Sickness and trucking, a hard mix. However, you the driver need care for yourself and attempt to keep healthy. So, Dr. "Allow Me" has some advice. Eat healthy, get plenty of sleep, try not to stress yourself. Smoking, sporadic sleep, too much coffee, bad ingredients. A flu bug ? Deal with it.
Getting sick and trucking, how do you get your medications?
Discussion in 'Questions From New Drivers' started by CalculatedRisk, May 23, 2025.
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When covid hit and we still had to drive I was using hand sanitizer and it seemed like I didn’t even get the small common cold. It also made me think don’t rub your eyes or nose. Seemed like I did not get any colds. If someone gets sick all the time then trucking not best job, but hand sanitizer might help if you can find it and it not the bad had sanitizer they had trouble with during Covid.
Once you go the public bathrooms and showers at the truck stop and even have a couple of them roller hotdogs, you will be immunized against everything.tscottme and hope not dumb twucker Thank this. -
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Granted, there are a few very good general purpose antibiotics but even they have their limits as to what illness they should be used to treat. The problem is getting the correct diagnosis, the correct antibiotic at the correct dosage and any other follow up care that's needed.
As far as working when you're sick, that's up to you. It's probably not a good idea if you have something contagious -
Call 911.
hope not dumb twucker and wore out Thank this. -
sorry took me so long to reply. my goal is to get my CDL back by the end of this year. Without going into too much details, less said is better. i'm just hoping that everything goes smoothly and yes I do have health issues. I'm taking steps to mitigate those in the future right now.
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Getting sick on the road:
1. Get sick. Duh.
2. Feel like you're dying and work anyways.
3. Wish you were dead instead of in this god #### ####ing truck.
4. Didn't die. At least not yet.
5. Get another load/repeat.
That's how I've always done it. Food poisoning I've stopped on the side of I-5 in LA in stopped traffic and dropped my pants in front of the whole world and puked and blew diarrhea all over the highway. Did the same in Atl on 285. Done the same in paradise valley in Montana in front of hundreds of elk. Done it with an audience of hispanic gang bangers at 2am on a Saturday night in Laredo while they partied and shot guns in the air laughing at the sight.
It sucks but ya keep on truckin driver. That load is more important than your life or health. You think the robot trucks are gonna get sick and miss an appointment because you ate 4 year expired poptarts for breakfast lunch and dinner at a truck stop? The machines don't #### their pants you know?hope not dumb twucker Thanks this. -
If the OP is pumping antibiotics into their body every time they have the sniffles or bubble guts that’s probably why they’re constantly sick. Their body has rendered the medicine useless from overuse. Your body needs to fight germs so that later those germs don’t affect you as much. Constantly taking antibiotics will trash your immune system.
I’m not a doctor, just someone who has had the gross habit of chewing their nails since childhood. And I rarely get sick. Didn’t even get COVID. -
Me personally i just try to tough it out. Only stopped driving and saught medical attention once and i was literally coughing up and pissing blood. Turns out double pneumonia with both a bacterial and viral infection, strep AND a massive sinus infection is one HELL of a nasty combo. Though when i had covid i likely shoulda gone to a hospital. I just about died over that one. And i do mean that literally. Was parked at the TA over in hudson for about 4 days before i was able to move again and 7 before i was well enough to drive. Was weak for weeks after and it took a year to get taste back.
That said while its rare dont be afraid to call in too sick to drive if you are. But if you do it too often like any job they can and will can you over it. If you work retail now you will usually find you get sick less often too. Just be careful.what and where you eat and you wont get a stomach bug often.tscottme, hope not dumb twucker and CalculatedRisk Thank this. -
honestly I think it was one of my customers who gave it to me. do I feel bad for missing work? Absolutely, but when working retail and you're constantly going to the bathroom (think 3-4x houry) and not being productive it makes sense to call out sick.
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