# My Asthma story



## Crisco (24 Jun 2007)

I've always wanted to wear the uniform since I was younger. Come my 16th birthday before, I even ate my cake, my dad took me down to the recruiting center and we started the application process. I had successfully got up to my medical and interview, but during my medical I mentioned I had childhood asthma but I grew out of it, DOH! About 6 weeks later I got a letter of rejection due to my condition but said I could challenge it, and thats exactly what I did. 

    Right when we had gotten home I had made a doctors appointment and from there my doctor made me a Methacholine Challenge test appointment. Later that day I got a call and schedualed the test for a time three months later. Three months later I had gotten my call and was off to get my test done. The test was a sinch, my breathing was hardly affected by the substance. 

     After my test had been finished it took about 2 months for some odd reason for them to give me my results. But the results had indicated my asthma was pretty much gone. I had went to my doctor and she took me off the inhaler right away and said I most likely haven't even needed since I was about 13. She wrote me a doctors note and back I went to the recruiting center .

    After submitting the results, about 4 weeks later, it finally came, my letter from the medical department in ottawa. I opened it to find out that due to newly submitted information, I now meet the minimum enrollment standards for both the regular and reserve forces . I submitted my letter to the recruiting center and bam my application was started all over again. That day had to have been the happiest day of my life since the Medical section had told me, even if I challenged it, my odds were about 3%. They had said every day kids came in and challenged it, and one by one were turned down. Now I am 17 and have waited almost a year to get into the army. I have finished my Interview and am currently waiting for a call. But my story shows, even if things look rough, don't give up, there's still a fighting chance ! It took me about 11 months but in the long run it'll be worth it


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## formerarmybrat23 (24 Jun 2007)

Congrats Crisco! you over came the 3% chance! good luck in the future! ;D


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## Crisco (24 Jun 2007)

Thanks  I also just read your story  Thumbs up.


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## phil.n (24 Jun 2007)

Hey Crisco, congratulations. It's been a long wait, but you finally got it! I know exactly how you felt, luckily I didn't have to wait a year though. 

I had mentioned a minor allergy of shellfish in the medical because I was being as honest as I could, and I ended up almost screwing myself over. I could still eat shellfish with very minor reactions today, but my doctor suggested that I carry an epi-pen anyway because you "never know." That ended up really messing up my application because the army thought I would NEED the epi-pen to survive if I was ever exposed. I challenged it by going to a professional allergist, and it was mentioned that it was very unlikely that I will need the epi-pen but he still suggested I carry one incase because allergies are hard to predict. I even went back to the medical and the med tech there pretty much turned me down because it stated I should still carry one, even though I would most likely not need it. 

Luckily the Med Officer in Ottawa thought differently, and gave me the green light. The feeling of beating the odds is really is overwhelming. I was so sure that I would've gotten turned down again and even found myself a new job... really made me believe in miracles.


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## Crisco (25 Jun 2007)

That's odd, never heard of a food allergy stopping someone from service, but good to see you didn't give up. Usually when you keep your application active and show them your really interested, if your condition isn't that bad, they'll take you. I think this because alot of people with asthma were said to come back in a year or two when off the inhaler, this wasn't the case for me.


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## ChrisG (30 Jun 2007)

I sometimes wonder where Doctors got their education as they don't seem to understand simple concepts. 

'Doc,  I need to be off the meds for my army medical"

"OK,  you can discontinue the meds but I'll write you a prescription to carry around." Duh.


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## Crisco (30 Jun 2007)

ChrisG said:
			
		

> I sometimes wonder where Doctors got their education as they don't seem to understand simple concepts.
> 
> 'Doc,  I need to be off the meds for my army medical"
> 
> "OK,  you can discontinue the meds but I'll write you a prescription to carry around." Duh.



Not sure what you mean, to be considered off medications you shouldn't have a fail safe inhaler, that would mean your asthma's still active. And also, you can't just say you want to be off your medications for the medical review, that would be cheating the army.


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## ChrisG (30 Jun 2007)

Precisely


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## geo (30 Jun 2007)

ALSO.... Making false declarations would signify an irregular enrollment and bring on an immediate if less than honourable release from the CF (not that I'd suggest you were suggesting that)


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## Gross (4 Jul 2007)

When I went in for my medical, I got told by quite a few people in the office that unless it was very serious, don't even bring it up, it just complicates things.

Not that it really mattered anyway, I'm lucky enough to have been blessed with a (medically) perfect body.


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## Crisco (9 Jul 2007)

They told me the same thing. I knew my asthma was gone and wasn't serious enough to mention but you never know.


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