DOT Physicals

[NightDriver]

I think the OP's point was that he opposes the financial support of entities who enthusiastically exploit every opportunity to make a buck (read: "share a kickback") without true analytical consideration for individual requirements.

My neck size and/or BMI DOES NOT automatically indicate my ability to safely operate a vehicle and I'll be ****ed if I support an organization that greedily premises that it does.

If they're obtuse enough to crow that, yes, they DO automatically send high BMIs or large neck sizes to sleep studies without further investigation or analysis, then they don't deserve my money. I'd much rather support practices that rely on true diagnostic skills rather than the latest federal fomentation.

 

[MaidMarion]

There is nothing in the FMCSA's rules about being tested for sleep apnea and no doctor cash show a rule. What the show you is guidance for a regulation that isn't even made yet.

Hubby and I had our physicals done this morning. The examiner was an intelligent and articulate person. He understood, and even agreed, with truckers' view of mandatory sleep apnea testing. But he explicitly told us that he had no choice whatsoever in whether to send drivers for the test if their BMI is 35% or greater. He and his colleagues have been warned that if they don't, and a driver later has an accident, the examiner will lose his license to practice. It sounds as if the powers that be are using scare tactics to enforce that 'guidance' as a quasi-rule through the examination process, all the while assuring Congress that the process has NOT changed and that the examiners can use their discretion.

Our examiner also told us he understands there's now a push to extend mandatory sleep apnea studies to a second industry. I suspect this is only the beginning.

If you're the type that invests in the stock market this might be a good time to invest in companies that sell CPAP machines and supplies.

 

[in-Transit]

Here's how I see it

I will guarantee I'm bigger then anyone on here..... However I KNOW I can safely do my job. I DONT have sleep apnea I DONT have diabetes and I DONT have blood pressure issues. I still service my own vehicles and find no task too big to tackle... My problem? I just plain like the taste of food ! I just passed my physical and passed the sleep study and every other test they throw at me. There is a big difference between fat and lazy . I may be fat but I can hold my own when I need to


Sent from my flying circus

 

[skyraider]

If one is way to fluffy to pass the DOT physical, be a grownup and fix yourself. If you do not , then you most likely will not be driving someday. If you need help, there are lots of ways to reduce weight. Don't let you ego of stubbornness kill your driving job.

 

[Turtle]

I may be fat but I can hold my own when I need to

Right up until the point where you can't. I used to be the same as you, no high blood pressure, no high cholesterol, no diabetes, no sleep apnea. I still don't have sleep apnea, but one DOT physical I didn't have high blood pressure or high blood sugar or high cholesterol, not even any indicators that I should be on the lookout for anything, and then suddenly... a year... later I did. High blood sugar for the previous 3 months, high cholesterol, high blood pressure.

I'm still overweight, but not nearly what I was before. You can be perfectly fine and be overweight, right up until you aren't perfectly fine. And there won't be any warnings. And it'll come as a shock. My numbers always looked good, and I could always do whatever I needed to physically, so I never gave it a second thought or worried about it. I should have.

Just something to think about.

 

[pearlpro]

What doesnt anyone age around here, I worked hard, physical labor hard most of my life, I decide to cut back on that and enjoy some driving, yep I gained some weight, I got older, metabolism slowed down and gained weight, Mashed potatos and Pie I like it....now because I put on weight Im a flawed individual....are we in America or the German army.....This is about money, plain and simple, and no one will convince me otherwise. Ya if I wanted to have a size 32 waist I could get up each day jog five miles eat Mueslix and drink Skim milk....But I dont work my butt off to leave the best life has to offer me off my plate.....You wanna be a skinny guy , have that military cut, its your choice, but when LOBBYS force me to weigh 135 lbs, be 5'10, have Blond hair and say Heil CPAP,,,,well I draw the line....If thats what happens so be it, Ill drop down and drive a van or a flatbed pickup and enjoy my life without the ridiculous and FORCED regulations that some RICH corporation wants me to obey....safety my a$$.....with Illegals and Eastern europeans and no engrish speakers everywhere in this industry, and the companys that PAY for Exams and CDLS they want to get rid of me....I cost too much, Im a old timer.....They can pay 6 guys who cant say DISPATCH to take my job and when they kill a family and disappear back across the border, remember you ran off a Safe, Professional, Courteous and Caring Driver because his belt was too big, his neck too big, and he didnt want to pay 200 dollars or more a month to rent the CPAP machine ......he didnt need in the name of SAFETY....

