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The Doctor is in! Ask a Flight Surgeon!
- Thread starter FlightMD
- Start date
tdogsmith
Dangle Meistro
I have a question,
I was DQ from MEPS for having a lumbar lordosis (curved spine in the lower back) angle of 56 deg measured by Cobb's Method. Their limit was 50 I guess but I have seen documentation elsewhere saying that 55 was the limit. I also saw that NAMI doesn't state a limit for lordosis in their orthopedics pdf (only kyphosis and scoliosis have limits stated which I don't have) and that Cobb's method has an error of ~3-5 deg. What is the chance that this is a waiverable condition?
Kind of a bummer because everything else I did really well on (passed eyes 20/20, depth percep., etc).
I have literally no medical history, especially never had any lower back or spinal problems. I play D3 college ice hockey, lift weights 5 days a week, and am in very good shape although I have heard gaining muscle mass in the leg region can contribute to lumbar lordosis by pushing back up on the spine. Doing some research I also noticed that the Scoliosis Research Society regards 20 - 60 deg as normal lumbar lordosis for an adult which I fall into.
If anyone has any comments or answers for this I would appreciate it. My processor is submitting my medical docs tomorrow to hopefully get a waiver.
V/r
I was DQ from MEPS for having a lumbar lordosis (curved spine in the lower back) angle of 56 deg measured by Cobb's Method. Their limit was 50 I guess but I have seen documentation elsewhere saying that 55 was the limit. I also saw that NAMI doesn't state a limit for lordosis in their orthopedics pdf (only kyphosis and scoliosis have limits stated which I don't have) and that Cobb's method has an error of ~3-5 deg. What is the chance that this is a waiverable condition?
Kind of a bummer because everything else I did really well on (passed eyes 20/20, depth percep., etc).
I have literally no medical history, especially never had any lower back or spinal problems. I play D3 college ice hockey, lift weights 5 days a week, and am in very good shape although I have heard gaining muscle mass in the leg region can contribute to lumbar lordosis by pushing back up on the spine. Doing some research I also noticed that the Scoliosis Research Society regards 20 - 60 deg as normal lumbar lordosis for an adult which I fall into.
If anyone has any comments or answers for this I would appreciate it. My processor is submitting my medical docs tomorrow to hopefully get a waiver.
V/r
exNavyOffRec
Well-Known Member
N3M will determine if you meet requirements to come into the USN, NAMI will determine if you meet aviation requirements (past what N3M can do), if N3M will let you come in, then later on NAMI will determine if you are fit for aviation, if not then you will redesignate (maybe).
TOPGUN1991
Naval Aviation Hopeful!
I just got an optical exam today and I was told that I have 20/20 in my left eye, but I have 20/50 in my right eye. Do any of y'all know if there is a way I can get by the vision requirement of 20/40 with a waiver or am I screwed? Thanks!
The optometrist said that she researched the requirements and said that she personally saw no reason why I should not qualify even with 20/50... just thought it was worth mentioning.
The optometrist said that she researched the requirements and said that she personally saw no reason why I should not qualify even with 20/50... just thought it was worth mentioning.
exNavyOffRec
Well-Known Member
unfortunately even if you find a doc that gets your exam to 20/40 when you have your exam during OCS or whenever they double check everything if you are over 20/40 you are going to really be screwed.
Your best bet is to have PRK/LASIK and apply after the wait period.
you probably know this so I will give you a bit of crap on this, but what she said is about as useful as her telling you she dresses up in an elf costume and dances around playgrounds.
For the flight physical at OCS can I request my blood pressure be taken manually and not by machine? My blood pressure shows up high on machines without fail, but is always normal (120/80) when taken manually. I had this issue at MEPS and civi doctors offices, but it has been cleared with N3M for my SNFO application. Any insight would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for your time.
Normally, the Corpsman have no issue taking it manually if the patient requests it. For any patient who's BP reads high on the machine, the corpsman must take the it manually to rule out any problems with the machine. Only the lower of the two scores is recorded. Usually we would try 3-4 times manually before sending someone to the doc with a high BP reading.
Thanks for the reply.
Hey all, I have a question.
I don't usually post, but I'm in such a quagmire that I need some solid input on what to do. My first MEPS visit is in a week, and I'm struggling with my past medical history, and what I need to put on the sheet (Or what I should put)
My basic situation is this... When I was 8 or so, my parents divorced and I was taken to a doctor after acting out in school (In second grade). They said I had depression, so they medicated me. I took anti-depressants until I was 15. The medicine didn't change the way I was behaving, so in the ever ready quest to find out what was wrong with me, one psych diagnosed me with BIPOLAR DISORDER. I took medicine for that until I was 15 too. When I turned 15, we started to wonder why the hell I was taking all this medication, and had some evaluations done, including some fancy brain scans and other actual tests. The conclusion was pretty unanimous, that I never had bipolar... nothing even near it. I stopped taking meds immediately, as well as depression meds (that diagnosis still stood), and I have not taken any medicine since. Further investigation has revealed the doctor that diagnosed me with bipolar himself had bipolar... and at the time unbeknownst to us was operating under an invalid medical license...
