Home Equity Loan with an FHA First Loan

Everyone,
can I get a home equity loan if i have an FHA loan ? I do have equity in my property and my LTV is currently about 70%.
I heard that if your first mortgage is an FHA then you can’t get a HELOC. is that true? I hope the banker I spoke to is an idiot because this doesnt make sense. does the fact that i have the first loan as an FHA mean that I can’t get any eqity out?

Thanks a lot