Help: need med info for a story

[Tony]

I need a medical reason for someone to fail their 3rd class physical. A
character in my story is needing to be rejected for medical reasons,
but whatever is the reason it should not interfer with normal life.
Does a childhood history of epilepsy with no adult events lead to a
medical failure? What else might?

Thanks

[Capt. Geoffry Thorpe]

Lots of medications: Antidepresents, Ritilan
Recurring Kidney Stones

--
Geoff
the sea hawk at wow way d0t com
remove spaces and make the obvious substitutions to reply by mail
Spell checking is left as an excercise for the reader.

"Tony" > wrote in message
oups.com...
>I need a medical reason for someone to fail their 3rd class physical. A
> character in my story is needing to be rejected for medical reasons,
> but whatever is the reason it should not interfer with normal life.
> Does a childhood history of epilepsy with no adult events lead to a
> medical failure? What else might?
>
> Thanks
>

[Jimbob]

How about a course of Zyban (Wellbutrin) for stopping smoking?


On 17 Aug 2005 15:40:08 -0700, "Tony" > wrote:

>I need a medical reason for someone to fail their 3rd class physical. A
>character in my story is needing to be rejected for medical reasons,
>but whatever is the reason it should not interfer with normal life.
>Does a childhood history of epilepsy with no adult events lead to a
>medical failure? What else might?
>
>Thanks

Jim

http://www.unconventional-wisdom.org

[George Patterson]

Tony wrote:
> I need a medical reason for someone to fail their 3rd class physical. A
> character in my story is needing to be rejected for medical reasons,
> but whatever is the reason it should not interfer with normal life.
> Does a childhood history of epilepsy with no adult events lead to a
> medical failure? What else might?

A history of mental treatment might. In the mid 60s it became something of a
status symbol to have a teenager in an institution. Depending on the age of the
character, that might work for you.

A history of certain criminal activities (mainly related to drugs) is another
item that will cause at least a delay.

Even such a thing as a DWI within the last few years will cause a delay.

I think you will find, however, that there are very few things that will cause
an outright rejection while allowing the applicant to lead a normal life without
medication. On the other hand, there are *many* that will cause a temporary
denial and possibly expensive tests. If that would be sufficient for your plot,
here's one.

The applicant is in his late 30s. He fell out of a tree at age 6 and was
unconscious for 3 days. No medical records exist of this, but he (stupidly,
perhaps) reported it on his application. He also was diagnosed as being
hypoglycemic as a teenager. This caused him to fail his military pre-induction
physical exam, so he really has to report that, even though several tests as an
adult show that the condition no longer exists.

The FAA first requests a full glucose tolerance test, which turns out normal.
Next, they want doctor's records of the tree incident. When told they no longer
exist, they demand an oral examination by a physchiatrist. Once the results of
that are submitted, they ask for a physchological exam, complete with Rorschach
blots. Once that is submitted, they want a different phsyciatric test. The last
test is so old and obsolete that no-one can be found who knows what it is -
Oklahoma City must be contacted to explain what they want.

At each stage in this procedure, the FAA asks for exactly one test. After each
one, the applicant receives a letter which starts "We cannot approve your
application at this time", followed by a request for the next test.

Each test runs from a one to seven hundred dollars. Evaluation of each test by
the FAA takes about 4 months. Your character might simply give up part way through.

You might also check into "benign positional vertigo." That can be caused by a
sudden head movement, such as would occur if you were rear-ended while driving.
That's another item which would result in this back-and-forth request for tests
followed by submission, followed by a request for additional tests, long after
any symptoms have disappeared.

George Patterson
Give a person a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a person to
use the Internet and he won't bother you for weeks.

[Morgans]

"Tony" > wrote in message
oups.com...
> I need a medical reason for someone to fail their 3rd class physical. A
> character in my story is needing to be rejected for medical reasons,
> but whatever is the reason it should not interfer with normal life.
> Does a childhood history of epilepsy with no adult events lead to a
> medical failure? What else might?

Takes medicine for anxiety, or one of many conditions that would fit well
into your character.

History of occasional kidney stones will do it, also, I believe.
--
Jim in NC

[Tony]

Thanks, everyone. Maybe next year you'll recognize your suggestions in
a best seller (don't I wish!).