# My (ongoing) Adventure ....  re: asthma



## hopetobeasappersoon (13 Sep 2005)

Ok, this is my first post on here...

I am currently going through the recruitment process to join in the reg force as a Combat Engineer. I unfortunatly ran into a roadblock about one month ago. 1st, Lets start form the beginning. I enrolled last sping and did my cfat, medical, interview and PT test in june and did very well in all of them. Needless to say i was looking forward ot getting an answer back regarding my recruitment. I spent all summer in the gym, running a few times a week, basically getting myself in the best shape of my life for basic and all that stuff and then late august i get a letter from ottawa. Basically, it said that while looking through my medical records, they found that i have asthma. and that i was not suitable for regular( or reserve) Military duty. This was officially a kick in the you-kno-where! I was absolutatly shocked. Throughout all this time i had barely even thought of potentially getting rejected. Of course I made sure i had other options just incase but as far as i was concerned....it was only a matter of time. Especially because in my mind, my asmtha does not affect me anymore. i play sports and a regluar basis. I'm in far better shape than most ppl i know in the military, and i know for a fact that there are people in the forces with asthma. But ok, they have standards, i understand that. So i got in contact with my recruiting center. I was (luckily) able to challenge this with a couple medical tests; the Pulmonary function test and the Methacoline Challenge. 
But wait, here's the catch. To add to the situation, I'm currently living in Belgium (my father is in the CF and is stationed at the NATO Base here). So i go to do the tests and they tell me, ok, we can do the 1st on, but we dont have the Methacoline challenge in Belgium, We have a histamine CHallenge, which is harder (more sensative). So i did the tests. did great on  the 1st one. then went in a week later of rthe other one and it comes up as "mild" asmtha. Now my file is back in ottawa for review and i HOPE to find out my stauts in the next couple weeks. All i know now is that i have a chance at least. They're taking into account the fact that the test i did here is harder than what i would have done in Canada so it is a possibility that i would not have reacted to the Methacoline Challenge over there. WHO KNOWS what will happen for me at this point but the main thing i want to get across wiht this story is that for you guys who are applying and who might get this letter like this, Dont give up right away. my letter did not say to take these tests, sometimes you have to look into it a bit more. 
Anyways, as i wait my final descision, wish me luck! and if anyone else out there has a similar story, dont hesitate to share as im interested to hear of similar "adventures" through recruiting!

marc


----------



## dearryan (13 Sep 2005)

Marc,

First of all, welcome to the forums. Second, GOOD LUCK. 

I have a few questions for you. I was not aware the CF looks through your medical history, other than the medical they conduct. I have not had my medical yet so maybe I sign something then giving them permission. Is this true? Second I was concerned about my childhood history as I had a allergy to hay. The med perscribed was ventillen the same one as asthma patients get. I asked my doc (civi) if I have or had asthma and he promptly said "no". I have not had any incidents in about 15 years nor perscriptions.

How are these two tests done?

Fight it man!

Ryan


----------



## hopetobeasappersoon (13 Sep 2005)

Well I can answer a couple of things for you. 1st off, they dont look through all your med records. During your medical you fill out a thing with all your ailments and such (i.e. asthma, previous surgeries, heart condition etc...)I was totally honest on my whole medical (which maybe is my problem! haha) so if you tell them you have asthma they get you to have your asthma records sent from your family doc to them. same goes for allergies. You should be fine for allergies as thats a bigger problem for me than my "light asthma" and it never came up as an issue in the recruiting process. And if you only had to use ventolin for the hay allergy then you dont have asthma,you just have asthmatic reactions to allergies (im not trying to pretend to be a doctor, these are just things that doctors have told me in conversation with them recently) So on your questionaire, dont say yes to asthma, say yes to allergies. itshouldnyt be an issue as i had my allergy records sent, and i'm allergic to quite a few things and it wasnt a problem.

as for the 2 tests....

pulmonary function is simple. you have an apparatus thinger in yer mouth (similar to a bretaing thing divers use) thats connected to a computer to monitor it. You breath in as mucha s you can and then you breath out sharply as much air as you can. you do this 4 times. now if you come up as asthmatic on this then thats that, you have asthma and you dont take the second test. 

if u do fine on the 1st, then u take the methacoline challenge (or histamine challenge, depending on where you are) Basically the same as the 1st test, but they make u breath in various doses of methacoline, a certain histamine that only asthmatics are affected by. it starts small and then gets to be a bigger dose as you go.

anyways, hopefully this info has helped you Ryan, and others as well.