 

[Scuba]

If you are overweight and snore don't be pig headed go get tested, you worry about costs how much is your life worth? I got tested about a month ago and found out that I stop breathing over 80 times an hour. Yea any day I could have failed to wake up I now sleep hooked to the cpap machine and it's no big deal you get used to it real fast. Now in the middle of the day I don't feel tired at all. I have been able to stop drinking coffee all together I don't have to buy any 5 hr energy drinks. If you need either of those things to get through the day get tested.

 

[Jamin_Joe]

In my opinion, FMCSA has a misguided notion that they can eliminate accidrnts due to medical status. This is impossible due to the fact that the body's physiology can fail at any time for any reason. Of course the odds against organ failure is greatly reduced due to good health. Still, in the case if stroke or cardiovascular failure, a high degree of stress and unseen medical issues can create sudden death.
Look at Anatomy and see how fragile the body is chemicly and due to the aging of the blood circulation, resperatory, and nerve systems are balanced systems and normal ware and tear can easily upset that ballance causing a domino effect. Check it out for yourselves, a good place is emt and basic human physiology sites.

 

[coalminer]

Im going to vent a little bit, was only able to get a 90 day DOT physical because of high blood pressure. Now I don't have a problem with the stats that are required to obtain the physical, my problem is finding a doctor that will find out why my blood pressure is high. Im 42, about 5'10" and weigh about 205 (ive lost 25lbs in the last 3 months) so im a little overweight, but at the job that I have been working at for the last 6 months, I have been working my butt off.

I have been dealing with HBP for as long as I can remember, every different medication I have been on has only worked to lower my BP a little, but has made me feel fatigued all the time. I would stop taking the meds after a few months because I was afraid I was going to fall asleep at the wheel and kill someone.

I know what I have is not primary hypertension, it is secondary, now if I could only find a doctor who would take the time to do some tests instead of just wanting to give me another pill.

OK, Im done with my rant...

 

[Jamin_Joe]

Can understand your frustrations, but it is a difficult up hill fight which unfortunatly the deck is stscked against you. FMCSA is just to irrogent to work with.

Wanted so badly to organize a protest with Drivers that Are qualified but forced out of making an honest living by BS.

We would have drove around MS Papps office, by congress, looped around the beltway and stopped at a radio station. Who knows the Gestopo would have arredted us for not buying a permit.

 

[Deville]

I was talking to a couple of friends of mine the other day at our weekly car show and one of them mentioned wanting to go eat at the Panera bread that was across the street. The person mentioning it is tremendous. 5'10" at least 300-325 pounds. Dude is huge. A nice person and being a large guy doesn't make him a bad person. When he pulled up to the show he got out of the car with a container of cookies from Dunkin Doughnots and a Coffee Coolata and was complaining that he had low blood sugar and was going to pass out.

the 3 of us kind of looked at him cross eyed, but we were all like ok. So, later in the day he mentions he want's to go to Panera bread and get a sandwhich, our other friend looks over and says, yea I can go for a salad. They have good salads. To which I agreed. They do have good salads. The person who wanted the salad is 5'9' skinny guy, maybe 170 pounds.

The big guy looks at him and says I didn't say anything about a salad, I said Sandwich. To which the skinny guy replies don't you worry about your health? When was the last time you had a physical, how old are you now?

The big guy replies, I had one a few months ago, i'm 43 years old, BP is good everything is good. I embrace my fat.

The skinny guy replies, well I have to watch everything I eat, my BP is out of control, I almost died a few years ago. He is 39 years old, exercises, eats right, doesn't smoke and has hereditary BP issues.

The point of this story is that fat guys don't always have high BP or any health issues, but they are being unfairly targeted because they are fat. Fact is in my own life I have seen more tall skinny guys drop dead from heart issues then I have fat guys. But as a wise man told me once, look around you don't see too many elderly fat guys. I thought about that for a while and realized he was right.

 

[coalminer]

Can understand your frustrations, but it is a difficult up hill fight which unfortunatly the deck is stscked against you. FMCSA is just to irrogent to work with.

Wanted so badly to organize a protest with Drivers that Are qualified but forced out of making an honest living by BS.

We would have drove around MS Papps office, by congress, looped around the beltway and stopped at a radio station. Who knows the Gestopo would have arredted us for not buying a permit.

I have no problem with the FMCSA regulations, what ticks me off is that I cant find a doctor who will do anything more than write another prescription, I want answers, not more drugs.

