Looking For Some Sound Advice...

Hello to you all and Happy Thanksgiving. I will try and keep this short and to the point however I got a lot on my plate and it aint no turkey. I have drove truck off and on since I was 24 years old and even owned my own truck. My last stint was at May Trucking in 2011-2012. I loved driving truck and the industry as a whole,however seemed like problems at home that follwed me onto the road would eventually have me choosing between the two and in the end home was chosen of course. I went through a very bad break-up in 2013 which left me homeless and in dispare. I was put on disability due to lower back problems that surfaced while driving belly dump in the oil field, and ( being honest with you all) I was not in a good place with my mental health. I gave up my C.D.L due to the fact that while in UT I was put on 2 different kinds of pain pills, and another called seraquel which helps me sleep (50mg). The sleep thing all started after being put on the pain pills. Ok now I am living in MT and feeln great. I asked to be taken off one of the pain pills and my doctor and I are looking at something for back pain that is not a narcotic. I am asking for any and all advice on what I should do or what you all would do. Here is somethings to ponder. I- do I go ahead and give this a shot (getting my cdl) 2- get off of disability and risk problems with my back down the road and having to re-do all the disability stuff, 3- Go ahead and continue to study High Road and get my CDL , 4- Now the big question is if I go through with obtaining my CDL, do I have to go back through training. I know this ended up being long but its very important to me and I wanna get this right. One last thing and I am sure this has been asked before,I am 52 years old, do ya all think its to late?

Never to late!!!! I will be 59 in December and retired from a 23year career and got my CDL in August and just started with Roehl Transport. They have an excellent orientation to start you off right and back into the seat. We had a man that started in orientation the same day that I did. He was 60 and said that he use to drive but it had been 30 years since he drove. He had no problems getting back into the seat and has already been issued his truck and is already solo and enjoying every minute of it. For answers to your other questions I will let the more experienced drivers help you there. Happy Thanksgiving :)

Thanks Blessed for your comment. Come on Brett !!! lol give me your thoughts on this,

I- do I go ahead and give this a shot (getting my cdl) 2- get off of disability and risk problems with my back down the road and having to re-do all the disability stuff

Questions one and two can be answered together, because if you do go ahead with this then you will have to get off of disability. I for one, if I felt my situation had improved, would be the type who would want to be off of disability as soon as I could. That's just me, I like to be responsible for my own income, that way if there is a way for me to improve it I can. You are the only one who can truly answer this question of whether you should pursue this or not. Have you consulted with your doctor at all? Do you think you're lower back can take sitting in the seat of a truck for ten plus hours a day?

It sounds to me like some of the medication you are on will definitely need to be changed or eliminated, you really should discuss them with a physician who does D.O.T. physicals. Also, you may very well discover that even if a medication is allowable by the D.O.T. regulations, there may be trucking companies who will choose not to hire people on certain medications - they have that prerogative.

3- Go ahead and continue to study High Road and get my CDL

You can't go wrong right there.

4- Now the big question is if I go through with obtaining my CDL, do I have to go back through training.

Yes, just about any carrier who will hire you is going to have to put you through some sort of training. This will be considered a refresher course and it will be considerably shorter than the greenhorns are going through. It's not that you don't really know how to drive anymore, but by today's insurance underwriters standards you have been "out of the truck" for too long. Brett would have to do the same thing if he wanted to get back in a truck. Don't let it bother you, just do what you've got to do to get to where you want to be. I saw a man at Knight Transportation have to go through a refresher course with them which basically consisted of him going out with a trainer until the trainer was willing to "sign off" on the guy. Two days later he was back at the terminal and was issued a truck. The trainer said, "There is nothing I can teach this guy, he's ready to roll."

One last thing and I am sure this has been asked before,I am 52 years old, do ya all think its to late?

This question gets asked far more than you realize in here, and even though we've gotten to where it is almost comical to us, the answer is still the same - No, it's not too late!

I started this as a second career after retiring from my own business of thirty years. On the day I got hired for my first trucking job at the age of 53, there was another gentleman there who was twenty years my senior, and yes they hired him also at the robust age of 73! This industry is very willing to hire older "seasoned" workers. They are trusting their employees with some very valuable equipment and freight, and the older folks seem to have a better track record of taking care of things.

Sometimes we get people in here who just seem to hang around for a long time and still never pull the trigger, and other times we have folks in here who eventually after soaking up enough information from us decide that it is not the right thing for them to do after all. I don't know if you will fall into either one of those camps, but you will have to determine if you think your back can deal with the demands of the job. We really can't answer that one for you, and I think that may be the foremost concern that you will have to deal with in your decision making process.

