Blood Pressure And DOT Physical

Was all set to start mega carrier school on Monday. Took DOT physical on Friday. BP was 138/96. That should be good for one year cert but they only gave me 3 month. I brought it to their attn and they said they put in the numbers and and that's what the computer kicked out.Recruiter told me school was on hold until the Safety Dept looked at it on Monday. I feel I was cheated or something. All my stuff was packed and I had one foot out the door.

Question: In case I decided just to go with another school/carrier, can I just go get another physical somewhere else. I'm very sure my BP numbers would be good enough to get me the one year cert. Do I have to wait the 30 days or can I Just go get another physical elsewhere?

Any thoughts appreciated:

I feel I was cheated or something. All my stuff was packed and I had one foot out the door.

You got a three month card because your second number was over 80. That's the rule. All you have to do is get those numbers below 140/80. That's the reason for the three month card. It allows you to go ahead and get started while you work on getting your blood pressure lowered. People get started with three month cards all the time. There's no cheating going on. They are trying to help you get started, but you will have to be serious about getting this taken care of.

Just talk to a doctor and get on some meds if you think it’s going to get worse, not just for your medical card but for your health in general

Determine what is causing this low hypertension numbers. Change your diet and lifestyle and I'll bet your numbers will lower to acceptable levels without any prescriptions or doctors.

I would just like to share my relatively short term experience with blood pressure. I'm 63 and my numbers have been creeping up and sometimes having headaches and started taking my blood pressure at home daily. I expressed concerns about it to my doctor, numbers were sometimes such as 155/95, etc. and he put me on a medication. First once a day then twice a day after I sent him my daily numbers. I'm still typically running 125-145 over 80-95. I've tried to cut back on caffeine a bit as he had suggested. I went for a check-up on Thursday and he seemed very satisfied with my numbers but made a comment "you work outside a lot, make sure you stay hydrated." I told him that I know I don't drink enough water, just don't take the time to carry it around with me. This afternoon I've had 4 glasses of water and my numbers are some of the best I've seen in a while, 115/77 a few minutes ago. This may be obvious to some but easy to overlook and you may want to give it a try. My doctor had his nurse check out my Omron blood pressure machine (I got one that is all contained in the cuff and runs solely on batteries) and it is accurate enough and try to check it every day and download it to my phone (I use Samsung health app instead of Omron app as people on Amazon talked bad about the Omron app). Good luck.

My reading was: 138/96

Here are the guidelines: Stage 1 Hypertension: Blood Pressure 140/90 - 159/99. Drivers can receive a one-year certificate. After 1 year, if they are not at 140/90 or below, with or without medication, they can receive a non-renewable three month certificate. During this time, they must achieve BP of 140/90 or below to qualify for an extension of the one year certificate. If they do not reach 140/90, certification extension is suspended until BP is under 140/90. Recertification will be required every 12 months thereafter.

So I have stage one.not in denial.But the mega carrier might not want to take a chance if I cant even be guaranteed a year. I get that also. It just upsets me that they didn't follow the guidelines . Even the other workers at the clinic were saying I should have. All the doctor told me was she put in the numbers and thats what it kicked out. I have a phone call in to her supervisor, nothing yet.

I guess what I'm wondering is if I am stuck with that cert. can I go get another DOT physical somewhere ? I am not trying to "doctor shop", I just think most other docs would follow guidelines and give me a 1 year cert. would that supersede the previous cert.? obviously I need another physical BEFORE the 3 months is up but how much before can I do it. tomorrow? a week? 2 months and 29 days?

thanks in advance for listening to this newb ramble on....great forum btw. lots of good info!

The D.O.T. has their own parameters. The guidelines you are quoting are not D.O.T. guidelines. You can get this straightened out. That's why they give you three months. They want to see you being proactive with your health. We all hate keep ourselves below 140/80.

Get that blood pressure down before going to another doctor. Don't count on it magically changing on it's own. Just about any new trucking job is going to send you for another physical during orientation.

Those are indeed the DOT guidelines: https://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/faq/what-effect-driver-certification-based-fmcsa-hypertension-stages

But I get and agree with all the comments and thank you for that. Just signed up for Planet Fitness. Going to try less caffeine as I love my coffee. Nicotine gum will also get thrown out. (quit smoking some time ago). I do drink mostly water but will try to make sure I'm hydrated for my next test.

Robert B

Just from a general medical standpoint, your diastolic reading, "96", puts you in Stage 2 hypertension.

So then I looked up the FMCSA medical guidelines.

Stage 1 Usually asymptomatic; Yes Annual (140-159/90-99 mm Hg) Low risk for near-term incapacitating event.

Rarely disqualifying alone.

BP <140/90 at annual exam; If not, but <160/100, certification extended one time for 3 months

Your diastolic number is what got you the one time 3 mth certification. No, you can't go to another doctor....you need to get that number to read 89 or less in the next 3 mths. Sometimes losing even 10 lbs will help. There are some of the guys on here that do Keto or a modified Keto diet thats helped their BP. If you are interested, ask them to share their strategies.

Get a blood pressure cuff and take your BP daily. If it comes down 3-4 days in a row, go get another physical from the same doctor.

Laura

BP was 138/96. That should be good for one year cert but they only gave me 3 month.