Where can I get these materials and questions about diabetes.

For awhile I've been thinking of getting my CDL. I just about have the money saved to enroll myself at the locat JC and their course. I've also spoken with the professors, whom have put my mind at ease some. The only things that scare me are not being supplied with the information I need to get from one place to another safely and some operational issues. I've been looking online, but I've had some problems finding readily accessable information on things like bridge clearances, speed and weight limits, and the like. I guess I have to look state to state. Only there doesn't seem to be any method to the madness of finding it all. I think somebody here told me once that there is an atlas that has all that stuff listed in it. Anybody know of a name to it?

Also, what do you think of the new guidelines allowing insulin-dependent diabetics on the road. Within their stated limits, of course. Will it become easier to become a driver with the disease? I ask because my dad is, and grandfather was, diabetic. I need to lose weight, but I'm getting better at it and controlling my diet so that I can lose weight and control the sugar intake. At the present time, though, I'm not diabetic. I don't think I'm pre-diabetic, either. (I wasn't as of a year ago.) I just have some hesitancy issues due to this. Any ideas?

 

Thanks. I had a DOT exam for my cab license and passed it. The guy probably wouldn't have told me, though, if I was pre-diabetic. The history of diabetes is what worries me. So far the signs of diabetes haven't hit me. I just didn't know how worried I should be and if I should expend the time if they're going to tell me to take a hike. I forget who posted the story online, maybe Cybergal, about the diabetes waver. I also read the link. It seems as if there's a lot discussion still.

 

I don't know. I thought that story read as though the powers-that-be are allowing, or are going to allow, exceptions for insulin-dependant drivers under certain stipulations. As you're not Type 2 insulin-dependant, I'd suppose you don't fall into that catagory. I think pills are OK. Also, you have to show you have no complications due to the diabetes. You don't have any. I don't have any, either.

I feel the problem is that dependants need the shot, which would take time to interpret your numbers and administer the shot itself. Also, knowing the clown my dad is, if you take too big of a shot, your sugars will bottom out. Then you eat some candy to balance the effects; and they shoot too high. Now, you're on a roller-coaster.

It's something I'd like to know more about myself. I just saw these items and had the questions pop up. My dad and grandpa are insulin-dependant. The doctors have more or less said that, short of an act of God, I'll become one, too. That's even if I'm lean and have a fantastically well-balanced diet. Diet's good, but I'm not so lean.

I'm pretty sure it was Cybergal who posted that. I should go through and try to find that post and story. That is actually my largest sticking point about becoming a trucker. I want to drive around and be active physically. If I have to be stuck in one spot, I'll go back to teaching, I guess. I can make the same money pretty much but for nine months of actual work. (Preparing lessons isn't work. You should already know your stuff.)

I found some helpful stuff on the American Diabetes Association's website. Check it out.

 

The stuff on the diabetes waver was posted two weeks ago by Cybergal. Sorry I can't post it here, but I couldn't figure out a way to do it. It's there, though. Unfortunately, there are many stipulations. I suppose they're well-founded even though they are complex and numerous. Bottom line is that now you can drive interstate and be insulin-dependant diabetic.

They talk of having to go to an endocrinologist every three months as one of the details submitted. Maybe they should do urinalysis tests every week on other truckers, too. People need to be monitored to an extent with diabetes, but people that park their truck for their ten hours off, drink at strip clubs for five hours, and then drive in another five hours are more dangerous in my opinion. I picked a number of them up in my cab. When it comes to this, I see it as personal I guess. I've known many people that drive a car with diabetes and have been OK. They haven't passed out. If you drink and drive, you're a danger. Period.

Trucking is more stressful than normal driving, but I wouldn't think of driving my personal car in ten hours after boozing it up. I just feel there are other things that should be dealt with just as severely, if not more so.