ADD meds and diagnosis

Status
Not open for further replies.
U

Unregistered

Guest
Are the medications which are commonly diagnosed for ADD disqualifying, I suppose I should also ask if any are permitted?

Also is the diagnosis of ADD in an of itself disqualifying?

If diagnosed with mild ADD is an SI possible?

Thanks Doc Bruce or anyone else who helps with a response.

Safe Flying to all!
 
Unregistered said:
Are the medications which are commonly diagnosed for ADD disqualifying, I suppose I should also ask if any are permitted?

Also is the diagnosis of ADD in an of itself disqualifying?

If diagnosed with mild ADD is an SI possible?

Thanks Doc Bruce or anyone else who helps with a response.

Safe Flying to all!
Click to expand...

Yes for a third class medical. No, not for a third class medical.

Probably (at least for a third class medical)

Dunno - but I'm sure it will be a real pain in yea olde butt.

This is the point where you have to ask - what kind of flying do I really want to do, and is it worth the extra pain to get a medical just to have a back seat?

(Assuming you and your doctor agree that you are sufficently able to compensate and are safe to act as pilot in command of an LSA.)
 
On that topic, does my 7 year old's ADHD diagnosis mean that he will never be able to act as a private pilot? Is "childhood ADD" and "adult ADD" distinguished?
 
ChrisK said:
On that topic, does my 7 year old's ADHD diagnosis mean that he will never be able to act as a private pilot? Is "childhood ADD" and "adult ADD" distinguished?
Click to expand...

Well, one would be best waiting for an expert. But, as I understand it, childhood ADD will be an issue for a third class medical.

But things could change in the next 10 years.

But then, we are talking about the FAA.

Remember - know before you go.

If you try for a medical and fail, you are locked out of sport pilot (but not glider). On the other hand, if you fail to try, then sport pilot may be an option.

http://www.pilotsofamerica.com/forum/showthread.php?t=41953&highlight=add
 
Last edited:
I know Dr. Bruce has sighed over the number of kids "diagnosed" with ADD/ADHD by folks who are not qualified to make that diagnosis. Unfortunately I don't believe the FAA cares, so if there's a written diagnosis of that in the records, it's up to the applicant to do the work to prove the original diagnosis was in error. I believe that can be done but will require visits to a qualified practitioner and a letter from that practitioner with specific wording.

So don't give up hope, and wait for Dr. Bruce to chime in.
 
Well he was diagnosed by a child psychiatrist after many, many years of various issues of varying degrees, but he's a bright, engaging boy. I think that in 10 years he might either have no symptoms or have compensated for it to a degree where it is not a factor.

I see why people are so frustrated about medical issues. If we narrow the scope of "normal" too far, GA will suffer. No one has ever called me normal!
 
ChrisK said:
Well he was diagnosed by a child psychiatrist after many, many years of various issues of varying degrees, but he's a bright, engaging boy. I think that in 10 years he might either have no symptoms or have compensated for it to a degree where it is not a factor.
Click to expand...

Not a significant factor in his performance perhaps because he has developed the skills to compensate.

I see why people are so frustrated about medical issues. If we narrow the scope of "normal" too far, GA will suffer. No one has ever called me normal!
Click to expand...

And why I gave up on the medical hoop jumping. Even when I did have a medical I hardly ever had someone in the back seat. So, why bother?
 
I kind of figured they would be disqualifying but was hoping that perhaps they would treat them like they are now treating SSRIs an pilots. The back ground is that I am already a pilot, I am an adult, I graduated college and graduate school but I have always struggled in school. H.S. was hell for me as I was so damn distracted, yet I did reasonably well in college and grad school. It was still very hard for me. I'd be the person who had to read and re read and re read a chapter not because I'm not smart but I'd read the chapter or page like I was on auto pilot. Litterally I'd read the entire chapter or page and then just say " what the hell did I just read" It was like part of my brain reads the page but the rest of my brain is simultaneously day dreaming about flying, climbing Mt. Rainer, skiing anything else. I was and am a HUGE daydreamer. I talk to people who I like and find interesting but during the conversation my mind and my eyes always start to wander I start thinking about something else. I often will loose my train of thought during a conversation because half my brain is thinking about something else I hate it.

