some doctors & pharmacies got them to me right away, others I had to fight with for a few weeks, and some I had to go back for another appointment for them to give me a note to say that everything was good from their perspective. Some of those appointments took months to get. This is why Dr. Chien recommends getting all of this done before you submit anything to the FAA - I believe they only give you 90 days for everything.
Once I finally had those records, I was able to schedule the neuropsychological testing (including the one everyone talks about, the cogscreen). I had the testing in early May, and apparently did quite well. It was a tough, full day, but I've definitely had worse days that were more mentally taxing. I only had to do the initial battery.
Side note: I did have to travel to have this testing done. It turns out the hotel I had originally booked had rock-hard beds, and I knew I would get zero sleep. Sleep is the most critical thing you can have for this testing. I checked into a different hotel down the street, and even though I'm fairly frugal, I've never once second-guessed my choice to pay for two hotels that night. It was worth every penny for a good night's sleep.
Once that was done, it was 2 months before I could get in to see Dr. Chien. When I was finally able to, the appointment was quick and great. He told me that day that with the scores I had gotten, I would be in the "fast track" line at the FAA, which at the time was "only" 75 days.
Time passed, and as 75 days came and went, I reached out to Dr. Chien to see if he might know anything. He let me know that the timeframe for even the fast track had doubled or more, and there was no reason to think it wouldn't keep growing. Instead of September/October, I was now looking at February or later. I had read on here that your congresssman or regional flight surgeon could sometimes help speed things along, so I reached out to my US House Representative and RFS (the FAA is required to respond to a congressional inquiry within 10 days, even if just to say they have received your application). I waited about a month and a half with no results, and then decided it couldn't hurt anything to also contact my senator.
A week later, I had my medical. I have no idea if the senator carried more weight, or the timing just happened to work out, or having 3 separate groups bugging them did something, or what. Either way, I'm happy.
People always want tips, so here are a few:
1. Talk to an AME FIRST. Either reach out to Dr. Chien, or find a HIMS AME in your area, or something. Make sure you make an appointment for a consultation, not an exam. You'll be able to talk off the record, and get instructions on how to proceed. This is not a process for the faint of heart, and not something to even consider doing without professional guidance.
2. Patience. You're moving at the speed of government, and at this point, a severely understaffed portion of the government. It will take longer than you think.
3. Prepare for your cognitive testing. This one is a little controversial, because people say you can't prepare for that. I strongly beg to differ. I used apps like Lumosity and BrainHQ to get my mind back into that kind of thinking. While I'm fully capable of split-second observations, reactions, and decision-making, that's not something that's normally a part of my everyday life (at least not on this level). By doing those exercises, I definitely improved my reaction times vs what they would have been if I had gone in cold.
There are also lots of resources to help you better understand what the cogscreen is. I'm the type of person who likes to know what I'm going in to, so even just having read a brief description of most of the exercises was a huge help. This isn't some closely-guarded secret like some like to pretend that it is - they're published right on the cogscreen website.
Feel free to ask any questions. I know the process, and know how much it sucks, and would be happy to help anyone else who finds themselves in this crappy situation.
I have some very helpful links that I would post, but it looks like I'm not allowed to until I have more posts. Maybe I'll go make some random ones until I can post those, or maybe a mod can remove that restriction for me.
