Epilepsy

I’m not sure if this is qualified as epilepsy but if a seizure happened once or twice a year would that disqualifiy a person?
 
Warhead said:
I’m not sure if this is qualified as epilepsy but if a seizure happened once or twice a year would that disqualifiy a person?
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Yes. It would be DQ.

So this person has a bona fide diagnosis of epilepsy causing the seizures?

Epilepsy isn’t the only cause of seizures.
 
No they do not. But they are afraid to see a doctor because they do not want to be restricted on some things such as them getting their drivers license also their seizures happen when they are sleeping not when they are awake.
 
FYI, I am moving this thread to the DoDMERB forum where it will likely get more responses.
 
Warhead said:
No they do not. But they are afraid to see a doctor because they do not want to be restricted on some things such as them getting their drivers license also their seizures happen when they are sleeping not when they are awake.
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How do you know it’s seizures while sleeping?
 
One's health is more important than anything else. If it's only while your sibling is sleeping then I doubt it's epilepsy, but I'm not a doctor, nor do I play one on TV. He or she should get it checked out. I understand the concern about things like driver's licenses but your sibling has a responsibility to other people on the road. It might very well be something that's easily "fixed" so why risk living with it? Just one man's opinion.
 
I can’t offer medical advice and I don’t have any experience in the approval process because my child is in the early process of applying. However, I do know what it’s like to be medicaly disqualified from military service. I am a pastor and wanted to be a chaplain. I have two reasons why I can’t serve. I have adhd and took medication while getting my masters. I absolutely would not have graduated without medication. Second is that I have had weightloss surgery. Both of these are disqualifing.
It is a difficult thing to accept. Ultimately I needed to grieve the loss of the dream. I finally had to accept the the military knows what they are doing! Amazing, I know. They realized that my medical conditions make it unsafe to me to serve. I would face situations that I can only imagine, and my medical situation could jeopardize my safety or the safety of others. As hard as it is to accept that you are medically unable to serve, imagine how hard it would be to accept that your health condition put others in harms way. (The rules about seizures and driving also fall into this category. As much as they want to drive, is it worth the very real possibility of a seizure induced accident that puts everyone else on the road in danger?) there is a hard reality that needs to be faced.
Military service is about selflessness. Sometimes the most selfless act is putting the safety of others before your own dream.
 
Ok if it’s just nocturnal seizures not epilepsy can they be disqualified?
 
Warhead said:
Ok if it’s just nocturnal seizures not epilepsy can they be disqualified?
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Yes because there’s complications with nocturnal seizures.

If they take a nap during the day, then they can still have seizures. Doesn’t have to happen when it’s dark. It’s associated with certain REM stages. Believe it or not, they can still get it when they’re excessively drowsy or tired. What happens when you’re at Ranger school and have had only 2-3 hours of sleep each of the past 2-3 days?

It can lead to daytime fatigue or hypersomnolence because the nighttime seizure didn’t give them a good, restful sleep.

You have a risk of hurting yourself if you fall off the bed. You can’t tell the cadre you have to sleep in the lower bunk because the fall from the top bunk from a seizure could injure you.

Has Landau Kleffner Syndrome been ruled out in this person?

Sleep deprivation can increase the chances of seizures so they may start happening during the day. Trust me, there will be plenty of times during military training where sleep deprivation is par for the course.
 
They speak fine so I don’t think it’s LKS. They want to do ROTC and become a 31a so wouldn’t ranger school not be an option?
 
Warhead said:
They speak fine so I don’t think it’s LKS. They want to do ROTC and become a 31a so wouldn’t ranger school not be an option?
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Yes. Absolutely. You can go to Ranger school as an MP.

I don’t think there are any MP slots in the Ranger Regiment but going to the school is an option.
 
So if they had one seizure while in rotc and that was it would they still be disqualified?
 
Yes. DoDMERB physicals must be passed every two years.
 
The seizures last only about ten minutes and if they are just woken up it takes then about ten minutes to totally be completely fine.
 
@Warhead
This is the link to what I believe is the current accession standard for entry into the armed forces:

http://www.esd.whs.mil/Portals/54/Documents/DD/issuances/dodi/613003p.pdf?ver=2018-05-04-113917-883

Pages 42-43 are of interest.

The DODMERB medical history (with questions such as: “have you ever had or experienced X?”) and medical exam essentially establish the status of certain conditions. DODMERB Qs or DQs relevant to the standard. Each individual Service then has the option to waive the DQ, according to its current policy. Some things are never waived. Some are.

The Services have different waiver policies, because they have different missions, operating environments, gear. Army may waive Condition X. Navy may not.

The driving reason behind these high accession standards is quite simply, unit readiness. In forward deployed situations, where physical and mental stress is high, sleep is minimal and erratic, and operations are far from hospital-level medical treatment, people need to be as healthy, fit and free of pre-existing disease/condition/syndrome as they can, so they do not impact the unit readiness. They have to be counted on to contribute, and not be a distraction or a burden.

I have often commented here that those who want to serve, but are medically barred from uniformed service, can work for the “ABC” agencies as analysts, operations planners, logistics specialists, cyber warriors and other critical jobs. Google “CIA college programs,” as one example. If you can’t be a door-kicker, have the door-kicker’s back.
 
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So my sibling was just diagnosed with nocturnal seizures. Is there no hope for them to join the military?
 
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