DOT Physical And Medication

Hello all, I'm getting ready to go to School next week here in GA for my CDL. I'm still active duty Army, waiting on my MEB to finish. I went and had a DOT physical done before hand, because I know I have some issues. Long story short i'm honest so its going to be hard to get my CDL. The DOT physical location that the school uses has a copy of my medication that I am currently on. Which is about 1 too many schedule 2's. Now tomorrow I see my DR and I will be coming off my Schedule 2 and jumping up to a Schedule 3, this puts me at all schedule 3 and above. Since the DR already has a copy of what i was on. Changing my Medication Tomorrow (20 November) and going to school and taking my physical sometime between 25 or 26 November or after Thanksgiving. I will hand the Physician an updated list of medications. I would pass with my current but my DR does not want to take responsibility if something happens so he will not put anything in writing.

Any Help or suggestions. I know I'm doing the right thing by being honest. This is actually the only job i can see myself doing after being active duty army for almost 10 years.

I wish you luck, but 80,000 lb's and on schedule 3? think about cr england. the recruiter there said she had a driver on 4 xanex a day.( alleged) i understand you must have some severe health problems, but now i'm paranoid about my nightly glass of wine. i'm just saying, maybe think about diesal mechanics. my ex made a healthy income and never left the shop. the WIA can teach you that too and buy your tools. you would be a welcome sight to all stranded drivers.

Oh my husband was ex army too. he worked on tanks and walked straight into a truck stop.

No can do on the working on vehicles. Bad back. And 80,000 is a lot but 140,000 or 70tons which an M1A2 Abrams tank weighs is what i came off of. Driving heavy vehicles in and out of combat on lots of medication for a few years. Army finally caught up with me. So now i'm getting the MEB. And Being by myself in a tractor touring the country sounds awesome to me. I am fine when i drive as long as i get a good night sleep which sometimes i do sometimes i dont. like the average person. Lisa L. I'm hoping i can walk into a company. Have a prehire on a few but we'll see how it goes next week and tomorrow at the Doctor.

Welcome aboard T-Bone!

First of all you're absolutely doing the right thing by being honest and up front. In reality you're doing the only thing you can because they're going to find any meds on your drug tests, so there's no hiding it anyhow.

To be honest I don't know what Schedule 2 or Schedule 3 meds are. But what I do know is that there are medications that will be approved for commercial driving and those that are not. So hopefully your doctor will be able to get you on meds that will work for commercial driving. Basically, anything that can impair your mind or your senses will not be approved. If it can make you groggy or impairs your reactions in any way they won't let you drive with it.

And your doctor may be asked to verify that the prescriptions you're on will not impair you in any way. We've had lots of people come through here that told us they were asked for verification from their doctor. If your doctor refuses to verify anything in writing you may have to see another doctor. I'm not saying you will for sure, but just be aware of this.

Brett, Yes i'm aware that they would find out. Also, I've been reading CFR whatever the number is on medications. And what you can take and can not take. So i'm headed into the right direction. Just have to change a few. My DR. is pretty good about listening to me. It's the pain that needs to stay away. Other than that. I've been talking to US Xpress, Werner, Knight, and TMC are the four i want to go with. any thoughts

Well we have two great resources that will help you decide on a trucking company. One is our Truck Driver's Career Guide which should be essential reading for anyone considering a career in trucking. It will cover a huge number of topics pertaining to getting your trucking career off to a great start.

The other is a series of articles about How To Choose A Trucking Company which includes an 8 part series I wrote. Those articles will help you understand what the differences are between the various types of companies, what information you need to consider, and where to find it.

Read through those two resources thoroughly and you'll learn a ton.

To give you a quick summary, the first things you're going to want to decide upon are what type of freight you'd like to haul and how often you'd like to get home. You probably won't find anything that can get you home every night until you have some over the road experience but there are a number of companies that can get you home on weekends. Once you determine the type of freight and home time you're looking for it will narrow your list down a bit. At that point you can start calling companies to get a dialogue going with the recruiters and get the application process started.

You can't go wrong with any of the companies you've mentioned though. It's really just a matter of figuring out which one seems to suit you the best. Reading through those resources I gave you will certainly help you figure it out.

Thanks For the links to the information Brett. I have been talking to the 4 recruiters from the company's i mentioned above. I'm expecting to be out at least 2 weeks and a weekend off, wife is prepared for this as well. Only thing that might change my mind is Pets. As i have a buddy i'd like to take with me but its not a deal breaker if it comes down to the wire. I know TMC is only flatbed and their is a lot of labor involved which is ok. Werner, is 100% no touch just verified that yesterday with my prehire application with them and talked to a reciter, US Xpress i need to talk a little more too, then Knight as well. It will work its way out. But its most likely going to be a company i can use my GI Bill with and get that extra $1,000 a month for 12 or so months tax free, US X does not offer that but start vets off at .38cpm long run is it worth it i'll have to do the math and average miles and work it all out as if i were getting a pay check. Thanks for the advice.