jmlaclede

When I was twelve I was put on Adderall. It was the opinion of my teachers and Dr. that I had ADHD. I was never officially diagnosed. The meds did help me with school work. I am now 22 and have taken it off and on for 10 years. Usually during finals, harder classes, etc. Never during the summer or on weekends. Four years ago I started college and pursued a degree in aviation. I had absolutely no idea that my ADHD was an issue. I passed my medical no-problem. I had not taken Adderall for most of my senior year in high school, and at the time of my exam really didn't think about rather I would ever take it again or not. I recently googled the FAA 8500-8 med questionnaire because I really don't remember what questions were on it four years ago. It does ask what medications I'm on, which I would of said none because I wasn't. And in the med history portion doesn't ask anything about ADD or any such disability. I started struggling a little bit my Junior year of college and talked to my Dr. and started taking Adderall again. Took it off and on my Junior/Senior year. Never in my four years of flight school did this subject come up. I actually think this is a common enough disability in students these days that when you sign up to pursue a degree in aviation you should be asked if you ever have or had ADD/ADHD. I may have just waisted four years of my life and possibly have to rethink my future. I just recently a week after graduation came across this information by accident. I have now researched and learned about being off the meds for 90 days (which I have been), and all about neuropsychological evaluation, etc. Here are my real questions. What if I never found about this? I get a job, I go for the medical......would I pass as I did last time? I really thought I was being honest. If I'm not asked, do I need to volunteer the info now that I know about this? Do they ask for past medical records when you get your exam? If I did have ADHD, It was a very border line case and I have probably outgrown it. Thousands of people have it and go un-diagnosed their whole life, and I'm sure many of them are pilots. Could I have some advice please? I don't expect anyone on here to advise me to be dishonest. I just want to know if I'm worse off now that I know the answer to my questions and some other opinons. Thank you very much! Jim.

Flyhayes

If you haven't been diagnosed, then you really don't know if you have it...

Aviator89

To the OP. please, take a deep breath. Calm down. The world is not ending. Many kf us have been where you are and are worried about a possible medical DQ.

Flyhayes- Exactly. I swear to god this country has an obsession with perfection. If your child cant concentrate in algebra at age what nowadays? 10, 12 17? Instead of his/her game on friday, boyfreind/girlfreind, sex, or other really interesting things he must be sick and needs meds to fix it. Really drives me nuts because I have seen parents try and "fix" their child while they are still in the
process of growing, and developing both physically and mentally. Unless there is a serious mental or physical illness, sometimes all they need is time...not pills.

To the OP-
So by what you wrote, you have taken adderall "in the past" to help study. Cool. I drink coffee every morning for similar reasons, lol. But in all seriousness...

As long as you are not on them now, and have been off for some time, you should be just fine. Go ahead and search online for typical "waiting periods" when its safe to assume all possible side effects have been diminished according to the FAA regulations. Those side effects are the real danger, not the ADD/ADHD itself. And for god sake dont go telling your ame, "oh my parents thought I had ADD so they have me on adderall". For one, lots of AME's might just deny you a medical to save their own ass. And two, it sounds like you are saying you are currently on it. Because of bureaucratic red tape, you will have trouble. Possibly have to wait years to finally get cleared for a misunderstanding. Just answer the questions. Are you on meds? No. Good... Have you recently taken them? No. Good. Have you ever been DIAGNOSED (in your medical records, showing history of...)with any metal illnesses? No. Good... Have you ever been un-conscious (head injury, aka. knocked out physically or by allergic or other condition) No. Good.... You get it? There is a fine line between answering those questions honestly...and flat out lying on a federal document. Which by the way, if you are on adderall (or any regular routine of meds) at the moment, and you say you arent. Its a felony. Or if you have had a broken bone, and you say you havent, its a felony. (Btw, 99% of broken bones are not DQ's at all, but it is a question on the form.)Etc, etc.... So dont lie... It will come back to bite you.

