BS: med. emergency tags-expecting disaster?

Subject: med. emergency tags-expecting disaster?
From: katlaughing
Date: 30 Oct 00 - 06:40 PM

I am just wondering if any of us has experience with wearing a Medic Alert tag and if it actually helped in an emergency or if anyone has experience in treating someone who had one which was of use?

The other question I have is more esoteric: does wearing one set up the consciousness to expect something to happen and/or reinforce the idea of having some malady? OR, is it just being realistic and practical?

Thanks,

kat

Subject: RE: BS: med. emergency tags-expecting disaster?
From: Morticia
Date: 30 Oct 00 - 06:44 PM

I think it's just being sensible Kat, dependant on the issue....my mother has a VERY rare blood group.....plus she is allergic to penicillin BIG time......plus she has a pace maker.......I wish to all the deities she'd wear one, but she won't, stubborn old bit...I mean, darling!

Subject: RE: BS: med. emergency tags-expecting disaster?
From: Zebedee
Date: 30 Oct 00 - 07:00 PM

Kat,

For all us non-americans here, please can explain what a 'Medic Alert tag' is?

Thanks

Zeb

Subject: RE: BS: med. emergency tags-expecting disaster?
From: catspaw49
Date: 30 Oct 00 - 07:33 PM

Medic Alert Tags are worn as a necklace or bracelet and lets anyone treating you know of possible conditions or allegies that might affect their treatment when you are not in a position to tell them. Emergency Medical Specialists, paramedics, and ER personnel are trained to look for these before administering drugs or treatment. I am severely allegic to a drug in the valium family for instance and using it as a tranquilizing agent will cause me to have life threatening heart problems.

You can also wear one that says there is a crd in your wallet if you have more than one thing that should be noted. I look to all apearances and actions to be extremely healthy, but I'm so screwed up with cardiovascular problems that mine says....."Fuck It...The Boy Is Circling The Drain"

Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: med. emergency tags-expecting disaster?
From: Allan C.
Date: 30 Oct 00 - 07:43 PM

Also take a look here:

http://www.ou.edu/oupd/medalert.htm

Subject: RE: BS: med. emergency tags-expecting disaster?
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 30 Oct 00 - 08:02 PM

They do have 'em this side of the pond too (the UK side). They're not just American.

Subject: RE: BS: med. emergency tags-expecting disaster?
From: Dave (the ancient mariner)
Date: 30 Oct 00 - 08:09 PM

My daughter wears one because it speaks for you when you cannot. IE: Car accident parents killed; children survive but unconcious. Paramedics bless the tags, so they know what they can do safely. Friend of mine nearly died in the Drunk Tank at the police station when he collapsed (Diabetic)the Cops thought they could smell alcohol on his breath (acetone) and considered him a drunken sailor... A Medic Alert might have made a difference. Yours, Aye. Dave

Subject: RE: BS: med. emergency tags-expecting disaster?
From: Ely
Date: 30 Oct 00 - 09:01 PM

My mother's kidneys failed in August (never fear, she's doing well on dialysis) after almost thirty years of polycystic kidney disorder. My dad got her a nice medic bracelet--he figured if she was going to have to wear one for the rest of her life, she might as well have a pretty one. She's supposed to have a kidney transplant in a year or so, though, so it's a good thing to have.

Subject: RE: BS: med. emergency tags-expecting disaster?
From: mg
Date: 30 Oct 00 - 09:32 PM

absolutely they could save your life in an emergency situation. I wouldn't hesitate to get one.

Subject: RE: BS: med. emergency tags-expecting disaster?
From: jeffp
Date: 30 Oct 00 - 10:51 PM

I wear one because of drug allergies (tetanus, sulfa) and medical conditions. I consider it insurance against well-meaning actions that could kill me.

jeffp

Subject: RE: BS: med. emergency tags-expecting disaster?
From: Hotspur
Date: 31 Oct 00 - 12:22 AM

Medic Alert tags are invaluable to emergency personnel. And that's all I have to say about that.

