To All EO Expediters---Need your help !

[rmctt2]

Hi;
I have wanted to become a Truck Driver for many yrs but something has always held me back !
I am Diebetic on Insulin Pump !
FMCSA requires a Medical Exemption for myself and other Insulin Dependant people to obtain a CDL to drive !
We are in our final phase with FMCSA !
There are 57 of us applying !
Our applications is up for public opinion till June 15th !
Please go to...
http://dmses.dot.gov/

And look up DMS Docket # FMCSA-2007-27387
And fill out electronically !!
You can fax or send in opinions to !
Please help myself and others ( Some already their CDL's ) obtain and/or keep their CDL's !
I appreciate your help and assistance !
This has been a long time dream for me to Drive Truck !!!!
Richard Carey
rmctt2

 

[terryandrene]

Richard:

Help us to understand why the Gov't exempted insulin dependent people from commercial vehicle operation. Most of us are neither diabetic nor require insulin injections, so we may not know the medical situations that can create a problem while driving. Does an insulin pump solve problems while driving that insulin injections will not solve? Would the sleep deprevation, that we all experience from time to time, create a problem for a diabetic?

I, for one, would like to support your effort to drive commercially, but I have no knowledge about your situation to justify that support. Help us to help you so we can provide an educated comment to support your waiver request. I have read your waiver request in the referenced docket, but I still don't know why they require these waivers.

 

[Turtle]

An insulin pump is an alternative to daily, multiple injections of insulin, as the pump is pretty much always hooked up. It frees you up from the more structured meals and exercises that are required with the slow-acting insulin from injections. Pump-delivered insulin is the fast-acting type, and will act automatically after injecting something that spikes the blood sugar. It also relieves the wearer from having to get up in the middle of the night to check blood sugar (to prevent a diabetic blackout while sleeping, only never to awaken at all).

Insulin pumps are usually worn by Type I diabetics (Type I, also known as Insulin Dependent Diabetes, or juvenile diabetes, is usually the result of heredity or an autoimmune destruction of the pancreas that produces insulin, and Type II, otherwise known as Adult Onset Diabetes, is largely the result of the USDA's Food Pyramid that was shoved down our throats all those years, but I digress). Pump wearers also have a greatly reduced risk of the long term complications of diabetes.

Insulin therapy nowadays is such that, for most people, driving personally or professionally should not present any problems. This is especially true for pump wearers in expediting due to them not having to remember when their last injection was if they get distracted from goofy sleep regiments and even goofier dispatchers.

 

[rmctt2]

I quess with FMCSA , they feel that Diebetics are prone to hypoglycemic reactions that could cause accidents, etc..
I am really too sure I agree with them or not !
I do understand why though.
What is funny to me is that there are so many overweight ( Borderline Obese) truckers and so many heavy smokers out there driving that they may have a heart attack before ( I ) have a hypo sugar attack !
God, they also make trucks for people with handicaps such as missing an arm and or a leg. They even have handicap parking for truckers !
In my situation with my Insulin Pump.. This pump delivers insulin continuasly.. It basically acts as a Pancreas and it allows my sugars to be more tightly controlled. I can also go 8-10 hours without eating and my sugars are not effected !
Please go to..
www.cozmore.com ( This is the pump I use)

or
www.minimed.com

Much to much info to write on this site...
Anyways..
All they are really looking for is .. Does the public think that a Insulin Dep. Diebetic with propper controll and monitoring ( Testing Sugars, etc) can drive a CMV safely !!
As far as myself goes.. If I did not think I could do this, I wouldn't even bother ! My situation is very stabilized and under controll !
Hope this helps
Richard

 

[rmctt2]

Thank You Turtle !!
You summed that up very well !!
I know how much it has helped me since I was put on the pump in 1997 !
My A1C's are perfect, I feel so much better physically, etc...
Anyways ..
Thanks
Richard

 

[Turtle]

My stepdad is diabetic, as is most of his family. Type II, all of them acquired it well into adulthood. They (whoever they are) say that Type II can run in families because of heredity, which is a crock 'cause Type II is caused almost solely by diet (it's a tissue insulin resistance, not a malfunctioning pancreas). It runs in families because they all eat the same overly-processed and refined cra^^^ {foods} that come in plastic wrappers from the inner isles of the grocery store. Again, I digress.

For years, decades, centuries, even, truckers have been famous for being overweight, that pot belly being a dead giveaway of too little exercise and too many carbs. And since too little exercise and too many carbs over time is the perfect recipe for Type II diabetes, far too often undiagnosed, there was a time when truckers had sudden vision problems or even diabetic comas, many times while driving. That was before insulin therapies became more refined as they are now. The FMSCA is now looking into, and giving, waivers for certain diabetics, and that's a good thing. I've seen my stepdad and his family live perfectly normal lives. (I've also seen my stepdad get almost completely off insulin altogether since going on Atkins and giving up the USDA (US Department of Agriculture) Food Pyramid scam. There I go, digressing again.

