Asthma and military

Specialties Government

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I was just wondering if anyone knows of any nurses in the navy or air force with asthma. I emailed a recruiter and they said to contact a recruiter and I have heard waivers are given. I have never had an asthma attack and I wasn't diagnosed until 2 years ago. Just wondering if anyone has any info on this.

Specializes in Med/Surg, APU/PACU, Peds, Flight.

The first thing every recruiter has ever asked me if I was diagnosed with asthma ever. And everyone who I know who is in the military says never utter the word asthma in front of a recruiter. So from what I have gathered is asthma + military = bad.

Yea, I don't know what to do. Some places say you can get a waiver, others you can't. Plus I don't know if it is different for nurses vs actual combat soldiers. I will definitely be honest about this, but I hope it doesn't ruin my chances. I wish I hadn't sought medical attention for it, I could have lived with the symptoms and I'd be in the clear.

Specializes in Anesthesia.
I was just wondering if anyone knows of any nurses in the navy or air force with asthma. I emailed a recruiter and they said to contact a recruiter and I have heard waivers are given. I have never had an asthma attack and I wasn't diagnosed until 2 years ago. Just wondering if anyone has any info on this.

Out of curiosity, how were you diagnosed with asthma if you never had an attack? Were you diagnosed by PFT or was it just by subjective diagnosis?

A lot of people get waivers for asthma most them are d/t childhood asthma that hasn't been symptomatic since they were young children. Some medical professionals get in with a diagnosis of asthma, but it is usually well controlled that rarely if ever presents a problem, and you will still probably would have to have a recent PFT.

I worked with someone in the military who had asthma. I doubt that she mentioned it during her enlistment physical.

Who diagnosed you? How bad are you? Can you go to a pulmonologist and see if he disagrees????

Asthma is not a pretty word.

Specializes in Pain mgmt, PCU.

My daughter was dx in Jr hi. when she grad from HS she had to redo her asthma test cause she was over 13 since she had her last episode. She had a very mild case. She was then put on a 6 mos wait list to see if anything happened during that time. If she had not revealed she had asthma on admission and something had occurred, she would have an immediate dishonorable discharge. Not worth it to me...

Specializes in Anesthesia.
My daughter was dx in Jr hi. when she grad from HS she had to redo her asthma test cause she was over 13 since she had her last episode. She had a very mild case. She was then put on a 6 mos wait list to see if anything happened during that time. If she had not revealed she had asthma on admission and something had occurred, she would have an immediate dishonorable discharge. Not worth it to me...

I have seen several enlisted members get caught in this same predictament, and for the most part nothing happened to them. Military courts are just red tape stricken as any other court, and you can't just be thrown out of the military with dishonorable discharge on a whim....I am not saying it can't happen, but it is much more likely for an enlisted member to get entry level separation for something like that. The paperwork is lot simpler for one thing, and one is an administrative discharge where the other is pretty a criminal charge which is very hard to prove.

The one commissioned officer that I know of that lied about their ADHD and was taking Adderol only got letter of counseling by the commander. I am not advocating lying, but things are often blown out of proportion from people who don't deal with this on a regular basis.

Now for the OPs original dilemma, if your asthma was based on a one time event w/o PFT, I wouldn't consider it a true diagnosis of asthma. Asthma for military purposes should only be diagnosed w/ pulmonary function testing.

Specializes in critical care: trauma/oncology/burns.

E1.9 LUNGS, CHEST WALL,PLEURA, AND MEDIASTINUM

E1.9.1 Current abnormal elevation of the diaphragm (either side) is disqualifying. Any nonspecific abnormal findings on radiological and other examination of body structure, such as lung field (793.1), or other thoracic or abdominal organ (793.3) is disqualifying.

E1.9.2. Current abscess of the lung or mediastinum (513) is disqualifying.

E1.9.3. Current or history of acute infectious processes of the lung, including but not limited to viral pneumonia (480), pneumococcal pneumonia (481), bacterial pneumonia (482), pneumonia other specified (483), pneumonia infectious disease specified elsewhere (484), bronchopneumonia organism unspecified (485), pneumonia organism unspecified (486), are disqualifying until cured.

E1.9.4. Asthma (493), including reactive airway disease, exercise-induced bronchospasm or asthmatic bronchitis, reliably diagnosed and symptomatic after the 13th birthday is disqualifying. Reliable diagnostic criteria may include may include any of the following elements: Substantiated history of cough, wheeze, chest tightness and/or dyspnea which persists or recurs over a prolonged period of time, generally more than 12 months.

Hmm..yea I wouldn't hide it, I guess even if it means not getting into the military. It was "diagnosed" when I c/o feeling breathless when I woke up in the am (I think it was more due to the old carpet in my room and my cats). It went away at college. Last year I went to the dr and she said something about "my asthma" and I was shocked because no one had ever told me that before. So I don't know how reliable of a diagnosis it is. I did take singulair for awhile.

Specializes in Anesthesia.
Hmm..yea I wouldn't hide it, I guess even if it means not getting into the military. It was "diagnosed" when I c/o feeling breathless when I woke up in the am (I think it was more due to the old carpet in my room and my cats). It went away at college. Last year I went to the dr and she said something about "my asthma" and I was shocked because no one had ever told me that before. So I don't know how reliable of a diagnosis it is. I did take singulair for awhile.

That is a subjective diagnosis, if you are serious about getting in the military I would go to another doctor and ask for a PFT to r/o asthma.

Specializes in ER/Critical Care.

futurern123

if you truly have allergy based asthma the allergans would be identified on the result of skin tests. What were your pft's...have you been on po/inhaled steroids to control symptoms???? Do you use a rescue inhaler.....? Do you have symptoms more frequently during one time of the year than others???? Is your Dr. a GP????? do you see a specialist who can give you a definitive dx. of asthma?

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