Hi Everyone
How many of you wear some kind of medical alert bracelet, necklace or dog tag. I am wondering if this is something I should acquire. I have recently started taking insulin and think that is information I would want emergency responders to know.
I wear a necklace /dog tag with Next of Kin - an international organisation. The dog tag that was supplied was ugly, so my sister and I designed a tag of our own, making it out of the silver that she makes fingerprint jewellery out of. We found the exact same medical symbol and photocopied it and then she did something that was beyond me - but that is on one side of the tag. On the other we put Type 1 pork insulin dependent, allergies, membership number.
I asked a paramedic who was teaching a first aid class if they were actually effecting and she said an emphatic yes, and that she wished more people would wear them, especially for diabetes and allergies. It would save vital minutes and prevent accidents with wrong treatment.
Some people I have read have tattoos but I would never go that far - I am afraid of needles, and like many diabetics do not heal well anyway. Besides which, what would happen in the dark?
I myself would also like a wrist band, but cannot afford one and my wrists either swell to mammoth proportions or are skinnier than a kids’ wrist, or somewhere in between - would need 3!
I have a necklace thing w/ a metal guitar pick w/ a red caduceus on it, I presume they’d look for it. It seems like most of the time when I’ve keeled over, there seem to be people around,
My son wears an id band around his wrist almost constantly. We keep a spare in his medical bag for the very rare times that he forgets to put it back on after his shower. I feel having a medical alert is a must! It did take him a while to find one that he liked though. We got his from 50Fifty.
I’m a T1 and have worn a MedicAlert bracelet for about 10 years. I started out with a necklace but found that it bothered me. I’m in my 50’s and I also went to a jeweler and picked out a flat-link gold/silver (alternating links) bracelet to have the ID badge attached to. I figured if I had to wear it 24/7 it was worth the cost, and the jeweler told me it was a smart move because the chains they come on are cheap, weak and easily broken. You can also find nice looking sports-style bracelets online, and I know some kids are having a tat made on their wrist.
Yes! I always wear my medical id bracelet. I use Medic Alert because they have the service and ability to hold all my medical information (more than will fit on my little bracelet) and will also contact my family if paramedics contact them about me. It’s kind of like the seatbeat that I use everytime I get in the car. I always put it on and pray I never really need it. Since I have to wear is all the time, I went ahead and paid a little extra for a pretty one.
I think anyone who takes Insulin should wear a medical id. I have a bracelet. Used to have a necklace but it caught on everything and was annoying
I usually wear something, especially if I am going out alone or when I commute to work. Although lately I’ve not been wearing it. I use a pump, so I assume emergency responders will figure out pretty quickly I’m a diabetic. Or maybe I’m just in denial. Anyway, I use the MedicAlert foundation services. It’s $50/year, but they keep all your info stored and all the EMT’s have to do is call a number and give the Medic Alert people your subscriber number (which is on your bracelet or necklace) and they will have access to all your medical information. I like this service a lot because, as things change (i.e., you change treatment methods, endos, etc), you can update your stuff in Medic Alert’s database without having to get a new ID bracelet. www.medicalert.org Highly recommend.
A few additional comments:
- Yes, my Medic Alert bracelet has been put to use before. More than once.
- EMT’s recommend wearing a bracelet, not a necklace, because the wrist is the first place they look at the easiest to spot.
- With medic alert’s service, you do not have to get their jewelry. My actual bracelet comes from Lauren’s Hope and I have them inscribe the ID with my medic alert info (Medic Alert’s phone number and my member ID number). I like the selection Lauren’s Hope has, because they are more feminine and look less like “medical” ID stuff.
My 17 yr old son wears a necklace but he doesn’t want to wear a bracelet. He just started Driver’s Ed so I’m thinking I should push him to wear a bracelet.
Did you look at the bracelets on 50Fifty? My son only likes one of them and I forget the name of it. It is black nylon with a plastic closure.
Road ID.com makes some really nice medical ID bracelets ,they only cost about twenty dollars and they have room on the metal tag for losts of information.
I’ve been wearing a medic alert bracelet since I was 12 years old. It was discovered I was highly allergic to insect stings and had to carry an epi kit (in those days there was a syringe in the kit . . pens hadn’t been invented yet) and that was 40 years ago. When I was 16 diabetes was added to the bracelet. As a 12 year old in the early 70’s bracelets on boys was not exactly a fashion statement. It has paid off a few times over the years and is on me 24/7, it never comes off.
My functional metal guitar pick from Lauren’s Hope (like Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath…) is entirely macho and studly!!
My son has the same; his has a gray nylon band w/ metal ID. He says its more comfortable than when he got a starter bracelet from the hospital. I also got him a necklace because American Medical IDs had a special for 2 items. He wears both, but not that I told him he had too. Has gotten out of the habit of wearing any since summer started because he’s at home so much or out with me.
My son wears a MedicAlert necklace. He had a bracelet when he was younger but now is into chains so a necklace it is.
I wear a dog tag medical ID necklace
He might go for some of these. I will show him both of these sites. Thanks!
Another thing I’d add is that I got a solid, linked, stainless chain, w/ no clasp, online for like $2.99 and took it to a local jewelry store to get the tag mounted on it with a stainless ring so it seems very solid. It was sort of amusing at the store as, even though they were busy as it was the week before Xmas, I was like “I need a tag on this chain” “it’ll be a couple of days” “sure, whatever, here’s the dingus” “oh, it’s medical, we’ll get it done in an hour!”, one of the few times there has been any advantage to diabetes.
I bought my medical alert from Medtronics. It clips on my watch and I think I paid around $6.00 for two. One comes in silver and the other comes in gold.
Off topic…is that your car???