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Currently have a third class medical. Got prescribed accutane and now taking it for the next 6 months. What, if anything, do I need to do to stay legal?
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Accutane
- Thread starter Unregistered
- Start date
This is what the FAA web site says concerning issuance of medicals when taking Accutane; though it doesn't appear to directly answer your question:
http://www.faa.gov/about/office_org/headquarters_offices/avs/offices/aam/ame/guide/pharm/acne/
I don't know what is legal, but if I didn't have a place like this to ask and were I in your position I'd not fly at night. And I'd make sure I had been off it a few weeks or months before my next medical. Self-grounding because of depression is one of those things that would ideally happen regardless of the cause of depression. I wouldn't go see a psychiatrist or other mental health specialist just because I was taking it. That would be asking for trouble, I think.
If the Accutane doesn't affect your mood (which is the most probable thing; out of well over 5 million users of Accutane, I believe less than 40 suicides have claimed to be "linked" to Accutane with other cases of serious depression worth reporting of a few hundred,) I'm not sure why you'd see anyone to confirm what you already know about your mental state.
(Suicide rate for the general U.S. population is roughly 12 in 100,000. The number I've seen "linked" to Accutane use would appear to be under 1 in 100,000. However, the largest probable users of Accutane would likely be among the age group with the lowest suicide rate. Still, I suspect the only reason the FAA would consider the psychiatric issue at all is because someone taking Accutane did once fly a plane into a building.)
http://www.faa.gov/about/office_org/headquarters_offices/avs/offices/aam/ame/guide/pharm/acne/
I don't know what is legal, but if I didn't have a place like this to ask and were I in your position I'd not fly at night. And I'd make sure I had been off it a few weeks or months before my next medical. Self-grounding because of depression is one of those things that would ideally happen regardless of the cause of depression. I wouldn't go see a psychiatrist or other mental health specialist just because I was taking it. That would be asking for trouble, I think.
If the Accutane doesn't affect your mood (which is the most probable thing; out of well over 5 million users of Accutane, I believe less than 40 suicides have claimed to be "linked" to Accutane with other cases of serious depression worth reporting of a few hundred,) I'm not sure why you'd see anyone to confirm what you already know about your mental state.
(Suicide rate for the general U.S. population is roughly 12 in 100,000. The number I've seen "linked" to Accutane use would appear to be under 1 in 100,000. However, the largest probable users of Accutane would likely be among the age group with the lowest suicide rate. Still, I suspect the only reason the FAA would consider the psychiatric issue at all is because someone taking Accutane did once fly a plane into a building.)