Advice/Opinions on Possible Medical DQ before I try?

J

JNew525

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Feb 12, 2018
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Hello, I'm currently a Sophomore in College, been wishing to join ROTC for my last two years and army in the future.
However, my medical history came back to bite me in the A**. Though I haven't really started this path at all yet, because I have a past history of(and know its a DQ factor):

- temporary bronchitis/asthma DUE TO BEING SICK thus I had to use the inhaler till the sickness went away but never in my life had to use it otherwise.

-Depression and Anxiety: I was diagnosed with 'Major depression with anxiety' 2 years back, then was put on medication and now I have been off of it for a year. Now seeing it from a bigger picture, it was all situational, Had my first real relationship break up, family problems, and school issues. I was too embarrassed to tell my doctor that back then for some reason.

-FINALLY the one I hate the most, Eczema, I've had to go in for an eczema problem when I was 16 or so, then was prescribed with steroid cream, then was all better and haven't gotten it ever since. This was most likely caused by me being a dishwasher, the chemicals were quite harsh and I was washing dishes and my hands too much.


Now you know a little about me, I'm going to my Doctor this Wednesday to get a written statement on all of this, hoping that it'll say that it was mostly all situational and shouldn't be a problem for me to be in the military. I know getting a waiver for all of these will be difficult, but possible. I would like to hear your opinion of what could possibly happen, or with these epitome of DQ'ing health reasons I shouldn't have too much hope. Real answers please!


Thanks.
 
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Major Depressive Disorder with Anxiety (to me) is going to be your greatest hurdle, but I’d still apply. The worst they could say is “no”. You won’t know until you try.
 
Agree that the military generally frowns on mental health conditions when screening officers who will be leading troops into combat.

However, like Dr. Mabry said, while you do have an uphill battle, but you should apply and see what happens.
 
Ahh, I see, I shall focus more on that aspect then. What if I go do a psych eval and hopefully it says that im good?
Also im not sure if this is possible, with good understandable reasons, is it possible to change my 'Major Depression' diagnosis which was like 2 years ago to a 'Situational' once I head in on Wednesday to get a letter, because I legitimately feel like I was misdiagnosed, felt like it was my fault because I didnt want to share the major events that were occurring at that time. Plus treatments did not work, as time went by and decided myself to stop being on meds I got better.
 
No one here can on the forum can give you a firm answer, as only DoDMERB can actually see your medical records and the notes of the physician who examines you. There are some expert opinions on this forum, such as Dr./MAJ Mabry who is one of the best, but no one here can be sure.

These charts may help you understand the steps in the process:

This is the DoDMERB process: (DoDMERB is based at the Air Force Academy but services all the military branches of ROTC as well as the U.S. service academies)
http://www.dodmerbconsultants.com/library/documents/InitExamRemedEvalProc.pdf

This is the DoDMERB waiver process which shows how the SA or ROTC program can opt t "waive" a DQ if there is reasonable justification.
https://dodmerb.tricare.osd.mil/Content/MedicalWaiverConsideration.pdf

Good luck to you.
 
The “asthma” is easy to explain away. People get lung infections and develop symptoms similar to reactive airway disease on occasion. This should not be an issue.

Who diagnosed you with depression? Seems like with family problems and relationship issues, you may have had an adjustment disorder instead. Adjustment disorder is an easier hurdle to get over than major depression.

Eczema/atopic dermatitis is the tough one too. Since you’ve got symptoms as a teenager, then that’s a definite DQ. One of the issues with eczema are the conditions that can come with it like...wait for it... asthma. Wasn’t the first issue asthma? In all seriousness, the asthma/bronchitis is probably not related to the eczema in your case. I just wanted to point out one of the reasons why eczema/atopic dermatitis is a DQ.

As was mentioned in previous posts, it won’t hurt you to try to get a waiver.
 
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