DOT Physical Question

I applied for, and apparently got, a part-time job as a non-CDL driver for a national company. Last hurdle was the DOT physical, which I took yesterday...and apparently failed. The doc said I showed all the classic signs of suffering from sleep apnea, and wrote me out a referral to get tested.

This area is all new to me. If I still have to be "tested" to see if I have sleep apnea--that is, if it's not a formal diagnosis--then how can it cause me to fail the physical? I've just never heard of failing a physical over an ailment that I may not even have.

Can someone please explain to me how that works?

What questions did he ask ya ??? Did he ask if you snored ??? that is a big NO NO . This is the newest KICK that they are on now . My dr. asked me that and i told how the hell and i suppose to know if i snore i am sleeping and i did stay up one night all night to see if i did.

Do you snore? Correct answer is NO.

If you asked me, I'd say no. Ask the others at our hunting camp and they would say yes, at 95 decibels.

I ended up taking the test and now use a CPap machine at night, and all is quiet.

See if you can go to a different doctor. Some get way more excited about stuff than others. They all have to observe certain minimums but everyone has something they look for. Mine kicked me out over blood pressure. Mine was 122/92. Pretty good for first thing in the morning with a full 12 cups of coffee and a big chew of tobacco in me. He held my paperwork and told me to go every day to the ambulance service and get it checked. When I figured out what time of day and eating or drinking what to get it below 90 then come in and get it checked. Two weeks later min was back to 122/84.

Before I went in, nobody had prompted me on the "correct" answers...so when they asked if I snore, I said yes, because that's one of my wife's biggest complaints. Then they asked if I ever got headaches...and I don't know anyone who has NEVER had a headache. Then they asked me if I ever got tired in the middle of the afternoon...now show me a grandparent who HASN'T had the occasional need for an afternoon nap!

Then the doc looked in my mouth,and said the distance between the back of my tongue and my throat made it "almost a certainty" that I suffer from sleep apnea. I kinda laughed, because I didn't think it was that serious. Guess I was wrong, huh?

A guy at work answered yes he snores. He passed the physical, but now has to go every year for his physical instead of every two years. He says had he known before hand, he would have answered differently.

It is the new way and new kick for them to make money and make you suffer . My neigbor across the street went thru this as his Dr. said he had it and buddy went thru it and he went thru the testing where he had to try and fall asleep in mid day with ten thousand wires hooked to him and people coming in and out Oh he had it sure he did but they made money off him and he had to have tis machine hooked up so he would not die in his sleep as he might stop breathing and this and that. Well after two weeks hooked up to as he called it and air compressor blowen down your throat how would you sleep , it got scrapped and like he put it to me if i die then i can get some good sleep. My Dr. started on that when i went in to renew mine and i flat told him that we are not going there end of discussion don't go there we ain't talking about it no more to be said i sleep just fine . Now my wife sores like a saw mill and i know for a fact that she sleeps good as just try and wake her up . Heck you can even tickle her feet and get no response , Just don't try that when her eyes are open as if you think you have been kicked by a cow ,horse, mule, SON YOU AIN'T seen nothing. And i'll bet you sleep just fine and wake up every morning like the rest of us somedays your well rested then others ya wish ya could just get two more hours in. But they got ya now and all i can say is good luck.

Thanks, Dan...I've got a lot of respect for you and your thoughts on stuff, so that means a lot to me.

Maybe if I'd do some CR at bedtime, I wouldn't have the sleep apnea problem...whaddya think?

I'm like you. I think it's just another legal racket to separate us from our money. I snore, but When I go to sleep, I sleep like a log. I quit the machine because I wasn't getting any rest with it.
Now I can't get them to come pick it up as they say they need a doctor's O.K. I think I'll tell them I'm hauling it to the scrapyard and see what they have to say to that.

It's a new deal they are looking for. Along with diabetics. They want to know if you drink a lot of water and take a leak a lot which is a precursor to diabetes.

They've had a few truckers fall asleep at the wheel and then kill a few people. Then they have found out some had sleep apnea for years but the doctors didn't ask. Now they do. Don't want you dozing off and taking out a school bus with your big rig.