I am now 23. Graduated from college, 3.85 GPA, hold a full time job, live on my own. Completely fine. But I just don't know what I need to disclose... I've been told by some that I don't even need to mention bipolar, since I did not technically have it. Some say say both, bring all the evidence with proving my point... I don't know what to do.
To further compound my fears, I made a dumb mistake about a year ago and went for an FAA 2nd class certificate (Was thinking airlines at the time), and in that process I supplied them with my entire medical history, leading me to a special issuance certificate instead of a normal one (I had to prove to them through a psych that I was fine now) My fear is not mentioning the bipolar misdiagnosis, then it randomly showing up somewhere in my future recruitment process due to it being on record with the FAA.
I really don't know what to do... this situation feels like there is no obvious solution. I have nothing to hide, but I know how bureaucracy can be. I certainly don't want to lie about my past, but how much is saying unnecessary information that will only hurt my chances of getting in? I'm afraid that going in and trying to tell the full story above will just lead to an automatic waiver rejection, as the guys at medical simply don't have the time to care or something. I don't know. Any personal experiences involving this stuff or opinions on what I should or should not do would be really appreciated. I'm not even sure I understand the rules in what I have to disclose, so any clarification of that would be helpful as well.
Thanks guys.
- To clarify, the most recent evaluation I have of myself is the FAA psych, who wrote a huge report (Citing all my other reports from my various doctors) saying that I was entirely fine, and probably had childhood depression related to parent divorce, at the most. This was done last year (age 22). Everything else I have is from when I was 15 or younger.
I don't usually post, but I'm in such a quagmire that I need some solid input on what to do. My first MEPS visit is in a week, and I'm struggling with my past medical history, and what I need to put on the sheet (Or what I should put)
My basic situation is this... When I was 8 or so, my parents divorced and I was taken to a doctor after acting out in school (In second grade). They said I had depression, so they medicated me. I took anti-depressants until I was 15. The medicine didn't change the way I was behaving, so in the ever ready quest to find out what was wrong with me, one psych diagnosed me with BIPOLAR DISORDER. I took medicine for that until I was 15 too. When I turned 15, we started to wonder why the hell I was taking all this medication, and had some evaluations done, including some fancy brain scans and other actual tests. The conclusion was pretty unanimous, that I never had bipolar... nothing even near it. I stopped taking meds immediately, as well as depression meds (that diagnosis still stood), and I have not taken any medicine since. Further investigation has revealed the doctor that diagnosed me with bipolar himself had bipolar... and at the time unbeknownst to us was operating under an invalid medical license...
I am now 23. Graduated from college, 3.85 GPA, hold a full time job, live on my own. Completely fine. But I just don't know what I need to disclose... I've been told by some that I don't even need to mention bipolar, since I did not technically have it. Some say say both, bring all the evidence with proving my point... I don't know what to do.
To further compound my fears, I made a dumb mistake about a year ago and went for an FAA 2nd class certificate (Was thinking airlines at the time), and in that process I supplied them with my entire medical history, leading me to a special issuance certificate instead of a normal one (I had to prove to them through a psych that I was fine now) My fear is not mentioning the bipolar misdiagnosis, then it randomly showing up somewhere in my future recruitment process due to it being on record with the FAA.
I really don't know what to do... this situation feels like there is no obvious solution. I have nothing to hide, but I know how bureaucracy can be. I certainly don't want to lie about my past, but how much is saying unnecessary information that will only hurt my chances of getting in? I'm afraid that going in and trying to tell the full story above will just lead to an automatic waiver rejection, as the guys at medical simply don't have the time to care or something. I don't know. Any personal experiences involving this stuff or opinions on what I should or should not do would be really appreciated. I'm not even sure I understand the rules in what I have to disclose, so any clarification of that would be helpful as well.
Thanks guys.
- To clarify, the most recent evaluation I have of myself is the FAA psych, who wrote a huge report (Citing all my other reports from my various doctors) saying that I was entirely fine, and probably had childhood depression related to parent divorce, at the most. This was done last year (age 22). Everything else I have is from when I was 15 or younger.
exNavyOffRec
Well-Known Member
first, whatever the FAA said or did doesn't matter, N3M makes their own calls.
you must disclose, you were diagnosed, whether a doc later on disagreed is a moot point.
if you fail to disclose and later a mention is made of it then it will be considered fraudulent enlistment and you will be booted.
be prepared for a psych consult or two, it may take a while to get cleared.
exNavyOffRec
Well-Known Member
you should have submitted these documents earlier, if you haven't and you are scheduled for MEPS then something is not right, you have to fill out medical paperwork prior to being scheduled for MEPS, the psych documents need to be given to your recruiter and they will be sent to MEPS for a prescreen, then MEPS will tell you what else you need.
I might be just confused on the process. I haven't scheduled my MEPS visit yet, I just intended to schedule it tomorrow for sometime late this week or next week, this is what my recruiter told me to do. I have the prescreen paperwork, and have filled out most of the pages that I need to bring with, barring the issues I've raised here. But other than that, I'm not sure what else I need to do. Maybe the call tomorrow will enlighten me.
Do I have much of a chance at getting a waiver? Or is it simply unknown?