Hello all,
I am a older (50ish) student pilot, with about 60hrs (7 solo) on a couple different aircraft and thanks to my CFI's patience and guidance, i was ready for my solo XC......
But then I suffered from 2 bouts of vertigo,(couple of weeks apart) thankfully sitting on the couch at home, first time, chalked up to flu/food poisoning?, second time my wife took me to hospital, worst than last time, wasn't allowed to drive for 48hrs and now there is a report, doc chalks it up to possible sinus/inner ear infection, but not 100% sure.
Funny, I have never felt any vertigo while in the aircraft, even spinning/spiraling/steep turn training with my CFI or me as PIC practicing?
Naturally, she is freaked and made sure I spoke to my CFI, which I knew I had to inform him, he is kinda bummed, but nowhere near how disappointed I am and all that $$$$ down the drain.
Making an appointment with my AV doc who signed my class 3 med.
Am I done??
A question about vertigo ......
Moderators: sky's the limit, sepia, Sulako, Right Seat Captain, lilfssister, North Shore
Re: A question about vertigo ......
Hi Mxranger1,
First of all good for you to take the initiative and tell your CFI whats going on. As for everything else, slow down and take a breath, your no where close to the end of this fight. The first step is that you can fly as often as you want and keep working on your ppl, just have your CFI along as a backup. There is lots of things to practice before you take your check ride, and although its not optimal you can keep flying if you want. All you need for the time being is a safety pilot to bail you out if something happens in the air.
On the medical side:
You need to be your own advocate here. Get in to see you GP as a start and see if you can figure out what is going on. Start tracking when these episodes happen and what are possible contributing factors; sleep, alcohol, food, stress, new medication, heart arrhythmia ..etc
People fly with all kinds of medical problems that they monitor, the first step is to isolate what the problem is and then determine how you can manage it, if thats even needed.
You definitely do not want to be up in the air and suffering from vertigo, that would be terrifying and dangerous, but you are a long way from never being able to fly. My advice would be see your GP and figure out what is going on, stress test, physical, etc.. Your AV doc isn't going to be able to give you an opinion without a diagnosis and he isn't the one to manage the path to a diagnosis in my opinion. Once you have a handle on whats going on medically, then take that information to the AV doc and get his opinion on how this pertains to flying.
While your waiting for the diagnosis, fly with your CFI or a safety pilot to be safe. Although time with a CFI is expensive there is no shortage of things that they can show you at this stage and you can use this opportunity to get some valuable instruction that you would miss following the normal path. You could log some more time under the hood as instrument time that would certainly pay off in the future as you go for your night rating or IFR.
If you go a couple of weeks and you feel good then make a decision with your CFI from there.
Hope that helps
K
First of all good for you to take the initiative and tell your CFI whats going on. As for everything else, slow down and take a breath, your no where close to the end of this fight. The first step is that you can fly as often as you want and keep working on your ppl, just have your CFI along as a backup. There is lots of things to practice before you take your check ride, and although its not optimal you can keep flying if you want. All you need for the time being is a safety pilot to bail you out if something happens in the air.
On the medical side:
You need to be your own advocate here. Get in to see you GP as a start and see if you can figure out what is going on. Start tracking when these episodes happen and what are possible contributing factors; sleep, alcohol, food, stress, new medication, heart arrhythmia ..etc
People fly with all kinds of medical problems that they monitor, the first step is to isolate what the problem is and then determine how you can manage it, if thats even needed.
You definitely do not want to be up in the air and suffering from vertigo, that would be terrifying and dangerous, but you are a long way from never being able to fly. My advice would be see your GP and figure out what is going on, stress test, physical, etc.. Your AV doc isn't going to be able to give you an opinion without a diagnosis and he isn't the one to manage the path to a diagnosis in my opinion. Once you have a handle on whats going on medically, then take that information to the AV doc and get his opinion on how this pertains to flying.
While your waiting for the diagnosis, fly with your CFI or a safety pilot to be safe. Although time with a CFI is expensive there is no shortage of things that they can show you at this stage and you can use this opportunity to get some valuable instruction that you would miss following the normal path. You could log some more time under the hood as instrument time that would certainly pay off in the future as you go for your night rating or IFR.
If you go a couple of weeks and you feel good then make a decision with your CFI from there.
Hope that helps
K
Re: A question about vertigo ......
Sorry to hear you're having a glitch.
Just so you know, you're not obliged to give details to your instructor, who is not an arbiter of any medical question. He or she only needs to know, out of courtesy, that you have a medical issue to work though. You do have follow the rules, which are in CAR404.06:
Basically your CAME is the person best placed to advise you on fitness to fly. Be reassured that the CAME is on your side and nobody wants to restrict you from flying unless they consider it medically necessary, for safety.
Just so you know, you're not obliged to give details to your instructor, who is not an arbiter of any medical question. He or she only needs to know, out of courtesy, that you have a medical issue to work though. You do have follow the rules, which are in CAR404.06:
The Aeronautics Act also requires you to tell any doctor who treats you that you hold a student pilot permit.404.06 (1) Subject to subsection (3), no holder of a permit, licence or rating shall exercise the privileges of the permit, licence or rating if
(a) one of the following circumstances exists and could impair the holder’s ability to exercise those privileges safely:
(i) the holder suffers from an illness, injury or disability,
(ii) the holder is taking a drug, or
(iii) the holder is receiving medical treatment;
Basically your CAME is the person best placed to advise you on fitness to fly. Be reassured that the CAME is on your side and nobody wants to restrict you from flying unless they consider it medically necessary, for safety.
DId you hear the one about the jurisprudence fetishist? He got off on a technicality.
Re: A question about vertigo ......
Waterdog, Photofly,
Thank you for the good advice.
Discovered to-day my CAME has retired, so I made an appointment with my GP. (who has some flight time)
Waterdog, you are right on track, as I went back to chat with my CFI and he (being older/wiser?) suggested what you said, let's keep going with training, under the hood etc. and if anything happens he will be there to ensure everyone is safe, other than I maybe clearing up his aircraft cockpit
Hopefully, this is just a bump in the road.
Thank you for the good advice.
Discovered to-day my CAME has retired, so I made an appointment with my GP. (who has some flight time)
Waterdog, you are right on track, as I went back to chat with my CFI and he (being older/wiser?) suggested what you said, let's keep going with training, under the hood etc. and if anything happens he will be there to ensure everyone is safe, other than I maybe clearing up his aircraft cockpit
Hopefully, this is just a bump in the road.
