Well, I can speak from experience with the Crohns Disease thing. Was
diagnosed with this 5 years ago. I started learning to fly about 2
years ago and went for my medical... At this time I was uncertain what
would happen. Well, I listed Crohns Disease and the associated
medications: Asacol, Imuran and Remicade. Of course, the medical was
sent to OKC and I was surprised. What happened from there was a
request from OKC to get a letter from my attending physician stating a
prognosis and treatment plan. That is all it took for them to issue
my 3rd Class Medical. On my medical it does say "Not valid for any
other class after 2006." Not exactly sure what that means, but since
I was never denied a medical, I can still switch to sport pilot if I
choose. At least that is the interpretation from a few people I have
spoken with.


As for the Crhons Diagnosis, like you I went through a series of tests
including many of the same you mention.. and then some. All of these
were inconclusive in my opinion, but the attending physician did make
the diagnosis of CD. I was still not believing it.... My sister, also
a CD and UC patient, is a nurse for a IBD clinic and mentioned an easy
accurate blood test for a definite diagnosis. It is a lab located in
San Diego called Promethius Labs. They have a test which is 99.9%
accurate in the determination of CD and UC. If you still question the
diagnosis, it is a worthwhile test and will answer that question with
near 100% certainty.

Here is a link to their website:
http://www.prometheuslabs.com

Good Luck and feel free to contact me if you need further information
or have additional questions.



Mike Alexander
PP-ASEL
Temecula, CA
See my online aerial photo album at
http://flying.4alexanders.com