Sleep Apnea is a big stumbling block when getting work as a truck driver

No, I meant you can't use your own doctor, unless he/she is DOT certified. My personal physician is not. I'd rather see my own doc, but ya gotta do what they tell you.

 

Ah, my bad. Yup. My doctor is not DOT certified, but another in the same practice was...so I just got my initial one done with his colleague.

 

Well the one thing that should be done is that the FMCSA forces these companies to accept a dot physical no matter what.

What I mean is that if I get dot physical from a certified DOT doc, that's it, a company can't force me to go to another doc that they pick because there is no real reason for it now - the docs are certified under the same exact standards and a DOT physical is all the same.

 

Did you drive for Cheeseman? Did you just not like the company or is it just the sleep apnea thing that they're bad about. Thanks

 

Doing that you risk spending significant time in jail.

Withholding information on disqualifying conditions is a class I Federal felony. The real problem is if you are ever in a major accident all of your medical records will be subpoenaed.

There are drivers serving jail time for reckless homicide from accidents that probably were not their fault but when the falsification issues came out. ...

is it worth the risk?

 

Under the FMCSR a company can use medical examiner standards more restrictive than the FMCSA MRB guidance. .

A company can require you to use a specific medical examiner.

 

Sleep Apnea is complete bs....just another way to force/sell some medical crap that otherwise few ever buy and this fad actually is hurting American working familes as evidenced by the OP. Sure sleep apnea exists but not to the extent of what most witch doctors say it does... This is a huge multi-million dollar scam and of course some of the larger trucking companies get kick backs by getting their crooked doctors involved.
All it is doing is hurting the American worker and the trucking industry. I am just so grateful my doctor is against this kind of non-sense.

 

I too tire (no pun) of this sleep apnea BS.

Here is what I have been doing at my past exams. When asked if I sleep nights, I say YES.
when asked if I feel sleepy during the day, I say NO.

Done deal.


Another thing or two that drivers can do is, LOSE WEIGHT, Get your BMI down.
There is not much one can do for neck size, but by LOSING some weight "might help".

That's it.

If ANY company told me I HAD TO take a sleep apnea test, because it IS THIER RULES?

I know how to walk out of that interview.

 

Yup. That's the real issue here. People ask "Why do so many drivers have sleep apnea?" Gee...I dunno...it might have something to do with the rate of obesity for drivers. I have literally NEVER met someone that was diagnosed with sleep apnea that couldn't stand to lose AT LEAST 15 lbs.

 

I had a friend who died at 53 from undiagnosed apnea... It is real. It amazes me how people don't raise a stink about having their BP checked but get insulted about Apnea... A disease is a disease, you have it or you don't, if you have it, get treatment. Its not that hard to understand.