As for the psychological aspect (whether wearing one sets up a person to have an acute attack), I don't buy it. In fact, I think it could be the opposite. For example, my dad, who is epileptic and also very forgetful, does not wear one. I wish he would, b/c when he saw it he'd remember to take his medications, and then he wouldn't scare us all half to death by having seizures. I'm not sure how to put it any better than that.

Subject: RE: BS: med. emergency tags-expecting disaster?
From: katlaughing
Date: 31 Oct 00 - 12:44 AM

Thank you everyone. Hotspur, thanks for addressing the other part of my question. I have always wondered about the psychological implications, whether it would be a positive reminder, as you said for your dad, or a negative reminder of something one is trying to heal, in whatever way they believe may be efficacious.

I understand all of the practical reasons to wear one; on the other hand it reminds me a little of buying insurance, paying someone on a bet that we will have something terrible happen someday and need it.(I do believe in insurance, don't get me wrong.) I know that seems simplistic and extreme, but I'd like to find a happy medium. I suppose it will come down to the glass being half empty or half full, i.e. depends on the person's consciousness and that's it.

thanks,

kat

Subject: RE: BS: med. emergency tags-expecting disaster?
From: NH Dave
Date: 31 Oct 00 - 08:38 AM

A slight thread creep from Med-Alert Tags is the practice local bike riders have begun to adopt. They are starting to place a small decal on the rear of their helmets noting their blood type, and the smarter ones are placing a decal demanding that their helmets only be removed, in a hospital, by people skilled in and equipped to handle spinal injuries.

This makes sense since in accidents motorcycle riders are frequently knocked unconscious and suffer neck injuries. Dave

Subject: RE: BS: med. emergency tags-expecting disaster?
From: Jeri
Date: 31 Oct 00 - 09:12 AM

My mom wore one of these, and I've known many other people who have. I've also heard stories about how the Medic Alert tags were likely to have saved people's lives.

Wearing the Medic Alert won't cause something to happen. Not wearing one won't prevent it. Wearing one gives the wearer piece of mind that one little detail is taken care of. Not wearing one could be setting one's self up for that detail to go wrong.

Subject: RE: BS: med. emergency tags-expecting disaster?
From: GUEST,Pete Peterson at work
Date: 31 Oct 00 - 09:29 AM

They seem like a good idea to me. If there are things that you CANNOT tolerate that would probably be done to you in a life &death emergency with you unconscious, then they are an excellent idea. (i.e. allergic to penicillin) Some years before Mom got her lung cancer, she fell down (I lived about 30' away) she called me and I persuaded her to go down with me to the emergency room. So I stood behind her as the triage nurse says What's wrong? and she answered. Next question. What medications are you taking now? We grinned to each other as she went into her purse and pulled out the typed card that, by no coincidence, was immediately in back of her Medicare card, and handed that over. Nurse copies that down. Next question: What medications are you allergic to? And our faces fell-- we hadn't thought of THAT one. So down the road when things got rougher we had a one-page medical history, current meds, Medicate numbers, Social Security numbers, address and Known Allergies (that phrase was suggested by a lawyer) which we handed over on request. Saved a lot of time. I like to think it contributed to quality of life too.

Subject: RE: BS: med. emergency tags-expecting disaster?
From: Troll
Date: 31 Oct 00 - 10:23 AM

Good idea that, Pete. I have a major bee sting allergy and my daughter is allergic to penicillen. When she was in fourth grade, a teacher took it away from her because she was "playing" with it and told her she could have it back at the end of the six-weeks grading period. She tried to explain what it was for to no avail
A call to the principal that night (who had never heard of one either!)and a visit to the school the next morning cleared things up and caused the county to send out a special memo to all schools regarding MedAlert bracelets.
She's 30 now and still wears it.

troll

Subject: RE: BS: med. emergency tags-expecting disaster?
From: jeffp
Date: 31 Oct 00 - 12:24 PM

You can get more information at www.medicalert.org.

jeffp

Subject: RE: BS: med. emergency tags-expecting disaster?
From: mousethief
Date: 31 Oct 00 - 12:38 PM

Actually, kat, I beg to differ with you on the insurance thing. It is not a bet, and for at least 2 reasons.

