Is “NIDDM” easily recognized by emergency medical personnel?
even i had to google what NIDDM was, as i had only ever heard it spelled out.
I would say no because you can not just look at a person and tell if they are diabetic. You have to do a blood test.
Sorry. I was unclear. I meant is the term/acronym recognized and understood by EMT’s on the scene in an emergency? For example, if it was on an ID bracelet, or tattooed at the wrist?
i would put “Non-Insul/Diabetes”, using the abbreviation NIDDM is not something that i’ve commonly heard.
Hi there. Where are you? If you’re in Australia or the UK, it’s a well known medical term. However it may not be so well known in other countries. On that basis, you should make sure to ask people in your country this question, otherwise you might have lots of ‘never heard of niddm’ comments but all from folks who live other places.
If you are wearing an emergency alert bracelet, they should recognise It. I would recommend you to have “Diabetes type 2” if you haven’t already got a bracelet and are thinking of getting one. Keep a description of your treatment in your wallet with the contact details of the person you’d like alerted. In addition ,it’s probably worth carrying a copy of Dr. Bernstein’s letter from his book. Telling the medical people that you wish to remain incontrol of your own condition if you should be admitted to hospital.
From that point on, you have to hope they act correctly.
My husband is a type1 and about 25 years ago he got into a mess in the supermarket. His sugar crashed and despite his grabbing a chocolate bar from a shelf and eating it, he went into seizures. The store manager did the right thing and called an ambulance, but didn’t listen to my, then, 4 year old daughter saying"give Daddy sugar". I spoke to the ambulance personnel on the phone and they drove past our house and picked me up. I brought sugar cubes, which I fed to my husband. When we got to the hospital, the emergency physician was amazed to find my husband’s blood sugar wasn’t low. No-one had told them about the chocolate bar and sugar cubes and at no point did they read the information on his neckalce medallion. that’s one reason why Dr. Bernstein recommends a bracelet.
You need to be wary of members of the public, who’ve seen movies with wrong information and assume you need insulin. there’s a lot of confusion between hypoglycaemia and diabetic coma out there. coma is rare and looks different. I’ve seen it once. Hypos are relatively common.
I’m in the US . 
well I knew what NIDDM meant and any EMT worth his salt should too, BUT, as a tat I would think not…people would prolly think it was a grunge band or something. I am thinking bracelet is the way to go…the darn things are just so ugly and gawky and pricey…isnt there are source for something that looks good and informs, like a nice sterling link with a hang tag ???
That is the problem. Most in the medical field around here are not worth their weight in anything.
Search the internet. I found one for my husband who is type 1 . Looks like a standard ID bracelet in stainless steel with a Cadduceus on and room to engrave the important information on the back. Also Do you have the ICE scheme where you are? So you can programme In Case of Emergency into your cell phone.
Hanging tags and charms, I haven’t found yet, unless you are prepared to buy both a bracelet and a necklace and swop.