Life on the Road – Trucking News Blog

I know that for many drivers out there, taking care of themselves is probably further down the list. This is when there are such serious worries about making enough money to live, doing what you need to do to keep your job, and worrying about what kind of trouble your kid has gotten into since you have been on the road!

I just want to remind everyone that they need to be taking care of themselves—especially when one has been out on the road for a while.  I know– its rather common to hear someone say “take care of yourself.”  What does that really mean?

I define this by taking care of your body:

• eating within reason
• getting a bit of exercise
• seeking medical help if you start to get sick

Taking care of your mental health:

• Talking with friends and other supports when you are stressed out
• Finding something to do to break the monotony of driving
• Keeping your mind busy—doing a crossword puzzle, reading a good book

Mind Body Connection

Please don’t forget about the mind-body connection.  I know a lot of people think this is part of one of those “new age hippy sort of things.”  However, I’m here to tell you that our minds affect our bodies and our bodies affect our minds.  For example, think about the times you have had too much junk food and its made you crabby, irritable, or maybe even depressed.  Also, think about the times you have been really bummed out about something and this has made you tired and has maybe even made your body ache.

Remember to take care of your physical health and your mental health.  It takes a good bit of work, but it will help you to make you more productive, happier, and even a safer driver!

I would really like to hear comments about how you take care of yourself.  Lets see how many comments we can get on here and maybe we can start some discussion.  This will be a lot more fun than me droning on and on about techniques for taking care of yourself.

On a side note: I am attempting to raise money and awareness for an important charity, MDA, the Muscular Dystrophy Association. I am going to jail for MDA and must raise $1600 bail money. If you are willing and able, please consider shortening my jail time by clicking on the link below to donate to MDA. Your donation will be tax deductible. Even one dollar is very helpful. https://www.joinmda.org/lafayettetelu2009/buck

Or as some have called it The Fajita Flu

I urge calm.  The news media has been right twenty seven times out of the last two disasters.   The main sewer media has touted innumerable disasters, that weren’t.  SARS, the soon-to-be  global cooling disaster (in the seventies), the soon-to-be- global warming disaster(in the nineties,  In other words the business of the news media, as they practice it, is to spread panic, hate, discontent and unease, while at the same time claiming otherwise.

However, like Chicken little, if one screams panic often enough  one is bound to be right eventually.  Even a broken clock is correct twice a day.

An examination of headlines as related to the content of the articles themselves will reveal that most times headlines are alarmist.  That’s the purpose of a headline, to get a reader’s attention so that the article gets read.  Unfortunately sometimes it seems that the headline writer didn’t bother to read the article.

And numbers.  Discount anything a Journalist says regarding numbers.   If a journalist could do the numbers they wouldn’t BE a journalist…they’d find a real job.

Double, triple or multiply by ten when referring to Television.

Some advice and information concerning the flu can be found at the following.

Flu PrePack

Practical Tips For Combating Swine Flu in Your Home

How to wash your hands and why.

The Swine Flu: Time to panic?  Not Really.

I am writing this post to build off Wayne’s blog post “Where’s the Light?”  What is one to do about it?  Well, you can certainly write your congressman, OOIDA, and various other entities.  However, I also want to remind you that much of this is also out of your control, unfortunately.  It is so important to remember what is in your power and what is totally out of your hands.  Worrying about those things that are out of your hands causes plenty of stress related problems…ulcers, depression, lack of concentration, arguments with others, and anger…just to mention a few.

I want to offer a few lines of encouragement to all those truckers out there.  Here are several common problems people experience in times like these.

Wondering thoughts

-When you catch yourself focusing on those money problems or other unpleasant thoughts, remind yourself to focus on something else.  The dwelling on these negative thoughts just makes things worse and worse.  Yes, it is very easy to do dwell on these thoughts…redirect yourself.

-Remember that you are in charge of what you think.

-Don’t forget the law of attraction: you get what you focus on.  Be sure to distract yourself by focusing on the road (of course) and listen to some of your favorite music and keep in touch with family and friends.  Just make sure to keep it positive.

Difficulty sleeping

Sleep is difficult for many people at various times throughout their life.  Of course, the stress from the economy makes it much worse for many drivers out there. Read the rest of this entry »

The weather has warmed up and the ice has melted, the excuses keeping you sitting inside the truck have come to an end. There are so many reasons to get out and walk around and you’ve heard them all before, but a little reminder that you will feel better if you get out and walk. Don’t call it exercise if you really don’t want to.

