Does the FMCSA require sleep tests if over on BMI???

Let me also say I do not have a cdl yet. I'm new but have done enough research to know the consequences of having it in the trucking industry. Guess things have changed alot through the years from what I have read. Kind of frustrating off the start. There are people with one leg/one eye/diabetic/etc that are more functional and capable than some on the road. Taking a brush and painting across everyone with one stroke is unfair.

 

What seems more likely, sleep apnea causing people to fall asleep driving or irregular, stupid, unpredictable hours?

 

This is like a woman who goes to work for Hooters saying she doesn't like the uniform.

Some companies require hair follicle test. So people who don't want them go elsewhere. Some have driver facing cameras. Again some people go elsewhere. Your company wants sleep apnea tested.

It's the reality of the industry. Do you have to like it? Do you have to have it? Nope. Plenty of other companies.

But to get upset about it. Life's too short for that. IMO I'd rather enjoy my time.

 

I think most drivers don’t want to pay for the sleep study out of pocket, as it can cost a lot. I don’t have insurance, but if a company would pay for it, I’d be willing to do the study. Personally I think it’s just another medical shakedown in a society that is afraid of all potential liabilities in life. No one wants blame placed on their bank account. After the last year and a half, does anyone even trust the medical establishment?

 

This is why I won’t work for a company that requires me to go to their doctor for a physical, I’m fine with paying for it myself.

I started OTR with Maverick in 2013, one of the first things you do is get a physical right there at the terminal. The measure your neck and it if over 15” (I think) you have to get a sleep study. 7 people including me had to get at home sleep study’s. That included a guy who already was on a cpap machine.

I was there for two weeks during training and the next weeks orientation class had 8 people with over 15” necks.

Anybody want to guess how many of us had previously undiagnosed drastic sleep issues? All 15 of us, every single one walked out with a brand new Resmed Cpap and a fat bill for the insurance company. Seems odd to me.

a few years later I paid for two sleep study’s out of my own pocket (around 1000 each) to find out if I actually have sleep apnea and if so, to set a prescription pressure for treatment. When they gave us the machines they just set them on auto and told us to find our own doctor. It was clearly much more about selling the machines then treating the issue.

TL/DR it’s probably a shady scam, you may actually have a sleep problem. Either way you’re getting a cpap

 

The DOT physical doctor is not treating you. They are just trying to find out if you have any conditions. Thus they are not going to prescribe your settings. They also don't tell you how much BP medicine to take...etc.

 

I never said the person giving me my physical was supposed to treat my sleep apnea.

The company prescribing us the machine probably should though. Right? Isn’t that kind of like a doctor handing you a handful of BP medication and telling you to find another doctor that will tell you how many to take? It’s almost like they were mainly concerned with selling machines and sleep study’s.

The main thing I have a gripe about is 100% of the people having a form a sleep apnea that requires a machine to treat. Pretty incredible.

 

Considering you have to go to your personal physician to get the settings prescribed. Every doctor in the country would have to be in on the scam. SMH