Waiver for Prescription Medication in order to deploy (Has anyone been in this situation?)

SSG Jason Neumann — Wed, 27 May 2015 22:36:26 -0400

Looking to get more information on a waiver for prescribed medication that is considered "non-deployable" status. Currently on Ambien for insomnia, never has it effected my daily duties or had any side effect besides the obvious. On orders to PCS/deploy and when going through SRP, the provider stated I would have to get a waiver.

Never before have I had to get a waiver, so now I have gone to my PA and requested the waiver be done to continue on with my PCS. Have been told by the provider at the SRP site that it could take a couple days to a few weeks. Now, from my CoC (1SG) stated it could take 60 days. (Currently Clearing installation, so right now putting a kink in the process, report in JUL).

Has anyone or Medical personnel ***preferred*** been in this situation and what was the process in which it has to be approved or disapproved. Thanks much in advance for any kind of information.

Response by SFC Clark Adams made May 27 at 2015 11:04 PM

SFC Clark Adams — Wed, 27 May 2015 23:04:20 -0400

What does your S-1 Shop tell you?

Response by MAJ Private RallyPoint Member made May 27 at 2015 11:42 PM

MAJ Private RallyPoint Member — Wed, 27 May 2015 23:42:44 -0400

From past experience, anytime I had a Soldier start a new medication prior to a deployment, it did impact a Soldier's deployability status. I can't give you a specific timeframe and am not qualified to give medical advice. As I recall, certain medications could take from 30-90 days prior to a Soldier being cleared for deployment. Other factors include the deployed AO, the availability/viability of the medication in the field (can it be stored / sufficient supply on hand), and of course effects on Soldier performance (both with and without supply to the medication).

Response by Sgt Carlos Barrera made May 13 at 2016 1:44 PM

Sgt Carlos Barrera — Fri, 13 May 2016 13:44:48 -0400

I had to carry 30 days worth of meds and made sure that at the 15th day I would ask the Navy Corpsman to help me get a refill (all with the command approval) and under medical supervision

Response by LTC Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 30 at 2018 10:32 PM

LTC Private RallyPoint Member — Sat, 30 Jun 2018 22:32:27 -0400

The Military and Army has significantly increased the bureaucratic process for controlled substance prescriptions for a very deliberate reason. The current opioid crisis combined with the massive increase in prescriptions issued has led to significant scrutiny of all prescriptions from antibiotics to opioids. This is particularly acute when it comes to overseas tours. Now that the Obama administrations staffing reductions have been reversed we now have the correct number of soldiers to deploy for overseas tours and they can afford to be choosier and increase standards and not issue waivers.
The waiver you are seeking will need to come from a 0-6 Colonel who is associated with a specific overseas medical waiver system. They do not care what your chain of command think nor what the opinion of your local PA or Physician. They will look at a list of meds and simply tell you “you can stop taking it or your non deployable.” I have seen them tell this to 0-6 Officers as well as Senior enlisted so unless you are a Tier One Operator, wean off meds if medically possible or don’t deploy. you probably do not have an adequate amount of time to safely medically do so now but these are your real options.

Response by CPT Private RallyPoint Member made Jul 8 at 2018 9:17 PM

CPT Private RallyPoint Member — Sun, 08 Jul 2018 21:17:27 -0400

Never, ever should you tell any military doctor that you're using Ambien if you want to deploy. It will definitely trip you up. If you're a Reservist headed overseas you need to keep your Ambien use to yourself because they will definitely REFRAD you. Army docs aren't like their civilian counterparts that write scripts for Ambien all the time without any problems. They can afford to be Pharisees because they don't have to keep a practice going. You're basically not going to get a waiver if you used it in the last 90 days. Also see this pdf http://www.sas.usace.army.mil/Portals/61/docs/EM/MedicalDisqualifiers.pdf . Figure out something to get yourself the meds you need while overseas, but don't ever disclose that you need them for sleep. The Army considers you a psychotic if you tell them you use Ambien.

MedicalDisqualifiers.pdf

Response by CPT Private RallyPoint Member made Jul 10 at 2018 4:05 PM

CPT Private RallyPoint Member — Tue, 10 Jul 2018 16:05:29 -0400

This comes down to MOD13 which is part of the CENTCOM guidance for PCSing and deploying soldiers to CENTCOM. There are pretty significant restriction for many different medical conditions and Ambien is one that is specifically listed as requiring a waiver. With that being the case don't take needed a waiver as you cannot deploy. I have worked the medical portion of 3 different units going out the door and they each had somewhere between 30 and 50 waivers. I can only think of about 3 or 4 instances of the waivers being kicked back and those were all for behavioral health reasons.