There are several health challenges going on, I’ve looked at  few and have taken what would be best for truckers. Full Disclosure: I’m not an exercise expert by any stretch of the imagination, but I am going to be out there getting off my butt and trying to lose the ginormous weight I’ve gained this winter.

Walk

Park in the back row instead of the fuel island to walk to the truck stop. You’re not in that big of a hurry and you’ll feel better and more refreshed.

Water

Drink only water for one week. If you go one week, go for another week. One coffee if you really need it. Stay away from juice and sodas with corn syrup. Drinking water will help flush out toxins. Caffeine and corn syrup are so bad for us on so many levels. Not only the calories but corn syrup is processed by the liver where real sugar is processed differently by your body and has been linked to several major health problems. Read the rest of this entry »

This is my first post at Life on the Road and I’m excited about becoming part of the community!  I am a Licensed Clinical Social Worker who does therapy at my private practice in Lafayette, IN and online at Trucker Therapy. I frequently work with truckers and hope to be able to provide some helpful thoughts and spur some discussion.

Being an over the road trucker automatically means that you are one who specializes in long distance relationships.  Think about it…  You are on the road for days, if not weeks on end and have very little contact with others.  I think it is very important to acknowledge this and the difficulties that can follow.  All too often, I see truckers who ignore the fact that most of their relationships are long distance ones.  Ignoring this fact of life makes the typical feelings of a long distance relationship (emotional distance, feeling lonely, having those little miscommunications over the phone and email, and many more pesky problems) often leads to feelings of depression and isolation.  The next time you might have this feeling, ask yourself where these feelings are coming from.  There is a great chance that it stems from one of those long distance relationships.

Read the rest of this entry »

Oprah has gained 40 pounds. Oh my! She claims to now weigh around 200 lbs. – looks more to be like 225, maybe. What do you think? Her BMI – that’s body mass index – is 31.8. According to the pros – she’s obese – (a) FAT – SO?

If you don’t know this, she made $385 million last year. Her net worth is $2.5 BILLION! She is a brand name that is known all over the world. She’s an Academy Award nominated actress, magazine publisher, media mogul and philanthropist. And, she apparently can’t seem to take care of herself and make “her” a priority. She said she’s “embarrassed and mad at herself.” She FAT – SO?

SO? Being obese, she has subjected herself to high blood pressure, diabetes and high cholesterol. Sleep apnea is certainly a possibility. Did you read my posting about a “Slow Suicide” and the problems poor Santa had with the DOT? Now FAT – SO Oprah joins our little group. Do you know where I’m headed with this? Being (a) FAT – SO?

Yup. SO- her chances of driving a big rig in this new unfunded mandated environment – where the ATA and FMSCA are your new “personal” physicians – are slim. Oh, maybe she could get a medical card, but perhaps only for 3-6 months. And she’s going to have to give her private medical records to some creepy drivers license bureau clerk to put on file with her license. That is, unless she goes down to Miami and pays someone off  for a license. She has a mansion down there. That’s what happens when you can’t take of yourself and don’t make yourself #1. That’s what the quack who did my last DOT physical told me – former Nazi – Dr. Mengele. Oprah and I are FAT – SO! Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve been fat all my life. Just thinking about my weight gives me agata. On a recent home time I was cleaning and found a bunch of photographs. There in my hand was 53 years of my “fat” life on glossy 3×5 paper. I promised myself I would not get upset.

The first picture was of me, my instructor and 5 students when we all graduated trucking school. It was one of the happiest moments of my life. My CDL is more valuable to me than any college degree. Looking at myself in the photo, the first thing that flashed in my mind is my mother saying to me when she saw the photo “Gee, you actually look normal.”

Look normal? You mean not fat? At the time I just let it go. I really shouldn’t have. The next photo was of my father and I in New York City. He had taken me into work with him. I think I was about 17. When we were walking to his office he said to me; “you shouldn’t really wear suits.” I never challenged that statement because, well, I just didn’t. Was it the whole weight thing again? Was that how he valued my worth? He was thin, but also struggled his whole life trying to stay that way.  Remember Metracal and Tab? He died of a sudden heart attack at 55.

