Waiver process has him going to an allergist

coachkarl

5-Year Member
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Jan 8, 2016
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OK, so my son has a very mild nut allergy. He eats peanuts, gets a mild scratchy feeling in his throat that mitigates, without medication in about 15-20 minutes. No other symptoms.

So, of course, DoDMERB DQs him immediately, but he gets a conditional appointment to the USNA. DoDMERB requests more information. We send it. The send another DQ notice.

We call USNA and they say not to worry yet, they have requested a visit to an allergist.

Here is the concern - blood tests for food allergies are notorious for delivering false positives. So should we be expecting the worst after this test or should we expect another round of tests?

Thanks in advance.
 
Coach -- depends on the numbers. They may ask you to do a food challenge with the allergist.
 
They probably want to confirm that is a minor allergy. Or better yet it is just the required sop they have to go through to grant the waver. Getting this far with a nut allergy may mean they really want your son.

Best of luck.
 
Coach -- after 7 more messages you can do a PM. Feel free to send me a PM. Happy to share my DS' nut allergy experience. Resulted in USAFA medical waiver denial but ended up gaining a medical waiver from US Army Cadet Command for his 4 yr AROTC scholarship.
 
Coach, same here, feel free to PM me with questions. DS was DQ for the same reason but received a waiver and a 4 yr AROTC scholarship. Look up some of my previous posts to see what we did to help get the waiver approved. Good luck.
 
So here's the latest ... USNA has asked for a full battery of tests - skin tests and "ingestion" (food challenge) tests for tree nuts, peanuts and sesame seeds. On one hand, I'm happy they are not dismissing him outright. On the other hand, I fear that any positive sign will lead to a final DQ.

As with most of the process, I guess all we can do is move forward and hope for the best.
 
Coach, look at it this way. USNA is spending a lot of time, effort and money to look for a way to be able say yes to your DS. I take the tests as a good sign. Best of luck.
 
Coach, look at it this way. USNA is spending a lot of time, effort and money to look for a way to be able say yes to your DS. I take the tests as a good sign. Best of luck.

From your keyboard to God's monitor (or smartphone)...

Thanks for the encouragement.
 
Coach, how did the allergy evaluation tests turn out? My DS is also DQ for a similar reason and will require a waiver...
 
Coach, how did the allergy evaluation tests turn out? My DS is also DQ for a similar reason and will require a waiver...
We are still in process. Blood test done, on to skin test, then, we hope, a food challenge (or challenges).
 
We are still in process. Blood test done, on to skin test, then, we hope, a food challenge (or challenges).
Good luck with the testing! My DS received the TWE last week, so we never got to the waiver process. Would love to hear how it turns out!
 
OK, now we have the full history, blood test and skin test in. Tuesday is the first of potentially three food challenges. Good lord, it's excruciating!
 
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