Sleep Apnea is a big stumbling block when getting work as a truck driver

Thats bull pucky !!! There is no DOT reg requiring you to get a sleep test yet !! The doctor cannot take it upon their self to refuse a med card !!! Now your company may have a company policy but it is not a DOT rule yet !!

 

http://www.landlinemag.com/Magazine/2014/May/News/sleep-apnea-testing.aspx

Interesting read. While it's not a regulation, the FMCSA is coming down on doctors.

 

my bmv doesnt get a copy of the long form. only makes a copy of the wallet card to self certify. The wallet card shows nothing about anything related to meds or conditions I have. Long form doesnt even state usage compliance. Only thing that does that is the usage printout by the company SNI contracts with. Far as I know , THAT stays in the med file at the docs office.

Something doesnt smell right with this part of the info given. And someone already diagnosed with Apnea, would ,to my mind, know the value in cpap usage. For me , I dont sleep worth a spit at all if I do not use it. There is NO WAY I would be leaving such a life saving machine at home.

last thing, the 3 short years I have driven , I have ONLY been given a 1 yr card , due to the apnea. Was unaware that 2 yr cards were given for apnea.

Good luck driver. Someone mentioned looking at SNI. Plenty of opportunity available there. With the program stated above by 48Packard

 

Absolutely correct, i don't know why people don't read the dot regs, you don't have to mesmerize all the regs but at least get familiar with them and now with the net and everyone has access to the net go to the FMCSA web site and learn some thing new today.

But once you give in and have the test done you are bound to the results for life

You also have to understand this is a multi million dollar industry and every Doctor out is trying to get their share.

 

You actually get on a flight to a trucking company orientation and physical which will obviously keep you overnight for several days and you don't bring the cpap you have been prescribed to sleep with? So you will sleep all those nights without it but you blame the company for telling you to bring clothes and a bedroll? You obviously don't use the machine. But you want to blame your incompetence on the machine and company. I have sleep apnea and wanted the privilege of obtaining a CDL and driving a truck so I took responsibility for myself and overcame all the obstacles that were there and know I drive OTR for a company I enjoy working for while I support my family. I don't play the victim well, I like to succeed.

 

I also just noticed which subforum this was posted in.

 

Good point mickey. I had to go "up top" and look at it myself. He probably meant is AGE was 27, rather than his years of trucking. Hmmm, perhaps we are seeing what the problem is?

 

Hate to disagree with you but he doesn't have to give a reason why he can refuse to sign your DOT card. There is no regulation for that.

 

Yeah, if the company's doctor won't give you a card, what are you supposed to do? Can't use your own, unless they are DOT certified. Not all are.
When I started here over 2 years ago, I had a physical about 2 month's old. I still had to get another one from the doctor they use.

 

Yup. It's really not that big of a deal. I've been using one for about five years now. Whenever I go out of town...it's one of the first things that gets packed up...because I NEED it. If you take off out of town and don't think to pack your CPAP...that tells me that you're not in the habit of using it. I have to assume that's the conclusion that the company in question reached. If you were using it on a nightly basis...it would have been a priority to ensure that you took it along.

To the OP...without proof that you were using your CPAP (90 days history)...they had to treat you as being "non compliant." That is definitely going to make you a "no go" for hiring.

I don't see what the big deal with a sleep apnea diagnosis is. I had no difficulty at all lining up trucking job...and I'm a new guy. The thing is...you NEED 90 days of sleep history (download from CPAP) to show that you're using the machine. If you can prove that you're using it...again...it's not a big deal. I didn't have a single company balk at hiring me due to a sleep apnea diagnosis.

That's BS. I'm not directing that at you, but whoever told you that. A CPAP is a CPAP. I've gotten signed off on two DOT physicals from two different doctors (one for my company) and they didn't care about the make/model of the CPAP. They just wanted to see the 90 day download history to see that I was using it.

That's standard. I was in the same boat. My physical was two months old and the company I signed off on had me go to their "company" doc to get one. It wasn't a big deal. My $.02...the "company" doc was less detailed in my exam than my previous one.