Probably Already Know, But...

Sorry to get negative after being on the board such a short time. I really need to move into another career, and this looked the best option. I did a stint of bus driving, keep my CDL current, and have had 15 years teaching drivers training.

Far in my past (pushing maybe 40 years) I had a seizure while still in high school. No trouble since, but still take a low dosage pill for it. I could probably be safely off after all this time, but it's just been a part of my life, and I didn't want to take a chance of the problem recurring.

When I drove school bus, Dr. Approved me after making me take an EEG. When the form changed, he didn't have a choice, and was unable to further signoff for me. He did, however, tell me that he would have no problem approving me for truck driving since he was given room to make that determination. The med. form for my driving instructor license asked about seizures too, but let the dr. Decide if it was a problem. I always kept driving in the back of my mind as a fall back career, or a career change because of that.

I've been looking at the new DOT medical form. They have tightened up requirements. It looks as though th dr doesn't have any leeway. You can have a history of seizures, but cannot be approved if you are on a med. I meet the requirement of being seizure free for more than ten years (way more), but since I did not go off the med., it looks as though I will be disqualified. If I go off the meds for 5 years and stay seizure free, that's ok, but I need a job now.

My dr has said there is nothing in my meds that would interfere with driving, but she is not a DOT examiner. A friend of mine has encouraged me to go for the physical anyway and see what happens. At one time, I considered getting a pilots license. The medical examiner said he could not approve me, but not all hope was lost- there was still a possibility of approval if I was willing to jump through the hoops.

I guess what I'm asking is, are there any others in my boat? Do I have any options he, or is it a simple yes or no issue? Finding employment at any age is difficult, but even more so at age 54 with a masters degree. Was looking at doing a doctorate, but this a non issue now.

I have nightmares about working for minimum wage at McDonald's where all the people who used to look up to me can come by and laugh at me.

Thanks, Mike

Mike, I would suggest that you find a D.O.T. physician and make an appointment for a consultation about your medication. See if there is something acceptable that you could be switched over to or get some more information about the whole process of getting off of the medication you are on, and seeing if you would be fine with out it. I'm not aware of that five year time period to be seizure free you mentioned, but then again I'm not all that familiar with this scenario. We have a section in our Truckers Wiki that has a lot of information in it on medications and such. Forgive me if you've already seen this, but it may prove to be helpful to someone else who sees this later on. You can find it by clicking on this link.

Truck Driving And Drugs/Medications

Here's another weird thing: The med. that I take can be used for things other than than what I take it for. I don't think it's the actual medication that would get me, just a combination of the two.

Thanks, Mike