Got a letter from a Doctor at Transport regarding my class 01

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Redmud
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Got a letter from a Doctor at Transport regarding my class 01

Post by Redmud »

I got a letter from a Doctor at Transport Canada, 16 months after doing my last medical requesting blood work cholesterol/triglycerides etc. due to me weighing in at 116Kgs... I’m an athletic and very tall, big Canadian boy... WTF? I am in good health but the Doc said they’re worried about heart decease... because my BMI is high.
My question on the forum is: is this normal to receive such letters, have others gotten them too? Should I be worried? I’m laid off at the moment, so not flying and hence haven't renewed my medical. The letter says to mail in the blood work prior to or at the time of my next renewal.
Any and all feedback is appreciated!
Thnxs
Red
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Re: Got a letter from a Doctor at Transport regarding my class 01

Post by CL-Skadoo! »

How was your blood pressure / heart rate when you were in there? Any family history that they would know about? Out of curiosity are you over or under 40?

BMI alone shouldn't trigger that response, but BMI with history, or other indicators might. I know they were rolling hard on sleep apnea tests for people with higher bmi a while back. They've really been pushing this stuff lately, so you're not alone.
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altiplano
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Re: Got a letter from a Doctor at Transport regarding my class 01

Post by altiplano »

I'd call and push back if you're healthy. Explain they have the wrong impression of your build and health.

I had Transport come at me once about 15 years ago, a month or two after a medical where my BP rang slightly over 120. I'm a football player, athletic type build at +/-200lbs.

The guy at Transport started explaining that with over a 42" waist (or something ridiculous like that) and my height and weight they required additional testing... I stopped him there and told him that I didn't have a 42" waist, the jeans I was wearing were 32s, so I wasn't going on for any more tests, he fumbled a bit said his calculation was otherwise, I told him he was wrong and that I had a medical signed and valid for a year and I never heard from them again.

BMI is such a waste of time for a large section of the population - it means nothing real. It came up at my last medical and I told the doctor that if Transport is so concerned, why they don't add a caliper measurement and get a real body fat %? That they aren't really shows that they can't be that concerned, they're just being bureaucrats.

BMI is a joke and the sooner the skinny-fat pencil pushing desk jockeys at Transport figure it out the better. Maybe they can get a measurement that really benefits pilot health

Best running back of all time Walter Payton? Overweight.

Best line backer of all time Mike Singletary? Obese.

They both ran 4.6 40s.

Dwayne Johnson? Obese with a BMI well into the 30s and a body fat measurement of 10.5%.

https://www.menshealth.com/weight-loss/ ... -with-bmi/
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GoinVertical
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Re: Got a letter from a Doctor at Transport regarding my class 01

Post by GoinVertical »

I know a few guys that have gotten the same letter. As far as I can tell it is often based on BMI with no other contributing factors.

Waste of time. Would be nice if they would just let the doctors do their jobs.
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Redmud
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Re: Got a letter from a Doctor at Transport regarding my class 01

Post by Redmud »

Thanks for all the feedback guys. I am turning 50 soon, no family history and Blood Px active and at rest are both well and I had my heart checked at a separate doctor using a cycle and ECG. He told me I am extremely fit for my age. I’m just a big guy. I used to lift regularly, now only once in a while.
That letter really pissed me off. I guess I’ll just get the blood work done and go for my next medical.
I noticed they sent the letter to my AME too. So, I’ll just give him the blood work.
I am just worried that some Doc at Transport might get the idea to pull my medical and send me for a battery of testing...
Thanks again
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Re: Got a letter from a Doctor at Transport regarding my class 01

Post by ahramin »

Transport Canada can and do pull medicals. In the case of those letters, you still have a valid medical and they obviously don't have a reason to pull it or they already would have. These fishing letters may be for a real problem or for nothing other than some misinterpretation, misreading, statistical nonsense, or false claims. In my case I called the regional medical office and told them that they were mistaken and I had no idea what they were talking about. They insisted that I would have to respond to the letter. I asked them if I still had a medical and they said yes so I told them to either pull my medical or leave me alone. Got another letter from them saying that it seems they were mistaken and that's the last I heard about it.

If you are certain that your weight is healthy, I wouldn''t worry about it. Just forget about it until your next renewal and then send in the blood work.
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Re: Got a letter from a Doctor at Transport regarding my class 01

Post by 5x5 »

Just did my medical a couple of days ago and asked my doc about a similar letter - not BMI but an issue that had been resolved 4 years ago - and got the following. Apparently the regional Chief Medical Officers all tended to be old and rather long in the tooth and hadn't necessarily kept up with the rest of the world vis-a-vis current medical practices and concerns. Now they mostly retired and new management in the medical area are working to catch up and requesting testing that should have been done previously according to the new norms.

Now absolutely everyone is entitled to bitch and complain about it all they want but my view is I want to be healthy and I'm in an occupation where it's a requirement for ultimate safety as it's not just me at risk when I fly but also my passengers. And since it's a requirement to undergo repetitive examinations I do so. If things change in the medical field I accept that the doctors and managers involved are qualified to do their jobs and if they decide they need information today that they didn't before I'm going to provide it. As a pilot I'm certainly not qualified to accurately determine what's medically required or not, no matter how much internet I read.

