New Member - Topic: Getting off Mirapex so I can fly

[rpering]

Hi Everyone,
I am a 74 Year old male who used to fly a light plane 45 years ago before kids came and took all the available cash. So I am trying to find out if I can still qualify for a medical certificate. I took the medical exam and ran into a Mirapex deal breaker. I was told that the FAA would not accept Mirapex or any of the other similar medications. So soon I will receive a letter rejecting my application for that and perhaps a few other reasons. The medical examiner said to just stop taking the Mirapex! Easier said than done. I have been taking 0.5 mg of Mirapex 3 times a day for 10 or more years (I can't remember when I started exactly) and am having some augmentation - not serious at this point but slowly increasing. So my first question is does anybody know of medication for RLS that is acceptable to the FAA? Perhaps too much to hope for? I'll look into trying Lyrica (pregabalin) mentioned in a recent RLS publication. Next month I do have an appointment with the sleep study folks to help in getting off of Mirapex but I'd like to start sooner if there is a way to do that. I've just started looking through these posts so perhaps I'll find something here already or if anyone can point me to an existing post on this topic I would appreciate it. Thanks for this group! RLS (WED) is such a serious, under recognized problem it needs all the help it can get. Regards, Richard

[ViewsAskew]

Hi Richard - I haven't a clue about the medication they accept - but my guess is that none of the ones we take are.

Per the augmentation, it's both hard to stop pramipexole (Mirapex in the US) and you usually have to use an opioid to do it. Most of us cannot tough it out. When you stop the pramipexole, your symptoms will increase. This lasts from a few days to a few weeks. I tried to stop without an opioid three times. I never lasted past day 5.

If you use an opioid, you should be relatively clear of the excess symptoms in a few weeks and can tell what your level of symptoms are. Then you can find a replacement. First issue is that not everything works for everyone. Pregabalin and its sister drugs, gabapentin and gabapentin encarbil, are unlikely to be on the list because they come from the anti-seizure drug category, just as pramipexole and simlar drugs come from the Parkinson's category.

I did just find this like online:

http://www.leftseat.com/medcat1.htm

Their list of approved drugs for WED/RLS is so outdated it's laughable. The good news is that you might get approved with Sinemet. The bad news is that it causes augmentation in almost everyone who takes it and you'd never be able to take it daily. You could take something else, potentially, and only use this when you were going to fly, but I doubt they work that way.

[Joanie60]

Ha Ann! Brilliant minds think alike, I was going to suggest leftseat.com. I believe you can "hire" them to help walk you through a medical exception. Richard~ are the requirements for a sports pilot as stringent? I seem to remember they are not. Our son is a pilot and I remember taking him to his first medical when he was 16 and he put on the form that he took "Zyrtec" for allergies. The examiner quickly said: I think you mean you are switching to Claritin!! That was actually true, as his mom (me) was too cheap to pay for Zyrtec and he had been taking generic Claritin for some time. Who would have thought that Zyrtec is disallowed by the FAA????? Well, he never took Zyrtec again, that is for sure. Not going to louse up his medical over silly antihistamines.

If you have not already contacted them (leftseat.com), it is probably worth a shot. Here is what their web site says about medical rejection letters:

[i] I received a rejection letter from the FAA. Is it still possible for me to get a medical certificate?
A Yes! Often it is just a matter of submitting the correct information through the proper channels.
Once you have been denied you basically have two options:
(1) Provide sufficient evidence which indicates you do not have a disqualifying medical condition.
(2) Apply for a waiver (Special Issuance medical certification).

EITHER WAY PILOT MEDICAL SOLUTIONS CAN HELP![/i]

I am not advertising for them, we do not have any experience with them, but it is probably worth a phone call. Best of luck, there is no greater thrill than flying (except maybe jumping )

Joanie

[Joanie60]

I asked my son this weekend about medical certificates for "sport plane" and he believes you would not need a medical for this type of plane. Here is an article on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light-sport_aircraft

[badnights]

I let my private license lapse in my pre-WED days because I wasn't flying (like you, I was childing), but I;m sure I;ll never get it back now. My GP refused to sign me off on a chaffeur-level driving license! (Allowed a regular one, thank god). So I;m hooped if I ever want to fly again. I have other things I grieve about more, to distract me from that grief.

Good luck getting it through.

I think the big concern was with the opioid - I take hydromorph contin - but the zopiclone (sleep med) may also have influenced her decision.