Every 2 years — sometimes every 3 months — your CDL hinges on 15 minutes with a certified medical examiner. Fail and you park the truck. Here's how to walk in ready.
The BP tiers examiners follow (49 CFR 391.41)
- Under 140/90 → 2-year card. This is the goal.
- 140–159 / 90–99 → 1-year card. You'll be back sooner than you want.
- 160–179 / 100–109 → 3-month card. Fix it fast.
- 180+ / 110+ → disqualified until it's under control.
The 72 hours before
- Cut sodium. Skip Pilot chicken sandwiches, jerky, ramen, and pizza. Sodium alone can push you 10–15 points.
- Drop the caffeine to one cup. Two energy drinks the morning of will spike you.
- Sleep 7+ hours in the sleeper. Under-sleep drives BP.
- Walk 20 minutes at each fuel stop. Compression alone is worth 5 points.
The morning of
Water. No coffee. Empty bladder. Sit in the waiting room 5 minutes with feet flat before they cuff you. If the first read is high, ask for a second read — it's your right.
Weight and waist
There's no hard BMI cutoff for DOT, but a waist over 40" plus BP flags sends you to sleep-study land. FreightFit's tools log both weekly so you see the trend before an examiner does.
A1C and diabetes
Insulin-treated drivers can still hold a CDL with an ITDM form. A1C targets stay under 10 for most examiners. If yours climbs, get ahead of it — don't show up hoping.
The card is the truck
Vault your med card in FreightFit and it counts you down to expiry. Miss the window and you're not legal to roll.
The plan behind the story.
Micro-workouts, meal scanner, DOT tools. Seven days free.
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