[aliasihaya]

Should I get a medical alert bracelet/necklace? I have Diabetes, high blood pressure, and hashimotos, and bipolar. I'm on a crap load of medications. This week my mom (who is both lovingly and irritatingly concerned) was worried that she doesn't have my list of medications in case of an emergency. It got me to thinking about when a medical alert bracelet is required. Is this something that I should have? I've kept my diagnosis pretty secret for over a year. I'm just now starting to open up about it. So I understand why I wouldn't have thought about it before. But is it best to have a medical alert bracelet with all of these conditions and medications?

Do any of you have one? If so, how do you go about getting one? What do you put on it?

Thanks in advance.

[Riemontana]

diabetes id bracelets are readily available. I carry a card in my wallet with my current medications and my primary provider. I think you can also get a medical id bracelet that has computer info to access medical records. I'm not sure where but there must be info online.

I wouldn't like to wear a diabetes bracelet because I haven't told everyone.

[fatmad]

Medic alert is just one brand available. It can be personalized and there is a number for health care providers to call to get written info, besides that on the bracelet, like your meds etc. THe brand is costly, but has those big advantages. You can also buy something at your drug store with info.
SHould you get one? for sure if you are on insulin, and maybe other meds that can cause low sugars like glyburide. In case the low causes you to lose consciousness.

[Somni]

If you choose not to get the medical jewelry type item, at the very least you should put a medical card in your wallet with any conditions/medications and put a contact called "ICE" (in case of emergency) on your cell, as many people look for that first. Even if you aren't insulin dependent, unfortunate things can still happen to folks that cause them to be unable to communicate their necessary info. I have a friend still recovering from serious injuries after riding her bike and being hit by a pickup truck (and the driver took off and left her there ). Can't really anticipate things like that.

If you want to go the jewelry route, there's a site called Lauren's Hope that has some cute stuff for women (http://www.laurenshope.com/) - their prices don't include engraving though so that can add up if you aren't careful. I am married to a t1 diabetic and I got his necklace from there. The necklace is still pretty new so I can't really speak to the quality yet but the order went smoothly, I received it really fast despite choosing the cheapest shipping option, and the engraving is easy to read (I paid extra to have it filled in black and it looks great). I'd probably avoid their easy to miss stuff like almost hidden medical symbols, anklets, and watches. But many of their items are both cute and seem to have pretty obvious medical logos. Or you could get a necklace from any site and just tuck it into your shirt if you are trying to be more private.