Why My Son Stopped Taking ADHD Medication: The Pilot Dream

When my son discovered he wanted to be a pilot, it meant making some big decisions about his ADHD medication. If you read my article about taking your ADHD child off medication, Our Experience When Our Son Stopped Taking His ADHD Medication, then you know that my son’s number one reason for deciding to stop taking his medication was because he wants to be a pilot. This article explains what being a pilot has to do with ADHD and medication.

The Rule That Changed Everything For My Son

The FAA does not allow anyone on ADHD medication to be a pilot. You actually have to be off of it for at least four years before you can even apply. This didn’t become a concern, and we weren’t even aware of this requirement, until he took a pilot class his senior year of high school.

He came home from school one day and said, “I can’t be a pilot because I have ADHD.” We were taken aback by this statement and had to do some research on it. Sure enough, it is much harder to become a pilot when you have ADHD. Is it impossible? No, it is not. But the path forward is challenging.

According to the FAA, ADHD and the medications used to treat it “may result in cognitive deficits that pose a risk to aviation safety.” It’s not that they’re trying to keep people with ADHD out of the cockpit. They need to make sure that pilots can handle the intense focus and quick decision-making that flying requires, without medication and without ADHD symptoms interfering.

His Decision

After doing our research and finding out that he can’t be on his medication, he decided at that point that he was not going to take it anymore. This was at the beginning of his senior year of high school. He went almost his entire senior year without his medication, and honestly, watching him navigate that was both scary and inspiring as a parent.

The Evaluation Process

There are two different pathways you have to take for the FAA to approve you becoming a pilot if you have ADHD: Fast Track and Standard Track. Both require extensive neuropsychological testing. You basically have to prove through these tests that you don’t show signs of ADHD that would affect your ability to fly safely, even though you do have ADHD.

The evaluation includes things like attention tests, memory assessments, and cognitive processing evaluations. It’s intense. Someone with ADHD has to pass these neuropsychological tests before the FAA will approve you to fly. Which means that if you don’t pass and don’t get approval, then you can’t even get into an aviation program.

This is exactly the position we are in right now.

So Close, Yet So Far

He has had his neurological evaluation and was so close to passing but didn’t quite make it. A few of his scores just didn’t hit the marks the FAA requires. You might be asking the same question that we had. Can he take the evaluation again? The answer is YES! We were so glad to hear that he can try again.

Here is the thing though. The doctor recommended that he wait three years before he tries again. Yes, you read that right, three years. That is such a long time when you’re 18 and your whole life feels like it’s on hold.

He has had to change his school plans for the next three years, but he is certainly going to try again because that is his dream. Over the next three years, his brain will develop more. The prefrontal cortex doesn’t fully mature until around age 25. He will also have been off his ADHD medication for four years at that time and will have learned to adapt even more without medication.

We’re focusing on the positive. He’s building coping strategies, he’s maturing, and he’s not giving up.

Now You Understand

Now you can understand why our son’s number one decision to stop taking his medication was because he wants to be a pilot!

Every situation is different from ours. I wanted to share our experience of our son coming off his medication and how it has affected him and his dreams. Your experience will not be the same as ours. I am hoping that this can give you a little information if you’re considering having your child off medication, or if your child has dreams that might be affected by ADHD.

Please ask me all of the questions you have about taking your child off medication! I would love to hear from anyone that has had an experience with taking their child off their ADHD medication or your experience with trying to become a pilot with ADHD.

Helpful Resources:

If you want to learn more about the specific FAA requirements and evaluation pathways for pilots with ADHD, you can check out their official guide here: FAA Guide on ADHD and Pilot Medical Certification