Marilyn – I’m happy to read that your’e taking concrete actions to manage various scenarios. Now I need to do the same thing! It’s one thing to rail against injustice but it’s much smarter to take action with the things that you can control.
I think getting a few medical wristbands imprinted with “Type 1 Diabetes” is another small and practical thing we can do. Hospital staff take notice of these wrist bands.
You’re smart to think about this and make some contingency plans. I packed a “go bag” a few years ago and keep it by my door. It has my pump supplies, test strips, CGM supplies, glucose tabs and a note to grab my refrigerator zip-lock go-bag in the refrigerator that holds my insulin. Every 90 days when I receive fresh diabetes supplies, I replace the supplies in my go bags with the new arrivals with the freshest dates.
I have been a type 1 since I was 8 too. It is amazing how fast the time goes. Maybe there will be a cure in your lifetime!
Terry, if you find a source for wristbands please let me know. I have a necklace and a bracelet, but they just say diabetic. Maybe the wristband should also say insulin dependent, since too many people don’t seem to understand what type 1 means.
Even more so now that Type 1s are living longer!! I always specifically mention Type 1 insulin dependent, with insulin pump on medical records. Hate it when forms list condtions, and just allow checkmarks, with diabetes as choice.
Insulin user and insulin dependent are important distinctions, especially since most medical folks are NOT used to seeing T1Ds living as long as we do now!!
More T2Ds also using insulin and other meds.
I want a bracelet that says: Type 1 diabetic/insulin dependent dx 1959
On those forms in doctor’s offices, I always say type 1 dx 1959. That usually gets me a little respect, and lets me know if the physician understands type 1.
Thank you. Two managers in the place told me gluten free was just a fad. That was my first clue it wasn’t going to be easy.
Don’t forget to add “I am not intoxicated” on your card or bracelet !!
Maybe a printout of this.
Medic Alert https://www.medicalert.org/ allows you to customize the text on a wristband. Mine says:
Diabetes
Type 1
Insulin Pump
The wristband I’m thinking of is not like the medical IDs that some of us use. That style is more like the jewelry that is usually taken off in a hospital setting. This wristband looks like the typical hospital wristband used to ID patients in the hospital. I know one person who made a batch of these. I’ll check with them.
That is so funny, because I almost wrote that. Did you remember that when I was a kid, I had a card that said that? Did you have one?
Yes, even when “under-age”, and still carry in wallet now. It has Lilly info on back, probably got it at a diabetes event.
I also put label on my medtronic pump, but since getting Tandem pump I haven’t put one on yet. But good to label with instructions to not remove Medical device!!
I’ve had a medic-alert bracelet for 40 years now and no medical professional has ever mistaken it for jewelry. I have no doubt for some scans they might have to remove it.
It had a bright-red medic-alert logo on the outside for the first couple decades but that has completely worn off.
It says “Insulin-Dependent Diabetes” in worn lettering on the inside because when I got it, “Type 1” was not yet adopted terminology.
I should probably see about getting a new one that isn’t so worn down.
I found a website where you can order hospital style wristbands. These wristbands are also used for large events. The website is Wristband Express.
I ordered the minimum of 100 of this style. It’s made out of Tyvek and the ends stick together with adhesive. It can be adjusted to fit different wrist sizes. To get it off, you’ll have to cut it off, so not reusable.
I chose black type on a yellow background because the contrast is strong.
1982 issue! I was 14 at the time. I don’t know of any cards I ever saw that drive home to a medical professional “I need insulin or I will die”, I suppose that was obvious in 1982 when I was a kid and presumably automatically insulin-dependent. Now that I have grey hair I always find the default assumption by medical professionals is that I’m T2.
When I get my 50 year Joslin medal in a couple years I swear I am gonna wear it around my neck 24x7 :-). But I’m just a newbie compared to you! In just twelve years you’re gonna get a 75 year medal!
The forms and the follow-on questions can be funny. Whenever I get a new doctor of any kind they see the “Diabetes” box checked and they ask me what my A1C was at diagnosis and I have to explain that we didn’t have A1C’s back then, instead they dipped Tes-Tape in my urine and it instantly turned jet black.
I got a type 1 tattoo on my wrist because I can’t be trusted to wear a bracelet ot keep it in good repair.
I was hospitalized twice, and they asked me if I wanted to take care of my diabetes or did I want them to.
I said me definitely me. So I didn’t have to worry did my meal come before my insulin or did I get the right dose.
It makes a hospital stay so much less anxious.
They would ask me what my sugar was in the morning.
I hope if I ever need to be in the hospital again it goes the same way, but if not, I’m going to a different hospital
In my case, at 5 years old, my doctor smelled my breath, and told my Mom to go directly to hospital admission!
Most of the older alert cards assume that if I’m peculiar or unconscious that I’m automatically hypo, but this more recent long-form one by the ADA actually has a decent section hyperglycemia on needing insulin or will die, and might be the most detailed I’ve ever seen. I’m thinking this isn’t so much for medical professionals as it is for police or maybe overly zealous school or private security.
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f you find a source for wristbands please let me know.
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I have a Road ID on my Apple Watch band. This has a serial number and Pin for medical personal to access whatever you store in your medical history. They have dog tags and wristbands and more.
I got this when I started MDI. I ride my bicycle on the road and thought it would be a good idea in case I had a head injury. I learned about it from the blog of a woman T1DM athlete’s blog. Can’t remember her name.