The third photo. High school. What a horrible time. I felt the entire world was thin except for me. My entire existence at that time surrounded my weight and waist size. Watching TV was painful as I desperately wanted to be as “trim” (sexy?) as James T. Kirk on Star Trek or Jack Tripper on Three’s Company. My reality was that I looked more like Drew Carey in a world of stick people in tight jeans and skin tight shirts. 

I had gone down to Miami to spend the summer with my uncle and lost 35 lbs. I got down to 160 lbs. I wanted so badly to play football. When I got back to school in September, I was told that I had missed the (mid-summer) registration and tryouts. I was crushed. Nothing else at the time mattered to me. Within a few months, I shot back up to 200 lbs.

Thirty plus years later, I still remember looking down and seeing the 200 on the scale. I promised myself that’s it. I will NEVER weigh more. 225, 250, 275, now, many years later I struggle to get down below 300.  Over the years I have what they call yo-yo’d up and down.  This part of my life is tiresome, frustrating and annoying.  Read the rest of this entry »

My husband was grousing at me the other day because, when he brought home some unfamiliar canned dog food for my precious Jack Russells, I promptly looked the brands up on a recall list-he said I was a “Conspiracy Theorist”. Nope-just very aware of the kind of things we’re allowing to be imported without any checks and balances these days.

Dog food is only one of my worries: I figure I’m lucky to be alive after as many Chinese Take-Out meals as I’ve eaten in the last twenty years. My local lunch diner didn’t know me as “The Three Egg-roll Lady” for nothing. I never even got sick-maybe that says more for my Mid-Western constitution than from any food safety standards that have ever been in place. And, apparently, the FDA DOES attempt to keep track of some of it. On today’s recall list, I found two items of great interest: “Goldensmell (no, that’s what its called) brand Dried Fungus” and “Grove Grow Notes Dried Bamboo Fungus Veiled Lady”. I don’t know what either of these things are but you can be sure I’m not going to be picking any of these up at my local grocery to add to the stir-fry in the near future.. Of course, the same FDA recall list had a recall for some kind of hemorrhoid suppositories for excess mold and fungus-was it Goldensmell Fungus? Who knows? Is there an ‘acceptable level’ of fungus in hemorrhoid suppositories?

Read the rest of this entry »

There are literally hundreds of thousands of tractor-trailer drivers in the U.S. with valid commercial driver’s licenses. What makes this disturbing is the fact that a large number of them also qualify for federal disability benefits and have been prescribed medications to treat unconscious spells, seizures or heart conditions. Despite warnings from the government and the unsettling combination of injuries and deaths caused by commercial drivers with serious health issues, far too many of them continue to hop behind the wheel and endanger the lives of unsuspecting travelers.

According to a recent review by the Associated Press, truckers have been caught violating U.S. federal medical laws in every state. Violations compiled by the Transportation Department reveal that Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, Ohio and Pennsylvania make up the states where these laws were broken the most frequently.

Sadly enough, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration admits to not completing any of the eight recommendations proposed by U.S. safety regulators in 2001. At this point, it remains unclear whether any of these eight recommendations will be put into effect before the upcoming Presidential Election.

We hear and see all types of advertisements for being healthy on the road. The most prominent being about high blood pressure. But what about the drivers that are out there that have diabetes? How do they control them while driving?

Though some people may think “Well, if you have diabetes you cannot drive.” This is not true. Subpart E — Physical Qualifications and Examinations

My husband has Type 2 diabetes, his mother has it, my step-mother has it,and my own father is currently undergoing testing for it as well. My youngest son has low blood sugar. So trying to balance diets in our home for one person who has high blood sugar and one that has low blood sugar can be quite a task.

Being on the road deciding to eat is even a bigger task at hand. The best thing to handle eating is by going to the store and stocking up on sugar-free items before my husband goes anywhere. We have found sugar-free items such as: cookies, wafers, pudding, jelly, and Jell-O. There are also natural fruits and drinks that are packaged with or in Splenda. Splenda has become a well known product for use in our house, as it even comes in convenient sizes for take along or for baking with (they even have brown sugar!).

When it comes to eating out, carbohydrates are the big enemy, then comes corn, potato chips, and of course anything with “real” sugar in it. The best bet is to order something grilled and put it on a low carb bread that is bought and kept in the truck. There are also very informative books out there that have a list of “good” foods to eat at fast food places for diabetics as well as some really good cookbooks.

So – pack your lunch! It seems to be healthier!! (And less costly!!)