Marc


----------



## dearryan (13 Sep 2005)

ya thanks man,

Doesnt sound like it pertains to my situation. I just wanted to know the details of these two tests, as I have read other posts where applicants have had it done. All the best to you once agian. Is your ERC going to take a while due to being out of Canada while applying?

Ryan


----------



## kincanucks (14 Sep 2005)

dearryan said:
			
		

> ya thanks man,
> 
> Doesnt sound like it pertains to my situation. I just wanted to know the details of these two tests, as I have read other posts where applicants have had it done. All the best to you once agian. Is your ERC going to take a while due to being out of Canada while applying?
> 
> Ryan



There are no security issues because he is overseas because of his Canadian parents.


----------



## hopetobeasappersoon (15 Sep 2005)

no real delays but there could have been as sometime when you have a foreign address on yer ERC it can sometimes take some extra time, but since Canada and Belgium dont have any (official) political differences the process wasnt an issue. If i were living in....say...Latvia or something than sometimes there can be delays.....not saying canada and latvia are enemies but sometimes (well usually...especially eastern block countries) foreign countries work differently than us


----------



## fleeingjam (21 Sep 2005)

I am currently in the same situation hopetobeasappersoon,

Two years ago when applied for 031 Reserve i was sent the same letter, what also complicated my situation was that i have underbite (lower jaw is bigger than upper) so for my own *well bieng* it was suggested that i get braces and have a surgery which could fix it. So the letter said something like "Once you have been free of asthma prescriptions for 12 consecutive months you may re-apply...(cant remeber the rest) And recover from the surgery. So yeah like you said theres two tests The Methacoline test and the Pulmonary Functions Test. Now the one thing that makes a difference is what it said on that letter, what kind of asthma did they say you have. If it was Exercise Inducive Asthma, there is a third test which is neccesary, EIT (Exercise Induced Test) i think. I personally have not done the test but from the sounds of it, they will test to see if that is true. In my case I was "diagnosed" with Reactive Airway Diesease which my GP says is a fancy term for asthma. My asthma before when i was a kid was a reactive sort, but after those tests I found that i dont even have asthma anymore..So my point basicly is its gonna be a long road but if feel it is truly worth it, do not give up. Many people have been in the same situation as us, played the waiting game and made it.

- Good Luck
- Usman


----------



## hopetobeasappersoon (22 Sep 2005)

Well i just got word today from ottawa. My asthma has been deemed "medium" and i have been deemed unfit for the military. I may look into other things such as that 3rd test you mentioned usman, but we'll see. It really sucks. A lot. But i guess everything happens for a reason. I hope all goes well with you tho. We're different ppl wth different asthma situations and hopefuly your journey proves to be a successful one! As for me i still hope to do something either with the gov't or some sort of international thing. I might go to university next year or somehting like that, im looking into that these days (and have been for a while, as i knew the chances for me gettin in with this werent's super high) so i gues si have some descisions to make in the next while. Anyways, not sure how often i'll be signin on her ein the imidiate future so For those of you applying GOOD LUCK and for those of you already serving, I have the highest respect for you and you men and women continue to serve our country proudly. Growing up in a military environment has givin me a real respect for our Military and i'm truely proud of our Military.Keep on truckin guys!


----------



## canadianchick (1 Oct 2005)

Looks like I'm in the same boat you (were) except my adventure is currently in France with Orthotics. Sorry things didn't work out for you, but if military is what you want then look into the 3rd test. You never know.
 "Neither a wise nor a brave man lies down on the tracks of history to wait for the train of the future to run over him" Dwight D. Eisenhower


----------

