Adderall & The FAA

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Tkouwen

Filing Flight Plan
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Nov 18, 2024
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Hello!

Today I was able to get an appointment with an AME in my area, it was my first medical exam as a student pilot. I work from home and was finding myself distracted sometimes when there was a lot to do around the house and work so I asked my primary care doctor to write me an adderall script. I only take it on weekdays and take less than the dose he wrote for, in his world I’m the ideal person for it since I’m not abusing it. I’m 7 hours into my flight instruction so not super far but still ~$1,500.

Being realistic what are my options here? Why didn’t anyone anywhere mention the barriers that come with it, I know pilots that are regularly out partying, coke and all but the FAA is scared of my occasional adderall usage. Has anyone in the group been in my shoes?

Flying has been my dream since I was a kid and now that I am financially in a spot to do it everything came crashing down. Am I just going to be denied forever now?
 
You can't certify on Adderall, or with any sort of live Rx. No pilots don't get a way with doing coke for very long. You are mistaken.
It's a long road but you will not make it this cycle, they just don't give you enough time. Drop me an email from my byline link (If it's not displayed...go to your settings. There's a link there.

I find working from the house is impossibly distracting....
 
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@Lndwarrior Saw you replied then deleted your reply, I love that you assume you know me. I take a 15 mg adderall and work in the pharmaceutical industry doing business development. The top mg of adderall is an XR 30mg so me at an IR 15mg is far from a problem. I do love the fact that you deemed it necessary to come on and be negative when I was asking a question after I had my entire dream come crashing down today.
 
Tkouwen said:
@Lndwarrior Saw you replied then deleted your reply, I love that you assume you know me. I take a 15 mg adderall and work in the pharmaceutical industry doing business development. The top mg of adderall is an XR 30mg so me at an IR 15mg is far from a problem. I do love the fact that you deemed it necessary to come on and be negative when I was asking a question after I had my entire dream come crashing down today.
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Lots of trolls here, welcome!
 
As Dr Bruce will confirm, there are avenues, not cheap and not fast. It's unfortunate that physicians today are so agreeable to prescribe without understanding the implications across the board. An even more disturbing fact, that CFIs are not informing students of possible Rx problems at the very beginning. A conversation I have with parents of kids who want to learn to fly (I'm not a CFI, I teach a high school ground school)

Q: I don't need to know the answer, I don't want to know the answer but...is your child on any Rx for ADD, ADHD, or similar?
A: Yes
Me: Please contact an AME for a CONSULTATION before you start spending a lot of money.
 
guys, if you want therapy - go talk to a therapist. You arent paying anyone here to sugarcoat anything. Anyone can essentially write anything they want. So deriding a comment, no matter how much you like or dislike the content or delivery - well, you got what you paid for.

As Dr Bruce said - you're going to have to be off of it. There are no adhd drugs that are "ok" to be used as they are all stimulants. You can pass by functioning in life without any adhd drugs over time (4+ years), or you can test to prove that you can function without them. But any use on them is non-certifiable.

And in this particular case - not sure you can even blame your PCP/physician. You asked for it to be prescribed. As for your dream - shouldnt you have been doing some research on said dream before putting money down on it ? I mean - it is/was your dream, right ?
 
If you’re just looking to fly for leisure rather than commercial, I’d recommend taking a look at light sport (especially with mosaic coming down the line).

That’s what I did, there is no way in hell I’d be able to get a medical with my history or meds I’m on, but so long as you have a drivers license and have never applied and been denied for a medical, you should be fine.
 
Welcome to POA. Sorry to hear about your issue.

Consider it a hurdle or speed-bump. Do a search of the medical topics here for worse cases than yours. Follow Dr. Chien’s advice to the tee (don’t stray).

Use POA to stay plugged in. Tough skin will help here and in the cockpit.
 
Tkouwen said:
@Lndwarrior Saw you replied then deleted your reply, I love that you assume you know me. I take a 15 mg adderall and work in the pharmaceutical industry doing business development. The top mg of adderall is an XR 30mg so me at an IR 15mg is far from a problem. I do love the fact that you deemed it necessary to come on and be negative when I was asking a question after I had my entire dream come crashing down today.
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Dude, I deleted my post after I realized I was wrong and it was inappropriate.
 
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