Just wondering if anyone has had to go on medical leave to deal with anxiety. Haven't been myself in the last week or so... the only trigger I can think of is stress. My question is this:

If I go out on medical leave (which would require medical certification that I am dealing with anxiety)... how hard is it to get my medical back? This is assuming that I don't take any medications.

Obviously to return from medical leave (self-grounding) I would have to report the change to the FAA and get my medical back. What is the process and how long does it take? I know things run pretty slow in OK city.

 

If you're having any extreme or harmful thoughts or feelings, you'll need to seek medical treatment.

But you may not need to formally ground yourself over a "self-diagnosed" situation like this. If you're not up to flying, call in sick and take week or two to chill out. Try getting regular daily exercise (at least one hour cardio), eat right, no booze and just relax and do things that are enjoyable to you. Put anything that's stressful on the back burner.

There are legal supplements to improve your mood (ie St. Johns Wort), maybe look into that. Also do a little research into how thought patterns can get into a negative re-inforcing loop...breaking that cycle can help.

For this and various other conditions, lifestyle and outlook can in provide a better long-term solution than meds.

But worst case even if you ultimately need medical help and possibly medications you can fly once the condition is resolved and stable (you can take meds while flying if stable). But that process is going to take months, I would think at least six with meds.

 

Yes I am trying those things... going to see a therapist to talk things out. Not sure if that counts and self-diagnosing or not. Definitely not having extreme or harmful thoughts though.

I am just more concerned if I need to be out for a while how to the FAA looks at it and the process to return to flying. Maybe others have similar experiences?

 

google "adrenal fatigue"...the adrenal glands regulate our blood pressure, blood sugar, cortisol & adrenaline levels and over 50 hormones...they are a big deal but are over looked by most doctors as the root cause of anxiety.

changing your diet to a more plant based diet will help you also get tested for vitamin deficiency, google "vitamin deficiency anxiety" usually the person are deficiency in lots of vitamins/minerals but mainly in all the B's plus magnesium.

symptom list for adrenal fatigue is long but one of the main issues is anxiety.