Medic alerts have helped revolutionize care in society by creating the ability to quickly identify conditions to medical professionals when the patient is unable to deliver this information on his or her own. Whether this be a medication warning to the practitioners about being on a blood thinner for a DVT, multiple food and drug allergies, an autoimmune condition, medical record number, name date and birth; and so much more, allowing fewer mistakes to be made and better healthcare overall. People wear medical alerts and id bracelets for all kinds of reasons, typically all very valid. Yet, I am finding more and more products being made that have no resemblance to a medic alert bracelet at all. In fact, the bracelets or jewelry looks less like something with lifesaving information and more so something out of the local jewelry store. The information and medic alert sigma may all still be there but gone completely unnoticed.
I would like to start discussing this topic in light of the idea that I am attacking no one. No one is being called out here for having a pretty, disguisable, medic alert bracelet. Heck, I even had a couple before I realized that in an emergency situation, it would likely have been missed. The longer I have lived with Addison’s disease, a mast cell disorder, and autoimmune conditions the more my opinion of what a medic alert bracelet SHOULD look like.
Medic alert bracelets and necklaces are made to be seen, not hidden, because of conditions you yourself may not be able to explain in an emergency. They typically should have the following:
NAME DOB
CONDITION
EMERGENCY MED +/-LOCATION
ALLERGY
ICE #
At a minimum. So, for me personally, I have a medic alert for both my Addison’s disease and the multiple adrenal crisis I have had, along with information on mast cell disease as I often have reoccurring anaphylaxis and need my epipen.
The last thing I want is to be found not breathing and for the medics to be unaware that I am prone to anaphylactic shock and need an epipen to open my airway.
I do not want to be found seizing or in a coma because of an adrenal crisis and no one is able to administer my emergency hydrocortisone shot.
My conditions are so acutely life-threatening that one wrong mast cell trigger could set off an anaphylactic attack out of nowhere. Or suddenly I could have an adrenal crisis because I am in adrenal failure and faint and have my body shut down because I ran too low on cortisol.
Conditions such as these, especially if they happen often enough, are not worth the pretty bracelet or medic alert as a fashion statement.
I say fashion statement because in the past 5 years I have used more epipens than your heart should be able to handle to stay alive. I have woken up to an ED doctor with a face of relief but pain and fear in his eyes still as he had administered 250 mg of solumedrol to treat an adrenal crisis before I could explain the condition to him. I have heard the words “that was such a close call there” more times than I think any 23-year-old should have to endure.
If you have ever had to use an epipen you would know it’s not a fashion statement, but a burden to carry around. If you have ever experienced even one life threatening episode where you were completely incapacitated to administer a life saving medication and survived, you can begin to understand what I mean.
Ergo with all of this in mind, my personal opinion of medic alerts is one that many people in the chronic illness community may think I am being extreme about in posting, yet it HAS TO BE SAID: medic alerts are NOT fashion statements for conditions that are acutely life threatening. EMERGENCY MEDS should not be in a bag that can be missed or overlooked by a medic. Your life is worth so so so much more than that. And it scares me to think that many people overlook this idea.
The Sleepy Chemist 