DOT Physical

NEVER tell a lie to a medical examiner. I can't stress this strongly enough. I get so dang tired of people coming into these boards and advising deception. The first problem is back surgery in the generic sense IS NOT a disqualifying medical condition. The next point is everything that does disqualify is not good for you health wise anyway. Out of control diabetes can blind you and cause you at some point to lose a foot or leg. High blood pressure can cause a host of things. The lifestyle of the trucker community is horrible when it comes to getting healthy and staying that way. I have just got home from a long treatment program from my epilepsy and while I was gone a friend of mine died of a stroke while parked overnight in a truck stop in Arizona. This friend smoked and weighed OVER 400 pounds. I can't speak for the website owner but if it were me I would not like it if people kept giving others advice to be deceptive. It is not professional and might even open the owner to legal liability .

 

If you are able to pick up 120 pound boxes say 3 feet wide, 2 deep and 2 high pulling 550 of them walking with each box on your waist about 80 feet max to the designated stack point to build a pallet off your trailer floor... over a period of a few hours. That's 48000 give or take. Can you do it?

It will be far likely to find work in a drop hook situation or to run for McKesson where you are not allowed access to that trailer and are handed the bills after they finish with you. It's very easy on the back.

What I do worry about for you is that classic volvo lurch side to side with that vicious rock motion when you cross a curb at a 45 degree angle. That rock hits you right where your kidneys are and the spine at that level... can you flex that spine at that location while riding your seat side to side without a problem?

It's the most extreme force I can think off that can possibly hit you during trucking. Volvos used to do this quite a bit. One trip across curbing at a angle leaving a diner usually inflicts enough ow to go back to bed for the rest of the day.. for me anyhow.

 

That's right. Don't lie to the doc. But don't volunteer information either. I bet you I can get myself medically certified if I hit the concentra at the time there is 200 impatient drivers wanting physicals. I would walk out of there with a form ready to go. But that's fraud outright when I consider what is wrong with me physically.

 

Just renewed my card on Monday and they now ask if you've had any surgeries, ever stayed overnight in the hospital, etc.

 

I agree. The thing with physicals is for the most part it is easy to get a card. If your vision is good in both eyes. You can hear well and have the ability to do some basic movements your OK. past surgeries are NOT an automatic disqualifying thing. Things get a bit more complicated as we get older. Right now I could lie on my physical and get a 2 year card if I wanted to return to driving. The thing that disqualifies me is epilepsy. The examiner see's a scar and asks about it tell the examiner. There are so many myths and half truths out there it boggles my mind. A physical is NOT a pass or fail and that is the end of it. Either you meet the standards setup by the FMCSA or you don't. This is the determination the examiner is being asked to make. Then you have the option to make the lifestyle changes. I know of several diabetes that fast before a physical. Their diabetes is not controlled. Folks this is a ticking time bomb. If you are taking ANY medication that can be seen on a drug screen this is where you tell the examiner. If the examiner has no issue they will make it part of your physical. If per chance you don't get a card or you get a limited time card it means YOU have something wrong that needs to be monitored. This is for your own good and the motoring public you are sharing the road with.

There is a part of me that would love to be back on the road. I loved driving out west. However I know that part of my life is over. I can't even operate a regular auto now either. I stay close to the business by helping young drivers and maybe one day a safety position will open up that does not involve me having to operate a car. These FMCSA standards are not really all that difficult to meet. And if you can't meet them it means you have other issues and should not be behind the wheel of a CMV or like me even an Auto. It is your life we are talking about. Having an out of control issue like diabetes and covering it up just to get a physical is not bright or safe. So like I said NEVER tell that examiner a lie.

 

In my time off the road, I had 5 hernias repaired and a bowel resectioning...

No problem getting a card when I came back.