Im getting off my OCD medicine in a few weeks and wanted to know how long I should wait til i should consult a aviation medical examiner, any advice on which aviation medical examiner I should consult?
$\begingroup$
$\endgroup$
Add a comment
|
1 Answer
$\begingroup$
$\endgroup$
Timing probably matters very little as far as talking to the AME. He'll need to consider not just the medication you aren't on any longer (and he can tell you what timeframe has been "long enough" there), but also the nature of your condition without the medication. The time needed to evaluate how you're doing without the medication is probably longer than the timeframe required to "have the medicine out of your system before you go fly."
In cases like cold medicine, the latter is some multiple of the dose interval, and it's pretty clear that the initial condition (the cold) is gone & won't cause you any further problems. I am not an AME, but my expectation would be that OCD is enough different that the timeframe will be much longer.
It will take an AME to tell you what the path from where you are to where you want to be (having your medical issued) looks like and how long it will take. There are too many variables in these sorts of things for much of a "one size fits all" answer.
As far as which AME, I'd suggest calling a few in your area & asking if they have experience with patients with OCD, and if not, whom they'd recommend. It may take a bit of research, but it should be possible to find one who had done this before. Ideally, "local" is better than far distant, although if may be possible for the right AME, even if he's some distance away, to work with your local doctor to gather what's needed so he can send it to the FAA & get approval, so you might only need 1 in-person visit with him. I'd definitely want somebody familiar with more than the routine "check eyes & BP and sign the paperwork" procedures!
answered Jul 24, 2017 at 23:20