Old School thank you for taking the time to comment on my post,its very much appreciated. I have allways had lower back problems however it seemed to of gotten worse while driving those Mack trucks in the oil fields of Eastern UT,lol and they were bad. Also while I was homeless and sleeping in my pickup for months. I do want to get off of disability and I look at it as lettng some one that needs it more then I do, and pay my own way. I have discussed this with my doctor and have asked to be taken off pain pills and put on something that wont be a narcotic. I take a small dosage only at night so I see no problem in going off that pain pill. I have thought alot about having to go with a trainer and knowing that a person is never to old to learn something new and correct me if I am wrong but I am pretty sure those electronic logs differ from company to company. I think it would be to my advantage to go with another driver and learn the daily operations as far as paper work,logs and etc goes. I get pumped up when ever I am on this site and read what others are doing or saying. So with all this said, I am gonna give myself 2 months to study, get my physical, obtain my CDL and apply at the companies that I would like to represent. I am gonna do this. I will keep ya all updated on my progress. Thanks again,,,,,,,

Hey Carl, sorry I was late to respond to this one but no one is better than Old School when it comes to advice.

get off of disability and risk problems with my back down the road and having to re-do all the disability stuff

This is the one thing I don't know anything about. How difficult would it be to get back on disability or transition into a different career if trucking doesn't work out? Often times when someone is on the fence about getting into trucking it's simply a matter of "How much risk would you be taking by giving it a shot?" For most people there is little or no risk. But for you I really don't know how hard it would be to get back on disability if things didn't work out.

I also don't know the nature of your back problem. Often times it's something simple that can be fixed with a tiny bit of exercise but I can't assume that. So the nature of your back problem is obviously a huge factor in all this.

If it's easy to get back on disability or transition to another career then there's little or no risk in giving trucking a shot from a financial perspective. It simply becomes a matter of the back issue. You should go for it if you're excited about the idea but I'd definitely say you need to learn all you can about what your back can handle and possibly get started on some light fitness to shore it up.

I'll say this about your back - in all seriousness there's nothing on Earth like yoga. You should speak with your doctor first of course because I don't know what your back condition is. But the effects you'll feel from stretching and twisting your entire body properly feels like nothing short of a miracle when you experience it. The first time I ever did yoga was like 10 years ago and I knew immediately I would do it the rest of my life. I rarely talk about it because most people won't care but in your case it's probably the best thing on Earth you could do for your back. I'd say it's well worth finding a beginner's program like Yoga Zone For A Strong And Healthy Back and trying it for two or three days. I'm confident it would make a significant difference.

I'll say this about your back - in all seriousness there's nothing on Earth like yoga. You should speak with your doctor first of course because I don't know what your back condition is. But the effects you'll feel from stretching and twisting your entire body properly feels like nothing short of a miracle when you experience it. The first time I ever did yoga was like 10 years ago and I knew immediately I would do it the rest of my life. I rarely talk about it because most people won't care but in your case it's probably the best thing on Earth you could do for your back. I'd say it's well worth finding a beginner's program like Yoga Zone For A Strong And Healthy Back and trying it for two or three days. I'm confident it would make a significant difference.

I will second Brett on the Yoga. It is a HUGE help with my back.

Thanks Brett and Bill for your comments. I was starting to think Brett was a animated machine lol,just kidding Brett, you sir are one of the most highly respected person in the industry of these types of sites. Thank you for all you do,as well as all the other good people that participate on this site. I hope this doesnt bore to many of you however we are all in this together. I had back surgery in 2005 which a few years later was when I returned to trucking. I drove for May for about a year and had no problem with my back. It was when I had to go local and was macking it with a belly dump in the oil fields of Eastern UT,also when I was having to live in my pickup fpr a few months. I wanna think that those roads that were plum nasty along with cramped living space and the mental health aspects of everything that I was going through did play a big factor in my back going south on me. Since I have moved to MT and life has changed dramatically for me in a very good way,I am experiencing less issues with my back. I truly believe that I can leave the pain pill behind and do some sort of over the counter remedy along with exercise. Yoga never even crossed my mind however there is a place right here in Miles City that holds classes 3-4 times a week. Brett and Bill I am gonna do Yoga,thank you. As far as my disability goes,I found out that I will be given 9 months to see if this all works out and if it doesnt I wont loose my disability. Also up to 5 years and if not then SSDI will review my case and gurantee 6 months of disability. Its good to know that I have this buffer. I think driving or in the industry for at least 15-20 years sounds like a good goal to stear toward. One last thing I want to say is THANK YOU!!!. I GOT WORK TO DO