That said in certain aspects of my life flying, building something, flight planning or researching something I can hone in like a hawk. My pilot friends who I've flown wiht and my CFIs say that I am an excellent pilot and very safe. In my professional life I make a healthy living not awesome but respectable, run a small business etc. I just feel that if I could concentrate more I'd be so much more successful at things. I guess the best way I can describe it is that I feel like I'm flying along at 60-65% bhp when I could get to 75%.

So its one of those deals where I have to ask myself do I want to pursue this at the risk of gettting my medical denied. Its certainly not somethng that will kill me or physcially harm me.
 
Unregistered said:
I'd be the person who had to read and re read and re read a chapter not because I'm not smart but I'd read the chapter or page like I was on auto pilot. Litterally I'd read the entire chapter or page and then just say " what the hell did I just read" It was like part of my brain reads the page but the rest of my brain is simultaneously day dreaming about flying, clmbing Mt. Rainer, skiing anything else. I was and am a HUGE daydreamer. I talk to people who I like and find interesting but during the conversation my mind and my eyes always start to wander I start thinking about something else. I often will loose my train of thought during a conversation because half my brain is thinking about something else I hate it.
Click to expand...
You mean all people aren't like this? :confused:

I can't imagine anyone considering medication to "cure" something like this.
 
Unregistered said:
So its one of those deals where I have to ask myself do I want to pursue this at the risk of gettting my medical denied. Its certainly not somethng that will kill me or physcially harm me.
Click to expand...

I elected to put my life / family first and seek treatment. I'm glad I did. Wouldn't even consider going back and doing it differently.
 
Unregistered said:
Are the medications which are commonly diagnosed for ADD disqualifying, I suppose I should also ask if any are permitted?

Also is the diagnosis of ADD in an of itself disqualifying?

If diagnosed with mild ADD is an SI possible?

Thanks Doc Bruce or anyone else who helps with a response.

Safe Flying to all!
Click to expand...

read this NTSB case, amphetamine is disqualifying so is the ADD itself.

http://www.ntsb.gov/legal/o_n_o/docs/Aviation/5381.pdf

If you are currently diagnosed with ADD, and need to get undiagnosed but you have a hard time with the ADD test, download it for your iPad and practice it before going in for the evaluation. Practice makes perfect : )
 
HIMS program said:
read this NTSB case, amphetamine is disqualifying so is the ADD itself.

http://www.ntsb.gov/legal/o_n_o/docs/Aviation/5381.pdf

If you are currently diagnosed with ADD, and need to get undiagnosed but you have a hard time with the ADD test, download it for your iPad and practice it before going in for the evaluation. Practice makes perfect : )
Click to expand...
Really TERRIBLE advice.

If you preload the Wisconsin and the Trails A&B, since the tests are self validating, the psych can tell you preloaded it. Then there are almost no tests left for the visual assessment to ACQUIT youself of the diagnosis, and you are permanently screwed, despite the initial diagnosis by an unqualified social worker that most parents acceeded to by buying the pills.

HIMS program, you're grinding an axe.....Stop spreading misinformation, SUCK up your >>.15 DUI, just suck it up for two years, and stop poisoning this OP unreg's well.

**********

Now as to: ADD. Both the diagnosis and the meds are DQ-ing. The meds, because the FAA has no control that on the day of the accident, that you took your meds. The diagnosis if actually diagnosed by someone qualified, is DQing as well. The diagnosis is there is your parents acceeded to the diagnosis and started buying the pills.

Now, the unfair part is, there are a lot of UNdiagnosed ADDs out there. if you have it, but have never been diagnosed or medicated, and you can pass an operational check ride, the agency has to regard your ADD as sufficiently mild as to not impair you.

Like the one poster in this string who has it, and got it controlled has discovered, it's a wonderful thing to see the "other side". That's why I ask the young SUI matriculees who discover they cannot get a certificate without at trip to the $$-ive clinical psychologist (to get the diagnosis disabused), "are you actually better with the meds?".
 
Last edited:
Now as to: ADD. Both the diagnosis and the meds are DQ-ing. The meds, because the FAA has no control that on the day of the accident, that you took your meds.
Click to expand...

