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Let the waiver process begin

fc2spyguy

fc2spyguy

loving my warm and comfy 214 blanket
pilot
Contributor
:(
So, I just got back from my flight physical today and found out that I have to get a waiver due to a concussion. Now, I did a search, and have seen that plenty of people have applied for the waivers, but didn't see many results of the waivers.

Situation: The waiver is based on this Traumatic Brain Injury: moderateNOMI site

The what: 10 years ago at NTC Great Lakes I got knocked out playing football and don't remember much about that day, little bits and pieces here and there. Pretty much nothing was done at the branch medical clinic, but it's been in my 5 year physicals since then so I made sure to mention it. Nothing has come of it since then, no headaches or anything associated with motorskills and such. Well now I have to get a MRI, neurology consultation, and neuropsych eval.

Couple of questions. 1. What is a neurology consultation and neuropsych eval? 2. Are waivers for this pretty common assuming that every thing comes up good for me?

Any info would be appreciated. Thanks
 
hscs

hscs

Registered User
pilot
If you haven't had any issues in 10 years, you are probably going to be ok. I had a nasty car accident as a kid (banged up my head pretty good), and sent NOMI all of the MRI and reports from the hospital. They were good with it. I never needed a waiver -- it did help that I stayed conscious through the entire accident.
 
Steve Wilkins

Steve Wilkins

Teaching pigs to dance, one pig at a time.
None
Super Moderator
Contributor
Just for good measure, you might want to go ahead and stay up to date on your SPY knowledge. You'll probably need it as WEPS or CSO. :D
 
HeyJoe

HeyJoe

Fly Navy! ...or USMC
None
Super Moderator
Contributor
hscs said:
it did help that I stayed conscious through the entire accident.
Click to expand...

Folks I have known in this predicament seem to sail through if they maintained consciousness. If not, it flags the NOMI Nazis to do the consult/eval.
 
feddoc

feddoc

Really old guy
Contributor
fc2spyguy said:
:(
So, I just got back from my flight physical today and found out that I have to get a waiver due to a concussion. Now, I did a search, and have seen that plenty of people have applied for the waivers, but didn't see many results of the waivers.

Situation: The waiver is based on this Traumatic Brain Injury: moderateNOMI site

The what: 10 years ago at NTC Great Lakes I got knocked out playing football and don't remember much about that day, little bits and pieces here and there. Pretty much nothing was done at the branch medical clinic, but it's been in my 5 year physicals since then so I made sure to mention it. Nothing has come of it since then, no headaches or anything associated with motorskills and such. Well now I have to get a MRI, neurology consultation, and neuropsych eval.

Couple of questions. 1. What is a neurology consultation and neuropsych eval? 2. Are waivers for this pretty common assuming that every thing comes up good for me?

Any info would be appreciated. Thanks
Click to expand...

From my experience, this should not be a big deal. You had an explained LOC. (FWIW an unexplained LOC is bad...)

1. Neurology consult. Most likely the doc will test you for equal strength and equal reaction to stimulii in all extremities. And in many different directions.

The reasoning behind this is that certain nerves follow certain pathways...if one finger cannot be raised to the same degree as the same finger on the other hand, there might be a problem....(a neurosurgeon can likely tell you which specific neural pathway is damaged)....if you have unequal leg strength when seated, same answer as above.


2. Neuropsych eval. They will probably see if you visit AW too frequently....ha ha....they will likely ask you if you see bright lights, slilckering movements, have absurd thoughts, etc.

The two evals are done only to determine if you have any lingering effects from your football induced LOC. I really believe this is somewhat like a dog and pony show just to prove that you are not going to LOC during a flight. Your waiver should be a done deal.

Several years ago I was teaching a class and I had just explained the dangers of an arterial gas embolism...and that one of the symptoms could be a sudden and relatively unexplained LOC. I had no sooner said that (and was moving on to a demo of another topic) when I heard someone groan...I turn around and see some LT out, on the floor, with blood coming from his forehead. The guy next to him tried to catch him, but no luck. It took that guy about a year to get med up again...because it was an unexplained LOC. Turns out he was training for a marathon and was a bit weak.

BUMED places a great deal of importance on the difference between explained and unexplained LOCs. Last time I was involved in the process, they had far more interest in a closed head wound than in an explained LOC.

Rest easy.
 
Schnugg

Schnugg

It's gettin' a bit dramatic 'round here...
None
Super Moderator
Contributor
I knew a senior O-4 who was grounded when he had several incidents of unexplained LOC.
Once he was on the back of an F-14D manning up when he greyed out and fell onto the turtleback. He was alone when that happened. He immediately spoke up about it and his flying days were done. He was a TPS grad...most likely in line for NASA, too. I have the utmost respect for this man, who knew his flying career was most likely done. He could have hid the problem, but knew it was just too dangerous. This was also about a week before fly off from cruise. He got the nod from a FS to fly off in the back seat of an F-14D.

He ended up going into the RDT&E world. I'm sure some people here know him.

Also know of an F-14 student in the FRS that had a partial blockage of an artery in his neck that got worse when he wore his helmet and turned his head a certain way. He would literally pass out...luckily it happened when he wasn't flying. He was grounded, had surgery and eventually resumed flying.
 
Steve Wilkins

Steve Wilkins

Teaching pigs to dance, one pig at a time.
None
Super Moderator
Contributor
Lonestar155 said:
Mr. Wilkens, are you being serious with that Avatar?
Click to expand...
My last name is spelled incorrectly all the time by people who hear it said outloud and obviously don't know how to spell it. BUT, how the hell can you misspell it when it's RIGHT THERE above the avatar?

As for your question. This is Airwarriors....the real deal, the place where little boys become men. Hell yea I'm serious. These are serious times we live in. Serious times require serious avatars.
 
Brett327

Brett327

Well-Known Member
None
Super Moderator
Contributor
Steve Wilkins said:
As for your question. This is Airwarriors....the real deal, the place where little boys become men. Hell yea I'm serious. These are serious times we live in. Serious times require serious avatars.
Click to expand...

Your buttocks are sublime.

Brett
 
Flash

Flash

SEVAL/ECMO
None
Super Moderator
Contributor
Schnugg said:
Also know of an F-14 student in the FRS that had a partial blockage of an artery in his neck that got worse when he wore his helmet and turned his head a certain way. He would literally pass out...luckily it happened when he wasn't flying. He was grounded, had surgery and eventually resumed flying.
Click to expand...

We had a guy in VQ-1 who had been a pilot in VF-41 for close to a year and a half before he was NPQ's from TACAIR because of something very similar. The way he explained it (I went on det with him several times and I heard him describe it in detail several times) is that when he came to the merge and snapped his head around to follow the other plane he would gray out. At first he said he did not think it was a big deal but it got worse and he finally fessed up. The docs found that he was cutting off the bloodflow to his head because one of the two arteries that went to his head was much bigger than the other (correct me if I am wrong Feddoc).

He was grounded but they cleared him to fly P-3's and he ended up in VQ-1, last I knew he was flying for an airline and the VR squadron out of Whidbey. this happened in the 1995 timeframe.
 
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