Warbird Information Exchange

Hi all,

I am sure this will spark some controversy... if it gets out of hand, I will pull it myself... but I wanted to know what some of your thoughts are as I read a story in this AM's news.

First, I read the story located at: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/O/ ... TE=DEFAULT

Basically it's the story of the death of Vicki Van Meter... a girl not much younger than I am. She committed suicide and was said to have suffered from depression.

She was a girl who, in her youth, broke some flying records for being the youngest to fly (with an instructor) on various long-distance flights. Now, this isn't a debate about the validity of such "records" with the tragedy of jessica DuBroff still in many of our minds. I merely brought it in because aviation played a significant role in her life.

The article states that she opposed medication for her depression... no doubt due in part to the fact that the FAA will rarely approve medical certificates for people taking anti-depressants.

With all the clinical data that's now out there that positively supports depression treatment with medications, why hasn't the FAA revisited this issue?

What troubles me is the amount of pilots that are potentially suffering from depression but will not seek treatment or disclose it due to the ramifications to their career. Surely this is an issue with the amount of stress the industry has placed on pilots in recent years... pensions being taken away, increased work hours, pay cuts, cuts in benefits, layoffs, furloughs... the list goes on and on.

So what happens? Pilots go untreated to save their jobs and suffer with it, or self-medicate with alcohol... both alternatives that I would say are far worse than putting someone on a mild anti-depressant.

It gets to me because I have seen a lot of former classmates of mine "just give up" on aviation because of this issue... and others who are "sticking it out" in the hope that they'll get better on their own or the circumstances get better.

Thoughts anyone?

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Ryan Keough
Stow, MA

I personally had to stop taking my medication to get my medical.

Ryan: SSRI's are very dangerous and often misused drugs. They induce al sorts of mind process alterations that the experts only understand a miniscule fraction of.

To put it bluntly, would you want a pilot flying around after taking a very powerful and sometimes unpredictable medication that was a close relative to LSD? There are hundreds of cases where people were prescribed drugs like Prozac, Halcyon, Wellbutrin et.al. and due to improper monitoring, they commited heineous crimes. A good example was a cop down in Houston a while back. Had some problems and was given Prozac. Within days was having some severe problems with the drug. Instead of carefull examination, his dosage was increased. Within a day or so, he was in the psych ward of a hospital. Within three more days he was released with a further increase in dosage. He went home got numerous weapons and went back to his station and promply shot it up and wounded something like 19 fellow officers because the voices told him to. Last I heard, he had been taken off of all SSRI's due to adverse reations to them.

We've become a society where we want an instant fix for every problem, and that includes our medical ones. If you look back, the sudden rise in alledged mental health problems came right after the discovery and patenting of LSD by EliLily. BTW...they sell something like $100 million a day worth of Prozac, and that's only one of about 10 major SSRI drugs on the market. This stuff is bad juju....I know as I live with the results of a doctor prescribing SSRI's in combination with some other medications that should have never been mixed. My wife has both brain and neurological damage due to this class of drugs. Could we have sued the doctor for malpractice? Sure, but how much money would it take to reverse the damage?????? There is nothing that a human can do to repair the damage he did, or get us back all of the time and experiences we have lost or had to forgo, or prevent the seizures that keep us from planning something more than a couple of hours in advance.

A good read on the subject, if one were so inclined, is "Toxic Psychiatry". I don't remember the author's name, but it is about the rise of and overuse of SSRI's and other mind altering drugs.

Remember Monaco's story....

Toxicology testing performed on the pilot revealed imipramine and carbamazepine in the pilot's urine and blood, and morphine in the pilot's urine. According to the pilot's medical and pharmacy records, he suffered from a severe neurological disorder, possibly a seizure disorder, which resulted in frequent, unpredictable episodes of debilitating pain. Additionally, approximately three months prior to the accident, the pilot was diagnosed with viral meningitis, and a severe skin infection with multiple abscesses on his extremities. The pilot had been prescribed imipramine, an antidepressant that has detrimental effects on driving skills and other cognitive functions. He had also been prescribed carbamazepine, typically used to control seizures or treat certain chronically painful conditions. Carbamazepine has measurable impairment of performance on a variety of psychomotor tests. Morphine, a prescription opiate painkiller, is also a metabolite of heroin and many prescription medications, such as codeine, used to control moderate pain. No indication was observed in the pilot's medical records that he was recently prescribed any opiates. Neither the pilot's medical condition, nor the medication he was routinely taking was reported on his application for an airman medical certificate.


The pilot’s most recent application for Airman Medical Certificate, dated 4/16/02, indicated "no" for item 17.a. "Do you currently use any medication." The application also indicated "no" for item 18.l. "Neurological disorders: epilepsy, seizures, stroke, paralysis, etc.," and "no" for item 19. "Visits to health professional within last 3 years."

_________________
"Hindsight is usually 20% off!"

On a personal note, I have been rated disabled by the VA with PTSD and have been on medication to help with that and teh anxiety attacks which disqualified me for flying.

It really sucks that I cannot obtain a license and to be honest with you, would rather stay on the ground and not pilot, instead of lying and not taking my meds and putting myself or others at risk of death.

My life and others around me are too precious to me to be an individual of questionable judgement and take the risk of killing myself or those around me.

The meds suck, I hate taking them, but if I don't pain, headaches, vomitting and nightmares return as soon as I stop taking them.

You would not know it if I was not meds just meeting me, but if I don't take them, I am not the same person that is for sure!

I hate to see people take risks, even though they love to fly and have a career, I am sure they can stop being selfish and find another job.

I take paroxetine (generic paxil) for mild anxiety and if I happen to miss a pill, sometimes late that evening or the next day I just don't feel like myself. I'm not a pilot and even if I were the last thing i'd want to be doing feeling like that is flying a plane. It would be hard to tell the difference but if you were to engage me in conversation I may be a bit grouchy because my head isn't all there.

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-Al Sauer
http://www.flickr.com/photos/spookythecat

Spooky,

I am the same way, if I do not take my Paxil, I get a terrible headache, my neck hurts, I get dizzy and I tend to vomit and get the shats really easy. I f'n hate taking pills everyday ( paxil is one of many ) but I would rather take them, then not, because oh, boy, I feel terrbile if I dont.

Wow. That sounds pretty rough. I guess with possible dosage differences and bodies our reactions are kinda different. Yours sound pretty extreme compared to mine.

_________________
-Al Sauer
http://www.flickr.com/photos/spookythecat