Prescription Painkillers and Flying?
 

I was in a car accident last night, and ended up with some pretty bad back pain (I think it aggravated an old injury). The ER doc prescribed me some narcotic painkillers. While I know I can't take them while flying, I am wondering if anyone knows what the FAA's official rule is on taking them.

I asked the ER doc, and he told me "treat it like alcohol" which leads be to believe he doesn't know there is only 8 hours from bottle to throttle. I was figuring he would tell me something like 24, 48 or even 72 hours. If it really is only ~8 hours like alcohol then I would be able to take some to help me sleep at night and be okay to fly the next day.

My AME is probably be going to be unreachable with the holiday tomorrow otherwise I would just call him.

Work it backwards. If you're in such pain that you need opiates to relieve the pain, you're in no shape to fly per 61.53. If you're under the influence of opiates, you can't fly either. Take a break for a couple days.

The other thing to keep in mind is to have a record of the prescription if your name comes up for a drug test. I've forgotten how long opiates remain in your system. Coke went through fairly fast, weed left traces for a weeks.

Hope everyone is ok. You must be at the same age as I am - all those childhood injuries that you forgot about come back or can be "woken up" with a little provocation.

Anyway - I can not vouch for the accuracy of this web site, but I hope it helps. How Long Each Drug Stays In your Body.. Drug Use Chart

Everything on the Internet is true -- Abraham Lincoln. :)

The FAA has exact standards for each class of drug, and I guarantee it's longer than 8 hours for a narcotic

These guys have some good info:
http://aviationmedicine.com/

To be 100% safe call your AME, he knows for sure.

And don't push the limits...Keep in mind that even after the FAA waiting period you can still test positive for days or weeks afterwards. The drug test may detect both "under-the-influence" levels as well as residual levels from past use. If you have residual levels you will be asked to show that you had a prescription. I'm not sure what would happen if a pilot had higher levels from a prescription, but I wouldn't want to find out.

Jetcareers.com has an AME that works their "Ask an AME" forum. He's available by email as well. AOPA has the same on their forums, if you're a member.

My AME advised me that the typical time period for the first level narcotics has been 72 hours, or about 3x the half-life. These are the Codeines, Vicodens, Percosets, and so on. Step into MS Contin, morphine, dilaudid, and others of this class, and my AME advised at least a week off of the meds, plus depending on the underlying condition and/or cause, call before attempting to fly for consideration of other probs like concussion, TBI, and so on from a car accident.

I am not a doc nor an AME, and don't play one on the internet.

I believe AOPA compiled a list of meds and how long the FAA required you to wait before operating an aircraft. It may or may not have been limited to over the counter drugs. What surprised me was how much time from pillpack to throttle some very common OTC meds such as benadryl required.

e days none, fly the fourth.

Personally for us we aren't allowed to take anything that remains in our system when we fly. I don't even take advil on a regular basis as it would pop on a drug test. Here they only give you 200 mg as a dose. I'd agree with the first poster if you need stronger than an advil then take a few days a recuperate.