I am fat. DOT Physical problem?

I’d like to see that regulation. Please post the link to that. Medical examiners are federally regulated.

 

What you do not get it is not required, trucking companies are pushing this, and if by chance he test positive then it goes as requirement on his license. Better to not take it thru a trucking comapny, if you think you need a sleep study go to your own doctor, not some jerk in a safety office that is not a doctor. Trucking companies over step themselves, and it is up to the drivers to keep them in check. ask them on the phone if they require it, if so call someone else.

 

More hear say, Like my brother has a friend that had and uncle that said.....

 

First, I went to my own doctor when my girlfriend at the time (my wife now) spent the night with me the first time and told me I scared her to death when I kept stopping breathing. But even if the doctor in the quick care that our company uses for DOT physicals sent me instead, the sleep study is done by a place that does just that. There’s no mystery about it, they attach a bunch of sensors and monitor you while you sleep, recording the whole thing. Either you have sleep apnea or you don’t, and if you do, they can tell you exactly how severe, and what settings for a CPAP machine.

 

I’ll add that sleep apnea is no joke. My former employer had/has it and won’t use his machine, and he has full blown narcolepsy as a result. His family won’t let him drive a car, he falls asleep at stop signs.

 

Some of us without sleep apnea are diagnosed with it anyway. Someone has to pay for the doctor's yacht.

 

If you are shoehorned into a sleep study, recognize that one of the ways that they can get your results to say what they want is by intentionally not taking into account what position you sleep in and where the blood oxygen sensors are attached to you.

Every test I have taken includes a blood oxygen sensor on a finger.

Only after doing research on my own did I understand how important the position of the O2 sensor is.

In my most recent test, I was found to test 'positive' due solely to depressed oxygen levels.

Immediately after I went into REM sleep, my oxygen levels fell.

The problem with that is that I am a side sleeper. Exclusively. I never sleep on my back unless I am sleeping in a chair. I never sleep on my stomach, ever.

On the night of that test, due to all the wires, I slept exclusively on my right side. I woke up a couple times to flip over, but did not flip, because I was wired up.

Why do I flip every couple hours? Because the arm/side I am sleeping on gets numb after a couple hours asleep.

What I discovered recently is why I can stay on my same side, awake, reading for hours, without my arm going numb, but only sleep a few hours before numbness wakes me.

When you enter REM sleep, your body relaxes even more than when you enter light sleep. This allows the muscles and blood vessels to collapse more fully.

My oxygen sensor was on my right hand.

I stayed on my right side all night, waking up to stretch out the arm and shoulder to relieve numbness, then going back to bed.

The graph of my oxygen levels compared to my entry into REM sleep matched almost exactly.

As soon as I fell into REM sleep, my muscles relaxed, and my circulation to my right arm became restricted, leading to reduced oxygen levels in my hand.

Now, if my brain were in my right arm somewhere, then a case might be made for my right arm oxygen levels to mean a #### thing.

But that's not where my brain is, so right arm oxygen levels are worse than useless.

TLDR: If you are a side sleeper and are required to take a sleep apnea test, do your best to make sure that the finger sensors for oxygen are not put on the arm you sleep on for the test. Arrange pillows, wires, whatever in such a way that you cannot easily shift onto the arm that the oxygen sensor is on.

 

It will take a while. Dr Matthews doesnt look at his emails much

 

So this seems to be more of a specific company trucking requirement for those that go through their training and such? Because here in VA, I didn't have to do anything like that when I went to take my DOT medical exam that's good for two years and I even have bad hearing which my CDL reflects in me using hearing aids. Since I didn't go to any sort of trucking school, I never knew something like this existed much like I learned recently that there is an automatic only transmission restriction for drivers that test in an automatic transmission trucks.

My father taught me to drive his own truck that has a 13 speed in just three days before I was driving it loaded on US-17 from Saluda, VA, to Fredericksburg, VA then hop on I-95 from there and drive all the way to DC to pick up a load and drive all the way back to Saluda to unload. I even tested in it, so I was never aware of such restrictions and now this being required. But as far as being overweight, you should be able to pass as long as you can perform the basic things such as touching your toes when standing. I hope you can pass what you need to do to become a fully fledged trucker and also know to take things slowly, never try being that overconfident can do all cowboy that we hear often are involved in wrecks and such. So take your time to properly learn to be a proper professional driver. I wish you the best of luck.

 

I'm not doubting that some have sleep apnea, I'm not doubting that the breathing machine works, I would not tell a driver to not get checked if they had any reason to think they needed it, My problems comes in when employers have non medical staff making the determination that is out of the scope. If I can call a company and they tell me on the phone they require sleep testing of anyone with a neck of 17 inches, then they have over stepped the bounds, the FMCSA does not require this testing, and if they are only testing drivers and drivers only (which they are) then they have over stepped and I personally will not work for them.
If they want to put a monitor in the truck that checks to see if I have a problem staying awake and alert while driving or a drive cam, or lane position sensors, I have no problem with any of that, its there truck they can install what ever they need, but when they decide to do driver only testing that is not required then they have overstepped, You are legally not allowed to single out any group of people, You want to test then test mechanics too or anyone else operating equipment that has a 17 inch neck.