Anxiety Diagnosis?

B

Bikepacker

Active Member
Recently, I had and MRI done of my head due to some eye issues. The eye issues have since been cleared up, but the MRI led me down a rabbit hole of sorts. It led to me visiting a neurologist who ordered a cognitive test. When I received the report from the test, it showed no cognitive problems and I scored normal or above normal in all areas. But in the final summary of the report they mention me having mild anxiety. No medications were prescribed. Is this a diagnosis? Do I need to report it on my next visit to my AME?
 
Bikepacker said:
Recently, I had and MRI done of my head due to some eye issues. The eye issues have since been cleared up, but the MRI led me down a rabbit hole of sorts. It led to me visiting a neurologist who ordered a cognitive test. When I received the report from the test, it showed no cognitive problems and I scored normal or above normal in all areas. But in the final summary of the report they mention me having mild anxiety. No medications were prescribed. Is this a diagnosis? Do I need to report it on my next visit to my AME?
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Anxiety and depression are the two most common types of mental disorders.

I am no doctor, but working in the psych field I see both a lot. If prescribed medicine is necessary in order to treat your anxiety, I'd contact the FAA/med examiner, to see if it's approved or not.

Otherwise if it's a pretty mild case, look into talking to a licensed professional, about non-drug alternatives like learning coping skills in order to manage your anxiety.
 
Maximillian_Jenius said:
Anxiety and depression are the two most common types of mental disorders.

I am no doctor, but working in the psych field I see both a lot. If prescribed medicine is necessary in order to treat your anxiety, I'd contact the FAA/med examiner, to see if it's approved or not.

Otherwise if it's a pretty mild case, look into talking to a licensed professional, about non-drug alternatives like learning coping skills in order to manage your anxiety.
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Understand that any and all visits to health care professionals are supposed to be reported on your medical too...

Our industry is kind of messed up in that way
 
Don't make this more difficult than it needs to be. Terms like anxiety get thrown around a lot without the correct context. Good grief if every soldier coming out of the military actually had PTSD or anxiety we would be in a lot of trouble. Having some minor environmental concerns about paying the bills or an upcoming test does not mean you need psychiatric help or meds or are in any way a safety concern. Mild anxiety can be just a simple temporary issue related to a simple minor concern. This is completely normal emotional response and every single person deals with this regularly.

What you want to do is look at the specific guidance from the FAA to medical examiners. I've included the specific link below.
https://www.faa.gov/about/office_or...m/ame/guide/app_process/exam_tech/item47/amd/

What the FAA specifically says is;
Decision Considerations - Aerospace Medical Dispositions
Item 47. Psychiatric Conditions - General Considerations
It must be pointed out that considerations for safety, which in the mental area are related to a compromise of judgment and emotional control or to diminished mental capacity with loss of behavioral control, are not the same as concerns for emotional health in everyday life. Some problems may have only a slight impact on an individual's overall capacities and the quality of life but may nevertheless have a great impact on safety. Conversely, many emotional problems that are of therapeutic and clinical concern have no impact on safety.

Further they list out the specific examples they are concerned about.
https://www.faa.gov/about/office_or...guide/app_process/exam_tech/item47/amd/table/

We don't have the full story but based on what you have told us this sounds like a non issue. Certainly report it to your AME but if you present it the wrong way you could be looking at a extended period of review with very expensive tests to confirm to the FAA you are not a concern or an out right denial.

If you have never seen a doctor for anxiety or been medicated for it then you likely don't need to worry about this. Don't make a mountain out of a mole hill.
 
Bikepacker said:
Recently, I had and MRI done of my head due to some eye issues. The eye issues have since been cleared up, but the MRI led me down a rabbit hole of sorts. It led to me visiting a neurologist who ordered a cognitive test. When I received the report from the test, it showed no cognitive problems and I scored normal or above normal in all areas. But in the final summary of the report they mention me having mild anxiety. No medications were prescribed. Is this a diagnosis? Do I need to report it on my next visit to my AME?
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The best advice I can give you is to contact Dr. Bruce Chien and get his input. He knows his stuff and is very reasonable. He will be able to guide you down the best path to getting cleared.
 
Yeah, no. That's a rabbit hole you don't want to go down. He is over kill for what you need. Go talk to a local AME first then if you get denied look into someone like Bruce Chien. There are other options out there.

Don't make this a mountain because it isn't. Just because someone wrote something down on a piece of paper doesn't mean it's true or needs to ruin your career before it starts.
 
Yes, it's exactly the path he needs to go down. If the neurologist threw an anxiety diagnosis code on him, the FAA can find it with about three clicks of the mouse. If he doesn't report it on his next medical application THEN he could be in a much worse situation than if he gives Dr. Chien a call and gets some very worthwhile advice. Talking to a local AME who doesn't know how to deal with these issues is probably the worst thing he can do because then Dr. Chien may have to try to undo something which shouldn't have been done in the first place. That may end up being VERY time consuming and expensive for the OP.

I agree with you that it probably isn't a big deal, but the best chance the OP has of keeping it in its proper perspective is to handle it correctly in the first place.
 
I never said he should not report it. In point of fact I specificly said he should report it, to his AME. He does not, from what he posted above, have an official diagnoses of Anxiety.

Dr. Chien is for hard cases and is overkill. This kid has had someone write it down one time as an after thought. He says he has never seen a doctor for it and has never been medicated for it. That means it does not fall under the items for disqualification. You'd know that if you took the time to review the actual guidance for FAA medical examiners I posted above.

Dr. Chien is going to demand he get a full psychological work up and spend 6 months under a doctors care before even applying for a medical.

OP find a good local AME go down and chat with him/her and tell him/her the full story. Do not apply for an official medical exam until you do. You can probably do this over the phone. It will save you a lot of grief and actual anxiety over what is probably nothing. I bet the AME says it's a non issue and will tell you he would have no problem approving a medical on the spot. If you go to Dr. Chien you're in for a world of hurt and ridiculousness.

You had a scary medical issue that turned out to be nothing, righ? You had MILD anxiety because you went through a serious batch of tests that ended up being nothing. ANYONE would have anxiety during that.
 
After looking at my paperwork from the docs, it actually has a diagnosis code for Anxiety on there. So I will report it on my application, but I will consult with my local AME before doing so. Hopefully it will go nowhere, but I believe it does need to be reported. I have a good relationship with my local AME.
 
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