Let's look at life insurance.

YOU ARE GOING TO DIE. Period. The life insurance company knows this, you know this (unless you're an idiot, of course, but you (kat) aren't!), everybody knows it.

Secondly, in a bet, one person is hoping something will happen one way, and another that it will happen another (or not happen at all). For example, if we bet on a football game, you hope your team will win, and I hope my team will win.

In insurance, both you and the insurance company are hoping for the same thing: you will live to a ripe old age. It's not like they are hoping you live a long time (so they can invest your money and get rich off it for years before having to pay out), whereas you are hoping you will die young (so your relatives can collect on your insurance without you having to have paid a whole lot of premium). You both want the same thing.

Thus it's not a bet.

It's an investment.

thanks for listening,
Alex
O..O
=o=

Subject: RE: BS: med. emergency tags-expecting disaster?
From: GUEST,Guest still
Date: 31 Oct 00 - 07:16 PM

Hi Kat. Be practical with your faith. "God helps those who help themselves." A bit of effort on our part is a good thing. ( Did I just quote Martha Stewart?!!? ) Gs ;o)

Subject: RE: BS: med. emergency tags-expecting disaster?
From: katlaughing
Date: 31 Oct 00 - 07:22 PM

Guest Still, please rejoin us! Am enjoying your postings very much. Thanks, I needed the be practical in faith reminder.

Subject: RE: BS: med. emergency tags-expecting disaster?
From: WyoWoman
Date: 01 Nov 00 - 12:28 PM

I know I should wear one -- interesting that this thread just came up because only LAST week I was standing in line at the pharmacy thinking, I really should get one of those things. But they are so clunky and intrusive ...

So I was thinking, maybe I should get a tatoo. Then I thought, hmmm. Where would a tatoo make the most sense. Well, probably just above the heart, where the EMTs are most liketly to have to go, right? Then I started thinking of all the tatoos I can think of that I'd rather have in that particular spot ... and I blew the whole idea off altogether.

but I know I should. And I don't think that wearing one causes us to creat bad ju-ju for ourselves. (Having been married to a man who didn't "believe" in health insurance and been stuck with medical bills when we divorced, I say, just buy the damned stuff because in the U.S.A, it's a necessary evil.)

So, maybe I"ll check out the medic alert site and ...

You know what? I think I resist this whole idea because it is such an ongoing reminder of my mortality and frailty. I hate this shit.

Wyo, Queen of Denial

Subject: RE: BS: med. emergency tags-expecting disaster?
From: kimmers
Date: 01 Nov 00 - 03:39 PM

I think they're an excellent idea, especially for unusual allergies or conditions such as diabetes. Don't worry about the blood type, though... no one is going to give you blood without doing a proper cross-match, unless it's an utter emergency related to a severe bleed. And in that case, they use O-negative blood until they can get a cross-match done (which can be done in minutes by a good lab). So use the space for the other info, or cheery little messages such as the one Spaw suggested.

Subject: RE: BS: med. emergency tags-expecting disaster?
From: Greyeyes
Date: 01 Nov 00 - 04:12 PM

I wear one as I had a kidney transplant about 6 years ago and it is important the drugs I take are continued if I have an accident. I wore one for the 5 years I was on dialysis as well. But I've always preferred to wear it round my neck rather than on my wrist, so it is effectively invisible unless someone actually undresses me, which sadly rarely happens.

Ely, tell your mother it's worth the wait, the joy is boundless.