Same for diabetes. Some people and truckers don't know they have it or don't control it and go into a diabetic shock and kill a few people. I know a trucker who got shut down cause he drank and leaked a lot. His co-driver turned him him cause he always wanted to stop. They told him he had to get some marker on one of his tests down (forget if it was blood or urine and I kinda remember him saying his was about 220).

DOT is taking the heat for this. Unfortunately, even those that aren't over the road truck drivers and taking the heat.

I don't know if they would give you an ok if you did do the test, find out you have sleep apnea, and then start using the cpap machine or if it is an automatic permanent disqualification.

I know a guy who couldn't sleep with that football helmet strapped to head that was attached to a wind machine. He tried it for a few weeks but kept waking up every time he rolled over. Decided it was worse and scrapped it. Since it was a rent to own thing after about a year with the insurance paying about 80% a month and he the rest, he went ahead and paid for it. The place that sold it wouldn't do anything without a doctor ok. He checked on the internet and found the way to get into machine setup mode. Like many electronic things, hold a couple buttons down while you turn it on. He had the double whammy also. Restless leg syndrome. The stuff they gave to him for that didn't help either and he quit taking that. So don't tell the dr you have restless leg syndrome either.

I think you should find a different Doctor.That one is trying to scam you and even the Doctor doesnt even know he is scamming you.The doctor has been brainwashed.Sleep apnia might exist but its rare.It means you just go to sleep all the time,sitting up.You probably have seen somebody in church passed out snoring,that would be a risk for sleep apnia.I dont know you or anything,but I doubt whether a doctor can look in your mouth and decide you have sleep apnia or not.A real doctor should know better than that.
I have another theory about their blood pressure scam too.Most people have high blood pressure if you go by their scale.If that number was just 5 higher lots of people wouldnt be considered as high blood pressure,but they couldnt sell as many pills.I actually have high blood pressure.5 bypasses and 5 stents later I still have high blood pressure by their scale,but its no higher now than it was 10 years ago when my blood pressure was considered normal.Some people have blood pressure thats higher than others,some people snore.That doesnt make you defective,but it sells lots of pills and causes lots of misery.The real health problems are caused from food additives.If you can ever pin one of those nutritionists down on it they know it too.People werent as fat and sick when they put sugar in food instead of this other stuff.Even the other sweetener is not as bad as some of the stuff.By the time you get 50 years old you are full of this sludge if you eat junk food.You are lucky to be alive after eating all of that stuff and then they want to make it next to impossible for you to work so they have an excuse to bring Mexicans up here to drive for nothing.Of course this part of the plan with lots of money spent by big companies that want slaves for truck drivers is sneaking right on along.Its advanced so far that doctors are being brainwashed into thinking lots of people have sleep apnia and high blood pressure that dont necessarily.
I think since gas stations or truck stops,whatever,made all of that profit that they should be forced to provide healthy food for travelers,especially truck drivers,and blood pressure will go down,drivers will be in better health,and will live longer.A doctor in the hospital told me that driving a truck takes 10 or more years off of your life.I know its the food mostly,then the lack of sleep and stress.You can fix the stress and lack of sleep by getting a better job,but the good food is harder and harder to find.McDonalds,Wendys,Burger King,and the rest are not good food to eat every day.Thats what made me sick eating that junk food and french fries.I like McDonalds burgers but they will kill you.There needs to be something done about making food safe to eat if they serve people that make a living on the highway.It needs to be affordable too.Now the way truck stops are if you try and eat healthy it costs twice as much and it already is too high.As far as that goes everybody could do without the additives and cheap ingredients that cause lots of illness and obesity,blocked arteries.That stuff there is way more important than somebody that snores when they sleep,but a doctor wont say a word about it,and make you jump through a bunch of hoops to get a physical card over some nonsense,but never say or do anything to cut down the bad health problems out there.

A little CR does wonders! Use it myself quite regulerly

T-40,

Would it be asking too much for you to fix the broken carriage return key on your keyboard? You make a number of interesting posts, but when you don't break them up into paragraphs it makes them almost impossible to read. Thanks.