 

[Deville]

I have no problem with the FMCSA regulations, what ticks me off is that I cant find a doctor who will do anything more than write another prescription, I want answers, not more drugs.

Sometimes you have to find the answers within yourself.

What meds are you taking. PM me if you don't feel comfortable boardcasting it in the open forum.

 

[coalminer]

Sometimes you have to find the answers within yourself.

What meds are you taking. PM me if you don't feel comfortable boardcasting it in the open forum.

Right now im on Norvasc, but I have tried different water pills, beta blockers and combinations of more than one at a time. The lower the meds would make my BP, the worse I felt. When I don't take any meds, my BP would average 180 to 190 over 100 to 110, but I felt great, had plenty of energy, but the closer my BP would get to "normal" it was like something was draining my energy away.

 

[Deville]

Right now im on Norvasc, but I have tried different water pills, beta blockers and combinations of more than one at a time. The lower the meds would make my BP, the worse I felt. When I don't take any meds, my BP would average 180 to 190 over 100 to 110, but I felt great, had plenty of energy, but the closer my BP would get to "normal" it was like something was draining my energy away.

Sometimes the water pill does more harm then good. If you aren't retaining water you maybe better off without it. The dose maybe too high. Ask the dr. to lower it and go from there.

 

[cheri1122]

I have no problem with the FMCSA regulations, what ticks me off is that I cant find a doctor who will do anything more than write another prescription, I want answers, not more drugs.

Unless they've gone 'corporate' in the last 10-15 years, I always found nurse practitioners to be more holistically oriented than doctors. They have almost as much training, but tend to consider the interactions that make up the whole: diet, exercise, stress, work/play balance, etc.
What they didn't do was prescribe a pill [although they can] for every problem. Maybe one can help you identify the cause of your hypertension problem.

 

[Mailer]

........ When I don't take any meds, my BP would average 180 to 190 over 100 to 110, but I felt great, had plenty of energy, but the closer my BP would get to "normal" it was like something was draining my energy away.

In general, and not direct at you Your statement above are commonly described by folks who are diagnosed with hypertension and placed on the antihypertensive meds.

The side effects from antihypertensive meds are generally enough factor that led to the non-compliance in taking the medications.

This scenario can be dangerous, especially when the patient reports to the doctor that he has been taking the meds as prescribed but he actually skipped a day or a few doses to avoid the side effects.

So when the non-compliance patient shows up at the clinic with unregulated BP, depending on the BP readings, the doctor may increase the dosage and/or add another antihypertensive...........not a good outcome.

Of course, there are other factors, but non-compliance are the common one.

Hope you can find the doctor that can help you pinpoint the problem soon.

 

[OntarioVanMan]

Unless they've gone 'corporate' in the last 10-15 years, I always found nurse practitioners to be more holistically oriented than doctors. They have almost as much training, but tend to consider the interactions that make up the whole: diet, exercise, stress, work/play balance, etc.
What they didn't do was prescribe a pill [although they can] for every problem. Maybe one can help you identify the cause of your hypertension problem.

Out here called CPA's....almost a Dr....he is like Cheri described...really up on his drugs and the interactions....I am on Norvasc as well....Just went off the Atenonol that slows the heart....my pulse was down to the low 40's now back into the mid 50's...since I've lost over 90 Lbs....and then went off the water pill as it does little good anymore...

 

[coalminer]

Out here called CPA's....almost a Dr....he is like Cheri described...really up on his drugs and the interactions....I am on Norvasc as well....Just went off the Atenonol that slows the heart....my pulse was down to the low 40's now back into the mid 50's...since I've lost over 90 Lbs....and then went off the water pill as it does little good anymore...

Thankfully norvasc is a cheap drug, Publix pharmacy does not charge for it, (generic version) along with a list of antibiotics.

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[xiggi]

Is it something as simple as the water pill causes you to wake up a couple extra times to relieve yourself? That can make a huge difference on fatigue. You can have a simple blood test done to check electrolyte levels as water pills can drag that down also. Could be as simple as a replacement drink.

Those are dangerous levels don't stop taken your pills it's no safer than being behind the wheel tired.

Do you take a good multi vitimin? I know it sounds nuts but I swear if I don't take mine in the morning I feel more wore out. It's probably just one ingredient in the pill but don't want to buy a ton of separate pills to figure it out.

I take lisinopril pretty basic generic but works good for me. Water pills make a huge difference for me.

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