OTR driving is really not conducive to successful management of diabetes. The hours are long, they tend to be rather irregular, the work is very sedentary, and stress levels tend to run high. Maintaining a proper diet and healthy eating habits, stayimg properly hydrated, and developing regular sleep patterns, all which are big keys in successful management of diabetes, all becomes extremely difficult. All of these factors only serve to exacerbate the problems that a diabetic faces. Consequently, diabetes is a condition that is extremely difficult for a driver to manage properly, even under favorable circumstances. For a rookie driver, those conditions are seldom favorable.
I'm not only speaking as a former driver, but also as a degreed RN. I lost count of the number of patients that I cared for who were former drivers, with diabetes that was out of control, who were facing amputations and ESRD. (End Stage Renal Dysfunction)
As for trucking companies not wanting to hire you?? Consider the possible liability implications they would face in having you behind the wheel of one of their trucks. Consider the legal implications (possibly criminal, including the possibility of a prison sentence) you would face if you were ever in a wreck that involved loss of life or serious, even permanent injury to someone else, if the course of investigation reveals that your diabetes contributed to the collision.
Trust me, if you are diabetic, then driving a big truck is probably not your wisest choice.
Last edited by Useless; 08-31-2009 at 04:12 AM.
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