DOT Physical: How Screwed Am I?
Topic 30918 | Page 1
Welcome Abigail!
Driving is a real possibility for you, but I would take a few months to get yourself into better health first. If you take a shot at trucking right now, you'll fight a difficult uphill battle to get medical clearance. It will be time consuming, frustrating, and possibly very expensive. You may not even qualify.
Even if you get medical clearance right now, you may find the stress of learning to drive a truck will only make your medical condition worse.
Getting started in trucking is incredibly challenging. You don't want to be behind the eight ball from the start. Take maybe 6 months (depending on how dedicated you are to diet and fitness) and get yourself in better condition. Then I think you'll be ready to take on this enormous challenge with renewed health, confidence, and enthusiasm!
Hope this helps!
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Good morning, truckers. I am a trucker's girlfriend looking to get my CDL , however I admittedly have not taken very good care of myself since I have been working an office job. I have several psychiatric diagnoses, obesity, diabetes (non-insulin dependent), and tachycardia. I talked to the place in town that does DOT physicals and they said I would need a letter from my primary care physician. I called my primary care physician and he wanted me to see the endocrinologist and the cardiologist first. How realistic of a goal is driving for me?
CDL:
Commercial Driver's License (CDL)
A CDL is required to drive any of the following vehicles:
DOT:
Department Of Transportation
A department of the federal executive branch responsible for the national highways and for railroad and airline safety. It also manages Amtrak, the national railroad system, and the Coast Guard.
State and Federal DOT Officers are responsible for commercial vehicle enforcement. "The truck police" you could call them.
Dm:
Dispatcher, Fleet Manager, Driver Manager
The primary person a driver communicates with at his/her company. A dispatcher can play many roles, depending on the company's structure. Dispatchers may assign freight, file requests for home time, relay messages between the driver and management, inform customer service of any delays, change appointment times, and report information to the load planners.