No, I'm not digressing. I'm ticked at the USDA. I followed their rules, ate my servings of grains (you know, the stuff that makes cows fat) and as a result, like most Americans, I've spent my life rushing head on into Type II diabetes. I was just about there (my younger brother got there, didn't know it, and died a month after his 40th birthday from the associated complications), but I caught it in time, learned the principles behind Atkins, and I no longer eat "invented" food.

Sorry about your Type I, though, that's gotta suck, but at least with the pump you can do pretty much what you wanna do, save maybe cliff diving off the coast of Costa Rica or swimming the English Channel. hehe

I see no problem whatsoever in diabetics these days driving a commercial vehicle, especially those who are using an insulin pump. It's actually the ideal solution in many respects, particularly for Type I diabetics.

 

[jasonsprouse]

I once sat 5 feet away from a man who was on a diabetic pump, while he was having a diabetic seizure. There was no apparent warning, and he had been fine a short while before. The pumps apparently are not failure proof.

I implore anybody with such a potentially debilitating illness to choose an occupation where your illness does not put others' lives at risk!

 

[tec1959]

Hello all I'd rather have a diabetic driving a commerical vehile than a person that drinks just b4 they go back on duty.Or drinking and driving.I think the diabetic should be tested more closely and on a regular bases.

 

[Turtle]

One guy on an insulin pump has a seizure, insulin pumps are not failsafe, therefor anyone on an insulin pump should not be allowed to drive a CMV (or using the same logic, any vehicle whatsoever, since driving professionally or for pleasure submits the public to the same risk). Got it.

Fact is, most diabetics on an insulin pump check their blood sugar more frequently than those using injections or pills. An insulin pump is only so smart, and is only as good as its setting. Diabetic seizures are actually a rare thing in those who know they are diabetic and are on insulin, and its even more rare in those who are receiving their insulin via a pump.

But it happens. So do accidents caused by people adjusting the radio, therefor, having a radio in the vehicle should be banned. Same with noisy kids in the back seat. A driver once sneezed, lost control of his truck, and plowed into a day care center (which was closed and no one was there). OK, anyone who has ever sneezed, hand over your CDL.

 

[greg334]

You know my biggest fear is going from a medication controlled type 2 to a insulin dependent type 1, ending my road career. I don't have the fight in me anymore to convince the FMSCA to let me drive.

But what I find is the FMSCA is about 15 years behind everything medical and their allowance of people who are in wheelchairs and have other limiting disablities really concern me because the driver is supposed to be able to secure a load and handle a truck in most if not all circumstances. Not bashing on disabled people but a limit is a limit.

In the case of diabities, most of the time you know when somehting is wrong, or at least I do. I can tell when my surgar level is hitting 180 and above or dropping below 90 - it is rare that I hit these extremes but it happens. The problem I have found is that many people will ignore how they feel and keep going. This is where it leads to real problems.

Diet, excersize and other factors are something that is ignored by 95% of all the truckers and the FMSCA has taken measures to ensure safe roads by using the blanket method of regulation, don't allow everything and then move really slow to correct that policy.

 

[rmctt2]

Just to let you know !
I test myself about 10 times a day..
You want to see my finger tips !!!! LOL
Basically.. before every meal ( To get a idea where I am at to adjust Insulin Bolus) After each meal ( 2-hours -- to make sure I gave accurate Meal Bolus) , Before bedtime and before any snacks, And at least 1 to 2 times in middle of night and before and after any physical activity ( excercise ) !
It is 4:15 pm ( EST ) , just took sugar for dinner...It is 112 !
Not bad !My Cozmore Pump adjusted a bolus automatically to bring to target sugar of 100 !( Pump uses Humulog Insulin).
Again... Pump Technology is amazing !
As far as a Diebetic Seizure on the road.. What about that chain smoker having a coughing fit and heart attack on the road...
( I am a non-smoker--- watched my Mother and Father die from lung CA )
What about some of the truckers falling asleep on the road because of ignoring HOS rules ??
( Read the papers and /or drive down major highways., IE: I- 85 S.C.)
We never know what will happen..
I ( Myself) have never had a Diebetic Seizure , lowest sugar while on my pump in 6 yrs was 65 !!
I currently work long hours at night ( 12 hour shifts )..
I honestly feel that I will have NO Problems Driving a CMV because of my Diebeties !
Please do not get me going !! LOL !
Thanks
rmctt2
Richard
P.S. I was at TA truck stop this morning in Spartanburg, SC and noticed a trucker getting out of his 18-wheeler with NO RT. Arm ! He had a mechanical brace on...Which could be worse, he or I ? What if his brace got stuck in steering wheel or something !!
Richard

 

[fastman_1]

Good Luck I've been fighting for a vison wavier for 5 years, I can drive a car I can ride a Motorcycle and I can drive a Truck under 26,000 Pounds...Yep makes sense to me.






































Owner/Operator since 1979
Expediter since 1997
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