My 23 year old son is planning to join the Navy in exchange for the Navy paying for Dental School.

While he was getting his medical review the group was asked if any of them had asthma.

When my son was 11 to 14 years old he had exercise induced asthma event that happened only on cold days. That is the only time he ever used an inhaler.

After 14 he stopped needing the albuterol. He continued to play elite soccer all of the way into college and is

Going back to the blanket question to the group my son reflected about that time and raised his hand. He was asked to provide all medical records and he did. If further conversation with his contact he was told that since it was exercised induced asthma in his youth and he had not used a inhaler in a long time he would be fine.

Well today he received a disqualification note from MEPS in Dallas because of asthma. What is the most effective way to challenge this? It is not a correct diagnosis? I am sure there is a waiver process but I am looking for good counsel to help guide my son.

Per the Navy's Manual of the Medical Department, Ch 15, section on physical standards for enlistment/commissioning:

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(4) Current or history of 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 any of the following clements: substantiated history of cough, wheeze, chest tightness andlor dyspnea which persists or recurs over a prolonged period oftime, generally more than 12 months.

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You'd likely need to work with his recruiter as well as take him to a pulmonologist and get special testing done. Possibly something called a methacholine challence, where they have you breathe in something that would induce an asthma attack if someone had asthma. Or maybe the pulmonologist may evaluate him and be like "this is stupid, he's good to go," and write him a letter indicating such. See if you can find a pulmonologist, or at least an internist, that was in the military previously.

He can also make the case that he'll be dental corps, there's pretty low risk of him being forward deployed where he's going to have to go weeks without a resupply of albuterol (which he doesn't really even need).

Thank you for your response. I have a critical care pulmonologist that I can send him to in Dallas to get a work up.

When my son was playing soccer he had problems on cold mornings for about two years. Only used albuterol on those moments. He played basketball in elementary school and never needed it.

What we were told as parents was that 50% of kids have exercise induced asthma and they end up outgrowing it. By 14 he never needed it again. He played college soccer. Can run 10 mile. Hiked 90 plus miles through mountains in Philemont. Runs 3 miles under 20 mins..

If we had known this was going to be a problem we would never had asked for albuterol from the pediatrician. As parents we wanted to make sure we were being safe at such a young age.

Make sure it is a disqualification by BUMED, not the local MEPS station.

bufrilla said:

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Make sure it is a disqualification by BUMED, not the local MEPS station.

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It was a letter from MEPS in Dallas.

Did this not come up during initial screening? This conversation should have already been had before MEPS. Something is amiss. Asthma, mental meds, and back issues were automatic disqualification in my time. My recruiter's assistance experience is almost 30 years old so I don't know how things are currently handled. That said, waivers were given for just about everything. Contact your Congressman if you don't get relief.

It probably didn't come up when my son approached the recruiter. Son as I mentioned was a collegiate soccer player, extremely fit and probably didn't remember the time he used an inhaler between the age of 11 to 13. Only on those cold mornings and dry air did albuterol benefit him. Just as the pediatrician predicted by the time he reached 14 he out grew the need. It was only giving as needed. He just naturally weened off of it.

While at MEPS the person asked the group about using inhalers in their youth. Son remembered then then that yea he used one at some point and raised his hand. He was promptly given a form to fill out.

As mentioned above if you were not using after age 13 you are fine. Son's last prescription was when he was 14 but never used it.

I wished someone back then would have mentioned that if you take Albuterol it could be grounds for not getting into military. All we were trying to do is make sure there was a safety net on those cold mornings playing soccer.

There is a waiver process. Ensure he is following directions on that. Getting a waiver isn't a career killer, I came in under two of them. One of them required being monitored by a doctor of my choice and having their recommendation, the other I came back the next week to MEPS to meet with a specialist. While it added an extra week to clearing MEPS, it didnt delay my OCS date at all.

Pro Sandy said:

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There is a waiver process. Ensure he is following directions on that. Getting a waiver isn't a career killer, I came in under two of them. One of them required being monitored by a doctor of my choice and having their recommendation, the other I came back the next week to MEPS to meet with a specialist. While it added an extra week to clearing MEPS, it didnt delay my OCS date at all.

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I will relay that message to him!