Disqualifing meds???

[Miles]

Hey, I am a navy nuke and was put on an anti-depressant.  Since I am at a non-nuke maintence shore duty my job isn't affected. Recently I told one of my nuke co-worker this and he told me that it might be nuclear field disqualifing.  If so, can I get off the meds and still be a nuke?  Anyone with knowledge on this subject, your help would greatly be appreciated.  Thanks!!

[Roll Tide]

You need to check with medical at your current station. They have the instructions for nukes, even if they don't use them routinely.

I do not know of any navy-issued meds that forever ban you from navy nuke.

[Wirebiter]

There are many that will disqualify you Submarines, if you are a sub Vol.  Definitely check with your corpsman or local command clinic.  Good Luck.

[alphacookie]

Hey, I am a navy nuke and was put on an anti-depressant.  Since I am at a non-nuke maintence shore duty my job isn't affected. Recently I told one of my nuke co-worker this and he told me that it might be nuclear field disqualifing.  If so, can I get off the meds and still be a nuke?  Anyone with knowledge on this subject, your help would greatly be appreciated.  Thanks!!

If you were put on an anti-depressant by a Navy doctor, then you are already DQ'ed nuke.  He should have filed the nuke disqualifying paperwork and explained this to you.  He should have also placed you on some type of light duty, unless your current job is already "non-operational".

If you did not go through the Navy system, then you better watch out.

While you are on anti-depressants, you are Navy nuke DQ'ed, period.  No subs and no surface nuke platforms.  Once off the anti-depressants and given the fit for duty clearance by your doctor, BUMED will require a year off the meds before they will even consider a waiver to let you back in to the Navy nuke field.

[Miles]

Thank you.  It was a Navy doctor who prescribed the meds.  He knew I was a nuke but still gave them to me.  I will have to ask him more about it at my next appointment.  Thank you for your advice.

[alphacookie]

Thank you.  It was a Navy doctor who prescribed the meds.  He knew I was a nuke but still gave them to me.  I will have to ask him more about it at my next appointment.  Thank you for your advice.

I do not know where you are stationed.  The reason I say this, is that the place where you are stationed may not have an Undersea Medical Officer(UMO) and/or a doctor familiar with surface nukes.  So, despite the fact that a Navy doctor prescribed the anti-depressants, if he was not a UMO or has not dealt with surface nukes, he may not know the rules associated with anti-depressants and being a Nuke.  This doctor's ignorance has de-nuked you without you or he knowing it.  The fact that you were prescribed anti-depressants and had some sort of condition that necessitated anti-depressants to be prescribed will get caught during your next sea screening or by your next sub's IDC and/or squadron UMO.

However, do not worry about any of this.  Take the meds and get better.   Once you are better, then worry about getting back into the Navy nuke field.

If it does not work out on the Navy side of the nuke world, come to the civilian nuke world.  There are more opportunities.

[baronbrady]

Alphacookie,
   You said to look out in case a civilian prescribed you the medication.  What did you mean by that?
Thanks!

I'll go ahead and post the next question under this topic:

What happens to the nuke who gets medication, if he's on a carrier?  I've got a buddy who just found out he's getting meds and he's pretty scared about the future.  Does he stay onboard?  Go to another ship?  Go to shore?

[s1wlightning@msn.com]

Really if you dig into it a lot I believe pretty much anything can disqualify you like pain killers and such, especially anti-depressants.  However, I don't think they disqualify you right away depending on the situation such as why your on them and also how long they anticipate you will be.  I do know that they should yank you TLD immediately or at least thats how it went on the carrier I was on.  I knew a guy on the ship that got Zyban under the pretense that it was for quiting smoking, but it also acts as an anti-depressant which is what it was originally made for and why he wanted to get it without getting his TLD pulled.  Not sure on the actually specifics but I believe it is any type of mind altering drug such as an anti-depressant.  There are a lot of different things that will get you DQ'ed but there is also a lot of ways around it and also a lot of different waivers in the Navy to begin with.

[alphacookie]

Alphacookie,
   You said to look out in case a civilian prescribed you the medication.  What did you mean by that?
Thanks!

If you are in the Navy, then you are required to go to the primary care provider assigned to you.  In 99% of the cases, that will be a military doctor.  If for some reason you are not near a military teatment facility, then you may be assigned a civilian doctor.  In any case, any treatment must go in your military medical record. 

I guess I was alluding to the case where some military members may "secretly" go under the radar to a non-military related doctor to avoid being disqualified from their field.  Pilots are known to do this quite a lot.

I'll go ahead and post the next question under this topic:

What happens to the nuke who gets medication, if he's on a carrier?  I've got a buddy who just found out he's getting meds and he's pretty scared about the future.  Does he stay onboard?  Go to another ship?  Go to shore?

It depends on the meds.  However, I do know for a fact, that antidepressants are nuke disqualifying(subs or surface nuke).  If you have enough time on your contract or enlistment and if treatment is successful, you MAY get a waiver, after one year of no meds, to get back into the nuke field. 

While on limited duty, you will not be allowed to do anything operational.  Being on meds does NOT mean you are on limited duty.  Although, most likely you will be at first.  There are tons of people in the Navy that are on antidepressants.  They just can not be a nuke or pilot.  They CAN go into combat.  Stupid, huh?

Hope this helps.