I realize that stating this opens me up to potential criticism for being a "sheep" and mindlessly accepting bureaucracy, but whatever, it's merely my personal opinion.
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Redmud
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Re: Got a letter from a Doctor at Transport regarding my class 01

Post by Redmud »

Thanks for the feedback people!
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Re: Got a letter from a Doctor at Transport regarding my class 01

Post by Beefitarian »

I can't speak kilograms but I'm probably more of them than that. I got blood work done a few months before my last Cat3 and my CAME seemed happy with the amount of residual fast food/pizza grease in my blood.

Get the blood work done just to make sure you're good.
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Re: Got a letter from a Doctor at Transport regarding my class 01

Post by trey kule »

This is a bit of an aside, but a few years back I got aTC letter about blood tests. Then a year later a stress test. The Dr looking at the results afterward told me my heart was perfect.
I did some digging as to why and was told TCdoes not have any baseline data for old pilots, fat pilots ,higher BP,chloresteral Etc.

So they were selecting perfectly healthy pilots that were older (my case) or fit a certain profile and demanding tests to get baseline data.
It is disgusting. These idiots have no idea of the stress getting one of those letters puts a pilot through. The least they could do is ask a d explain why.
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Re: Got a letter from a Doctor at Transport regarding my class 01

Post by RedAndWhiteBaron »

It just doesn't make sense to me - I'm 6 feet and weighing in at 210lbs. On the low side of overweight. I specifically asked my AME about it, and he wasn't concerned in the least. I do have near perfect BP (for which I am grateful) as I am reasonably physically active, was yours a bit off maybe? (Nope, just reread your posts here) I know for my part, I cut out coffee and cigarettes the day of my test. From the sound of it you're what, 6 foot 3 or 4 and weighing in at 250? And from the sound of it, a fair sight in better shape than I? Sounds to me like some holier-than-thou bureaucrat was not having a good day when he reviewed your file.

Or, Trey's hypothesis is correct. You got selected as a baseline lab rat and you got lied to.
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Re: Got a letter from a Doctor at Transport regarding my class 01

Post by goldeneagle »

I got a similar letter years ago, it said I had to go get blood pressure checked 3 times in a week. Made no sense, but booked the appts with my normal doc. Doc was on vacation, bp was taken by a locum on the first two visits, my doc was back for the third. The ultimate explanation, and there is a bit of a back story.

For the medical, I was in a pickle, regular doc was on vacation so I had booked at a place I've never been before, one that could do a medical 'next day'. Appointment was for 11am, and I drove into town in time for that appt. Problem, it was snowing, and there was no place to park near the clinic, I ended up parking 4 blocks away then I had to run to get there on time. Thought nothing of it, doc went thru the motions and I got the signature (was in the years before the book). A month later I got the letter about having bp checked.

The explanation then. TC has my records on medicals going back to when I was 16 yrs old, and every one of them shows a value on the blood pressure. Then I get this medical, and suddenly the blood pressure is WAY up. For the TC docs, it's not about 'what is the number?', but 'why is it suddenly changed so much?' . Well in this case, the answer was 'because I had just ran 4 blocks in the snow then they took my bp right away'.
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Re: Got a letter from a Doctor at Transport regarding my class 01

Post by RedAndWhiteBaron »

Hrm... any good AME's downtown Toronto?

I have a fantastic massage therapist downtown. It may just be smart to book my next medical right after a massage appointment. My BP would be textbook perfect.

And given how hard it is to book both AMEs and RMTs now, I might want to start looking into that. I'll probably need 3 months' advance notice to do it, and my medical is due in 5...

(If anyone needs a decent AME in Brampton, mine will do the whole kit'n kaboodle in one visit)
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Re: Got a letter from a Doctor at Transport regarding my class 01

Post by photofly »

Normally you can renew up to 3 months early with no loss of date, but at the moment renewals other than for restricted medicals or people whose status has changed are forbidden; you send in an attestation instead.

https://www2.tc.gc.ca/civilaviation/reg ... n/3304.htm
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Re: Got a letter from a Doctor at Transport regarding my class 01

Post by JBI »

Redmud wrote: Fri Jun 26, 2020 4:15 am I got a letter from a Doctor at Transport Canada, 16 months after doing my last medical requesting blood work cholesterol/triglycerides etc. due to me weighing in at 116Kgs... I’m an athletic and very tall, big Canadian boy... WTF? I am in good health but the Doc said they’re worried about heart decease... because my BMI is high.
My question on the forum is: is this normal to receive such letters, have others gotten them too? Should I be worried? I’m laid off at the moment, so not flying and hence haven't renewed my medical. The letter says to mail in the blood work prior to or at the time of my next renewal.
Any and all feedback is appreciated!
Thnxs
Red
Are you in the Atlantic and/or Overseas Region? And was it Dr. Langille?
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2R
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Re: Got a letter from a Doctor at Transport regarding my class 01

Post by 2R »

The FAA were pulling medicals last year for BMI indicators . It is just the flavour of the month
https://www.foxnews.com/travel/faa-to-c ... ontrollers
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