If you want too...You can always ask your AME(BEFORE YOU SHOW UP FOR THE EXAM) or better yet!(anonymously) just an AME in general/hypothetically if one were to be off adderall for (blank) months/years is long enough, and have never been diagnosed with add/adhd. Would they pass an exam noproblem? Or whatever past injury/illness. Just dont lie on the form, and be smart about it. Dont show up and drop a bombshell on your AME by telling him last minute you are on meds. You will denied. Get it all figured out first...You will be fine. The exam is to find mostly previously unknown issues. Like heart problems, breathing, eyesight, hernia's etc....and to weed out all the liars about risky health issues they are trying to hide. Anytime you have a new serious injury, new med, most the time you need to ask your AME.

Pretty sure there is a FAA or medical hotline number you can call anonymously to get your questions answered. Someone else on here needs to chime in on that though. I cant remember the guys name if it was a well known AME, or if there actually is a federally sponsored number to call.

Sata 4000 RP

You were never officially diagnosed but your family quack Dr writes you a script for amphetamines when you have a tough semester? See what kind of pain pills you can get from this guy because there's a helluva black market for them and it could pay your way through your ratings.

rickair7777

To the OP. I strongly suggest you contact a an aviation medical consulting company (there are several) BEFORE you talk to the FAA or a your AME.

Technically, you can't have an "offline" discussion with your AME, they represent the FAA, period. While certain AME's might be willing to have an undocumented conversation I wouldn't go there unless you know the guy really well.

In addition to the medical certification problems, you may have a legal issue with failing to disclose the past history, it's important that you get profession advice before you disclose anything.

The ADD history can be overcome, especially in the case of "over-diagnosed" youth which it sounds like you were. This is common enough with entry level pilots of your generation. You'll just have to plan on jumping through the FAA hoops and never using that crap as a crutch again. Once you get it resolved, you should have clear sailing going forward.

Lesson-learned here...unless life or limb is in jeopardy, research the aeromedical ramifications of any medications or treatments BEFORE you start.

Also the gubmint has mandated that all medical records be electronic for ready access by all providers (not to mention federal enforcers). Always assume that any medical care will come to light eventually and follow proper procedures to ground yourself and report the issue to your AME. How you get ungrounded depends...

For something like a cold or flu you can just unground yourself when you feel better.

For something like a simple broken arm, you can probably unground yourself when the treating physician says you have normal function back.

For serious issue like head trauma, cardiovascular, mental health, etc you can't unground yourself, the AME/FAA have to make that call.

If in doubt, don't unground yourself.

You may also have a legal issue if your period of medication (including post-med wait time) coincided with your logged flight time.

Get professional advice.

USMCFLYR

So he was prescribed the medication by a medical doctor and was not *offically* diagnosed?

jmlaclede

Yes. To be officially diagnosed you have to be assessed by a Psychologist who specializes in the field. Few families actually go that route. My Pediatrician sent questioners to my teachers and just talked to me and my parents before making the decision.

jmlaclede

Does the AME's office request your medical records?

USMCFLYR

I'm a believer in the if you have never been *officially* diagnosed with something then it didn't happen, and I have no experience with ADD/ADHD or any other alphabet soup medical/psychological issues, but I'm still missing the point of order here where the doctor had to put something down, somewhere is order for the OP to receive prescription medication. That makes something official.

jmlaclede

I guess it's like if you go in with a sore throat. Dr. asks questions and assumes you have strep throat, and gives you an antibiotic. He did not do a throat swab thing and send it to the lab, so you weren't diagnosed. He was treating you based on assumptions. All I know is when I was in High School my parents tried to sign me up for some free tutoring or something and they said since I had never been tested for ADD, I didn't qualify. I would need to be tested and diagnosed. Anyway, I'm getting a little off subject now.

The feedback I have gotten so far has been really helpfull, but I'd love some more. Anyone out there that's been through this? I did read on another forum where some students (two cases) after graduation went to the AME while still on Adderall and of course failed their physicals because they had no idea that it was restricted. So I'm obviously not the only one that didn't know this. So I'm assuming there are also people who didn't speak up because they didn't know and have gotten by with it. Of course I guess, they really wouldn't want to admit that on this site. Anyway......