The FAA doesn't have any control over whether or not I wear my glasses. Except it says on my medical certificate in italics "Must wear corrective lenses". Wonder what the difference is?
 
There's an assumption (and a reasonable one) that if you don't have your glasses on, you will realize you're impared. That's not a reasonable assumption when it comes to psychological issues.

Note the appropriate use of "your" and you're", grammar police.
 
TMetzinger said:
There's an assumption (and a reasonable one) that if you don't have your glasses on, you will realize you're impared. That's not a reasonable assumption when it comes to psychological issues.
Click to expand...
Spot on.

Some of us have to fly the ILS to 200 agl because we can't see the "T O Z" without our lenses on.

Here's the "pappas" accident which took the son of one of our own, discussed here when it was still the "yellow" board: http://dms.ntsb.gov/aviation/AccidentReports/qhh3siehlsn3aceocvfrfk551/A01162012120000.pdf

Total lack of self awareness....different med.
 
Last edited:
Thank you for the info Bruce, I was thinking that perhaps due to the mild nature of some ADD that it might be treated by the FAA medical folks like depression controlled with SSRIs but apparently not. While I've never been diagnosed, I guess for those diagnosed as kids that at least sport pilot is still available. Gotta be tough not to be able to pursue ones passion.

Tim I agree to a point. They say that the brain is the only organ able to deny its own illness however I think that applies more to illnesses like the manic phases of bi polar disorder and schizophrenia, Folks I know with ADD know what they got and what the symptoms are.

Its probably not fair that they treat mild ADD that way but then life's not fair. Thanks again Bruce and all for the advice.
 
Some of us have to fly the ILS to 200 agl because we can't see the "T O Z" without our lenses on.
Click to expand...

I'm a VFR pilot. Is that the same as having your wife call out airspeed on final approach at night because you left your bifocals in the car?
 
The current generation could lose a lot of private pilots because of the excessive diagnosing. I am pretty sure my nephew was diagnosed (or at least there have been school discussions, not sure about a formal diagnosis so don't quote me on that) and I would venture a bet he would be a kid who would have loved flying.
 
How many of the *former* generation have y'all met that probably would have been diagnosed with *something* if that *something* had existed or been known 30 years ago.

I've definitely flown with a guy I bet would have been DQed today for ADD.

He *seemed* to have learned to cope by utilizing the ability to "hyper focus" on specific phases of flight but at other less risky times you wondered if he was paying attention at all.

Folks afflicted with attention issues usually learned how to cope in the past.

Or as one comedian put it, "We had a cure for ADD when I was a kid. Getting backhanded by dad and told to pay attention to the important stuff usually took care of it real quick."

Maybe not the healthiest "fix" but I'd bet there's a lot of people out there who cope exactly that way, by someone applying a minor trauma every time they lost focus on the task at hand. Triggers adrenaline, hyperfocus and better performance sometimes than their peers, in short bursts.
 
The current generation could lose a lot of private pilots because of the excessive diagnosing.
Click to expand...

My daughter went to high school in an affluent, progressive college community. She said over half of her friends and classmates were either on prescribed psychoactive drugs, in therapy or both. She graduated about 2004.
 
ajstoner21 said:
Whats "T O Z" ?

And that link doesnt seem to work for me.
Click to expand...
That's the third line on the eye chart, Andrew. VERY big letters.

E
F B
T O Z

etc.



For the accident look up the following: SEA05FA125
 
Last edited:
Old Geek said:
My daughter went to high school in an affluent, progressive college community. She said over half of her friends and classmates were either on prescribed psychoactive drugs, in therapy or both. She graduated about 2004.
Click to expand...

:hairraise:
 
Everskyward said:
You mean all people aren't like this? :confused:

I can't imagine anyone considering medication to "cure" something like this.
Click to expand...

Yeah. Doesn't sound like ADD to me, sounds like a diagnosed case of "bored."

When I was in grade school, I saw a lot of kids getting put on ritalin and given an ADD diagnosis. It wasn't ADD in any of the cases I saw, it was that the kids were bored, disinterested, or just in some cases not as smart as their parents hoped they were.

Now, I do have one friend from high school who is a definite ADHD (in my unofficial diagnosis). He's one of those SQUIRREL!!!!! err... people.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top