I am thinking about going to cdl. Don't know if I can get hired?

Leisure ?

 

He didn't mean the doctor would certify that you have epilepsy, but that he certified you (as in, issued you a valid medical card) even though you have epilepsy.

 

Yes, what @Moosetek13 posted is what I meant. I apologize for not being all the way clear. When you go to the doctor, they will check you out. If the dot doctor of your choosing won't certify you, and give you medical clearance to drive a commercial vehicle, it's not likely that a doctor of a company's choosing would either. I think it's better to try this route, and spend a little money to see, rather then spend thousands and waste a lot more time to get a CDL and risk not getting hired out of fear for your condition.

Now this is worth mentioning, even if you get certified by your own doctor, you can hired on with a company amd they will still most likely have you do another physical with their doctor.

I feel like this should be your first step. Get a physical done just to see. If they give you a card, then that can open an avenue for you to drive.

 

I agree 100% with what @bryan21384 said.
Find a Dr who does DOT physicals and see if they will pass you. Expect to pay somewhere in the range of $80-120..
You could even start with your primary Dr and see what they say about driving commercial vehicles. If the meds that you’re taking aren’t banned outright then it’s possible that the DOT Dr will require a note from your primary.

If you care to share the meds with the forum perhaps we can give you an idea of what you’re dealing with vs fmcsa.

Don’t ever think about stopping those meds. I lost a very close cousin to epilepsy because he wasn’t taking his meds faithfully.

 

Okay, so a quick search looks like you will need a Federal seizure exemption,

Link has more details you should probably read.

https://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/medical/d...Transportation (DOT,to apply for an exemption

 

I'm not sure. I wouldn't think those would be an issue in most trades, especially being 3 years old. If your heart is set on trucking, see what you can do to make it happen.

I just noticed where you said that you were in need of employment. I wasn't sure if you were interested in any trade or if you had a specific interest in trucking. If you're interested in any trade, some of the others would probably have less hurdles to get into. If you can get into trucking and maintain a clean record for a few years, you won't have as much trouble with all the things you mentioned. Will just be a bit tough getting in, if you can at all

 

Every (redacted) day too! I have said this several times. I can't even drive a riding mower. They won't approve me for a scooter. The state of Virginia took my CDL and today all I have is an ID card.

Full-blown epilepsy is 100% inconsistent with driving a CMV. You lie on the physical and during the application process, then go on to have a serious tonic-clonic seizure that causes a serious loss of life accident you will be lucky to stay out of jail. Also, I am aware of post #16, I know a guy with this crappy disease who has attempted to get one. I only know of 2 people out of maybe 100 or more who like me have this disease who could satisfy the time requirements in the first bullet point. Let me come off my meds and it is not a matter of weeks, maybe not even days, just hours and EMS will be here.

 

Sorry to hear that Moose.

OP, here is the thing, you have to go through an exemption process and for the most part have everything related to your condition documented.

I can not hire anyone with your condition, my insurance companies will not allow it to happen no matter what. This is on their top ten list of no no's.

the DUI/DWI is a secondary problem, this can be dealt with by negotiating with the insurance.

What they look at is the risk, if you are in greater risk of an accident, I already had to deal with a driver with seizers and had to part ways because she her condition was not good. She got into a serious accident (was medivaced to the nearest hospital and was there for a week), fortunately it was a customer's property with customer's equipment destroyed with no one hurt other than the driver. It was a mess, we settled with the customer without going to court but it was costly.

What I think you should do is to rethink the entire truck driving thing. Not to be cruel but there are somethings that you can't do in life because of a medical condition, I can't skydive or scuba because of what holds my bones together, my wife will never be a surgeon or train engineer, so we accept what limits we have and move on.

 

You would need a medical card even to attend a driving school, but like everyone said I would not want to be behind the wheel of truck and have that issue. You could crush hundreds of people.