I don’t drive, I just need to maintain the license for work. Weird, I know.
I get that and I don’t think you should or even would necessarily lose your job over a one-time 144 over 98 unless this has been an on-going problem. Although while you think the number is arbitrary, there has to be some sort of standard or a cut off at which point your CDL license could be pulled. But from what I understand, even with a reading of 144 over 98, you could still keep your CDL for 12 months instead of the normal 24 month period however it would have to be subsequently at or lower than 140 over 90 at the next physical:
A driver’s blood pressure must be 140 over 90 or less for a 24 month DOT Medical Certificate.
Additional blood pressure standards:
140-159/90-99 - 12 month certificate
160-179/100-109 - 3 month temporary certificate
Over 180/110 - DOT disqualifier
http://www.e-gears.com/cdl-training-videos/understanding-the-dot-physical
And:
A driver with a BP of 140 – 159 systolic and /or a BP of 90-99 diastolic, has stage 1 hypertension, and may be medically certified to drive for a one-year period. Certification examinations should be done annually thereafter and should be at or less than 140/90.
http://dotphysicaldoctor.com/faq/blood-pressure-and-hypertension/
Another resource is (yes it is a Teamster site but has some good info):
http://teamster.org/sites/teamster.org/files/bloodpressure.pdf
Others have given you some suggestions on how to lower your BP in the very short term in order to just to pass the physical - some good and a few very questionable IMO, but that doesn’t really address the issue in the long term.
But my real question to you is that if you had a BP reading of 144 over 98, and presumably a year ago and got a 12 month CDL, but needed to get your BP down to 140 over 90 or lower in order to keep your CDL 12 months later, why are you asking this question on how to lower your BP a mere 24 hours before your physical?
What have you done to get your BP down over the last 12 months? Have you seen a doctor, are you on meds, do you need to lose weight, exercise more, modify your diet? What have you done in the last 12 months presuming you knew this would come up again 12 months later?
Understand that a reading of 144 over 98 puts you at Stage 1 hypertension and at Stage 1, unless you have other underlying medical issues, it is typically very treatable with a few simple life style changes and often without medication or with low dose hypertension meds over a short term if combined with a few simple life style changes.
But also understand that a consistent BP of over 140 over 90 puts you at much greater risk of a heart attack or stroke. Not to mention long term kidney damage and greater risks of aneurysms and even vision loss. That’s not to say that you will suddenly stroke out but it does put you at a much greater risk. And that is why, even if you think the number is arbitrary, there are actually some good reasons for the DOT rules and even more importantly, for your own health and longevity. Get you BP down to a more manageable level, not just for keeping your job but for your health.
So I hope you pass your exam but I also hope you do something to address the issue of your HBP.
I don’t drive, I just need to maintain the license for work. Weird, I know.
On this I really have to ask as an HR professional who deals primarily with PR and compensation, why if you don’t drive at all, why you have to maintain a CDL license for work? You might want to consider talking with your manager and with HR to see if your current job description is perhaps not really aligned with your actual job duties, although a warning – that could also put you into, bump you into a lower salary grade.
I’ve seen some job descriptions come across my desk, written by managers who “shoot for the Moon” as it were as to qualifications and certifications and licenses, some of which are not really relevant or germane to the actual job duties and I sometimes have to push back. This mostly has to do with compensation levels.
The hiring manager sometimes wants someone with a BA and or with Black or Green Belt Six Sigma certifications, licenses, etc., or other certifications, but they only have a budget for and want to hire someone at a salary level that would be more in line with someone without any of those.
I have to sometimes give them the bad news that if you want to interview and hire someone with x, y and z level certifications and or degrees but only want to pay them at level w, you are not going to find them and it’s going to be a big waste of everyone’s time, not only mine and yours but also the applicant’s. And if you do manage to hire someone with all those preferred certifications but don’t compensate them at a competitive market level, they will not stay very long and the whole process and the time and expense of recruiting and on-boarding someone to replace them starts all over again.
And FWIW, HR is not always the “enemy”. We have some employees who have to have a CDL license and pass a DOT exam in order to drive our trucks that are not FWIW, big rigs but smaller trucks and mostly just for transporting raw materials and finished products between our local plants and our shipping and receiving facility.
And not long ago we had someone who had a much higher HBP reading than yours and was put on a 3 month CDL because of it and feared he would lose his job as a result. But I and our benefits manager and our safety manger, helped him find a doctor participating on our benefits plan who helped him get his HBP under control. He also admitted that at the time of his DOL physical that he was also under a great deal of personal stress, going through a nasty divorce and custody issues, having financial issues too, so he was given a referral to our EAP where he got some free legal and financial advice and assistance and some counseling on how to better deal with his stress issues. 3 months later he passed his next DOL exam with flying colors.