For what it's worth......
I snored, got winded easy, fell asleep without warning whether driving or watching TV. Slept like a log also. Family doctor checked me and sent me to a lung specialist which scared the he!! out of me. Went there and the guy asked me the gauntlet of questions, put me in a vacuum tank and had me breath etc. Said my lungs were fine and sent me to a sleep clinic. Upshot was that I was breathing about 20 minutes out of an hour while sleeping. Said that sleeping was harder on me than staying awake. Got my little air pump and mask and was almost immediately better. Almost the next day I was doing the 3 flights of steps to work without a whease, felt extremely better, stopped snoring, make road trips without the wife gouging me in the ribs, etc etc. Insurance paid all because it was a preventative measure to heart/lung problems and a safety issue.

Good Luck,


Dave

1. I think you're confusing sleep apnea and narcolepsy.

2. Of course a lot of the hype is to make profits for the pharmacological companies...but some of it isn't.

3. You can lead a trucker to healthier food, but you can't make him buy--or eat--it, to alter a famous saying.
Narcolepsy from Wikipedia

I used to have a bedtime "meeting" with Mr. Daniel, or "his partner, Jimmy Beam," as George Thorogood said it. May have to reconvene that meeting...for medicinal purposes, you understand.

The current guidelines are if you mark yes on snoring, you have to be tested for sleep apnea. If you are fat, you have to be tested for sleep apnea. If you are sleepy during the day you have to be tested for sleep apnea.

Motor safety did a study a few years ago and determined that undiagnosed and untreated sleep apnea was a significant safety issue. They put out the quidelines and a portion of DOT examinations are reviewed for compliance with recomendations.

The doctor could loose his ability to perform DOT examinations if he is not compliant with recommendations.

The upshot is over the next few years, enforcement is going to get more strict. If your belly sticks out further than your chest or if you mark the box about daytime sleepiness or snoring, you might as well talk to your doctor ahead of time.

Sleep apnea leads to narcolepsy.
People who snore also quit breathing. The same loose floppy tissue in the throat causes both.
You can not obtain proper rest when your body goes 20-60 seconds between breaths. The body goes to panic mode and releases adrenaline. Heart rate and blood pressure spikes upward.
These are all factors in strokes that occur during sleep when they should be the least likely. And one of the reasons why people die in their sleep for no obvious cause.
The sleeper doesn't fully awaken or remember the episodes.And of course denies any problem out of pride and embarrassment.
The snorer doesn't reach the deep stage 3 & 4 sleep required for full rest and brain chemistry restoration. Even the lighter stage 2 REM maybe reached only once or twice in the entire night.
The afternoon napper and those who sleep right after supper often suffer sleep apnea.
Sleep apnea and snoring are made worse by being overweight,aging, alcohol before bed and sleeping on ones back.
If you don't suffer from pride and denial. You will loose the lard off your oversized butt, sober up before bed and sleep on your side or stomach.

LOOK, Mr. Know-It-All, I sleep on my side, and I drink so much that a fifth of whiskey--I don't drink beer or wine--lasts me a year.

Glad to know you're the expert on me and how I live my life.

Don't fall asleep on the highway near my family then.
How much do you weight incidentally?
Do smoke b.t.w. ?

Listen to dave2 if you won't believe me.

Trucker40

Never thought I would see the day but........I agree 99.999% with you on this one.

b&d

I quit smoking on June 23, 1998...and I've NEVER fallen asleep behind the wheel of ANY vehicle, EVER.

Are you this much of a jerk with everyone else you deal with? If so, I'm glad I don't have to pay your hospitalization insurance, because I'm sure if you're that much of a jerk somebody has probably tried to adjust your attitude by now.

Congratulations on quiting smoking. Best and most difficult act you will probably accomplish.
As for the snoring. It does go hand in hand with sleep apnea. Sleep apnea is a heath problem that is all too often ignored, denied or laughed off.
Go to a sleep clinic and find out.

I have a doctor-referred appointment with a sleep clinic on Wednesday, May 13th. Unfortunately--or fortunately, depending on how you look at things--the doc also put me on blood pressure medication yesterday. I consider it unfortunate because, up to yesterday, I've never been on any long-term meds before in my life, and I'm 54.