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Hello,
I was wondering if anyone knew if being allergic to Benadryl would DQ me from enlisting.I am only allergic to the oral medication. I am really allergic to it and when I told my recruiter they told me not to mention it, or it could DQ me. However, on my medical paperwork it says it clearly. I am waiting on a medical waiver for an ACL reconstruction surgery and am stressing over the medicine. Any suggestions or warnings of what is to come ahead? I really really want to enlist and have been in process for almost 6 months now. I have been told that if they want me they would push me through, but my recruiters are telling me that it is the medical team that takes so long. Any information is greatly appreciated.
Why would you stress over medicine for a surgical procedure? They don't use benadryl that I know of in surgery, it is an anti itch/allergy medication.
I think what may keep you from being able to enlist is the ACL Reconstruction itself, until after the surgery and physical therapy so you can be deemed completely medically fit to perform the duties of enlisted military personnel.
I don't think that it would disqualify you, but...there are limited slots available and when they have their choice between a person allergic to Benedryl vs someone who is not but is equally qualified...they will probably choose the person without the allergies.
Now...if you are allergic to Motrin you will probably be disqualified because they give that ****e away like candy. JK--but seriously, I don't think that sort of allergy is a deal killer.
If you are allergic to diphenhydramine (benadryl), you may still be able to take dimenhydrinate (drammamine), which is a very similar molecule (and may be the left-handed version of diphenhydramine, I'm not sure) with very similar effects but still different enough that people with sensitivity or allergy to one may be able to take the other.
I have no idea if a benadryl allergy would disqualify you, but it isn't so much that you have an allergy that would be the problem or whether or not they could be liable for your health and wellness, it's whether or not the allergy means that you aren't going to work with the standard issue enlistment experience. Is the diet that you and every other enlistment will be fed going to kill you? Do you have a reasonable expectation of surviving being worked to exhaustion repeatedly for extended periods? Will there have to be special treatment or dispensation to accomodate your service?
A serious peanut allergy or celiac disease would probably be a DQ, but I would be a little surprised if a benadryl allergy is a problem.
Last edited by Cleonidas; 09-03-2014 at 09:02 AM..
As a recruiter, I've put people in with medicine allergies, but not Benadryl specifically. It will probably be fine if you don't go into full anaphalxsis. If you go into full anaphalaxsis, I would expect a DQ.
Your recruiter wants you to be quiet in case it disqualifies you, and because you can get in and tell future doctors that you had a benadryl allergy and they won't give you benadryl, and they won't go back and look at your enlistment paperwork (They don't even have access to it or know enough to go back and look). Generally, you wouldn't be given benadryl without knowing, so you could avoid it. However, it is still dishonest. If you want to tell MEPS, you will get your recruiter in trouble at this time (even though this mess is his fault), so just give him a heads-up. When applicants tell MEPS stuff that we didn't turn in on the paperwork we always get in trouble for not having the paperwork correctly completed- but it's a slap on the wrist, nothing like what you could possibly face if sent home from basic training for an erroneous enlistment.
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