Having trouble getting my DOT Medical Card, aortic stenosis

Find a truck stop in your area. Check out the drivers lounge or anywhere else literature is posted. You’re sure to find an advertisement for DOT exams.

 

I know of some old timers that kept their medical doctor and dot doctor completely separate for this very reason, and always kept a tight lip when around the dot doctor about anything that might disqualify them from driving. Even knew one old guy that had 2 minor heart attacks while on the road... Never said a word about them to his dot doctor and continued to drive for 20 more years before dementia finally knocked him out of the industry...

Not saying this is what you should do or that I approve of such behavior... I'm just telling old stories here.

 

Mild Aortic Senosis.

FMCSA Medical Examiners DOT guide.

https://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/sites/fmcsa.dot.gov/files/docs/cardio.pdf

Specifically your condition from Page 75 on down.

AORTIC STENOSIS
(TABLE 3)
Natur
al History
The most common cause of aortic stenosis in adults is a degenerative process associated with
many of the risk factors underlying atherosclerosis. Aortic stenosis in younger patients due to a
congenital bicuspid valve is also susceptible over t
ime to progressive fibrosis and calcification.
Calcification is a common feature of aortic stenosis in older adults, regardless of the primary
cause (9,37,38).
The natural history is characterized by a prolonged latent period during which the development
of symptoms and morbidity are very low (39
-
41). This is primarily due to the development of
compensatory left ventricular hypertrophy, which provides an adaptation to increases in wall
stress and increased intracavity pressures (42
-
44). Although sudden
cardiac death without
preceding cardiac symptoms is reported, it is a rare event occurring at a rate of less than 1% per
year (45).
Following the onset of symptoms, namely angina, syncope, or congestive heart failure, average
survival is less than two
to three years (45
-
50), and sudden death is well documented. In a recent
series of patients who were asymptomatic in daily life, 6% experienced sudden death over a 4-
to 5-year follow-up, and all of these had a positive exercise test and severe aortic stenosis with a
valve area of ≤0.6 cm2

(51). In three recent prospective echocardiographic series, sudden
cardiac death was uncommon, but was preceded by symptoms in all patients (52). Management and Evaluation
Asymptomatic Commercial DriverInitial:1.Standard initial evaluation;2.2-
Dimensional and Doppler Echocardiography to assess gradient, valve area, and severity of
left ventricular hypertrophy. Cardiac Catheterization and Coronary Angiography is
occasionally required; and
3.
Exercise Testing is occasion
ally required to assess symptoms, effort tolerance and prognosis
(51). Close monitoring of the blood pressure and electrocardiogram is essential.

Page 76

Follow-up Evaluation
The frequency of evaluation depends upon symptoms and the severity of the aortic
stenosis. The classification used in the ACC/AHA Guidelines is that mild aortic stenosis is defined by a valve
area of >1.5 cm2, moderate by a valve area >1.0 to 1.5 cm2, and severe by a valve area of <1 cm2
(1,13,41,53). Among patients with normal left ventricular systolic function, aortic stenosis is
usually considered as severe when the peak aortic valve velocity is
>50 mmHg (54).
Follow-up Evaluation1.Mild Aortic Stenosis (valve area > 1.5 cm2): Annual clinical evaluation; Echocardiography every five years unless clinical findings change;

2.
Moderate Aortic Stenosis (valve area >1.0-1.5 cm2): Annual clinical evaluation;Echocardiography every one or two years; and 3. Severe Aortic Stenosis (valve area < 1 cm2).
Current Recommendations

Disqualify:
1.
Any symptoms due to aortic stenosis (e.g., syncope, congestive heart failure, reduced effort
tolerance, or angina) in patients with moderate or severe aortic stenosis;
2. If symptoms are consistent with aortic stenosis but the clinical and echocardiographic presentation suggests mild aortic stenosis, the severity of the valve lesion and alternative explanations for symptoms needs to be reassessed. This may require cardiac catheterization in some patients or documentation of reduced effort tolerance by stress testing;

3.Asymptomatic, severe aortic stenosis (aortic valve area <1.0 cm2);

4.Moderate aortic stenosis plus left ventricular dysfunction (ejection fraction less than 40%);

5.Atrial fibrillation and moderate to severe aortic stenosis;

6.Thromboembolism and moderate to severe aortic stenosis; or

7.Positive stress test.

END qoute pages 75 to 76.


With this specific diagnosis, You are disqualified ever from touching a CMV. No ifs buts or maybes. Big Database inside DOT, FMCSA etc probably has recorded that diagnosis and NO doctor in his or her right mind will commit to signing his or her name to your DOT medical card with that situation. They just cannot.

YOU might want to drive a big truck. But you just cannot do it with a cold eye on that diagnosis provided in pages 75 thorugh 76.

I actually have three conditions in my heart with is very close to this. That is one of several damning problems that medically ended my trucking 15 years ago. Roughly. Where I am today I am getting ready to visit the cardiologist this year and learn the true extent of my degeneration.

I don't have but a few years to live once this thing gets really going. And it's been a wolf chewing on my heart valves for a long time.

They can do a few things to fix it. With new valves and so on. Maybe a stent too. The big question is how big is my wallet. Am I willing to commit to a 150,000 dollar operations (Plural) medical billing to buy a few more years of life?

That depends on where my ex is in about one to two years exactly when her doctors get through with her eyes and precancer among other issues in this lifetime.

So. Enjoy the trucks. But that door is closed to you as far as making a living driving them.

 

I know a guy that had to go on insulin and kept it to himself. He needed at least 10 or 15 more years of driving before he could retire. By keeping it to himself, he made it to retirement and now lives the good life.

 

I always worked for companies that required you to go to their doctors for a D.O.T. Card so, in effect, my D.O.T. Dr was not my regular doctor. I liked it that way.

 

Concentra Ugh.

And they need the heart doctor to sign off? UGH... no wonder...

These are the one set of doctors who get faint with the possibility that I cannot hear them with the hearing aids. I usually had a week old or less hearing chart for them.