Medical Alert Cards
Dec. 10th, 2005 12:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
livingdebI've decided to make myself a medical alert card to keep in my wallet and to paperclip to my driver's license when I'm just bringing that while going for a jog.
I don't have any obvious conditions people should know about like hypoglycemia or a deathly allergy to bee stings. But there are still several interesting things that would be good to have. Here are some ideas I've seen:
* Name and address
* Doctor's name and contact information
* Medical conditions
* Current medications
* Allergies
* Blood type
* Emergency contact - especially good if you want someone who's not a relative to be given information
* Whether you are an organ donor
* Whether you have a living will
* Whether you have a do-not-resuscitate directive
* Other wishes like whether you don't want certain things done for religious reasons.
I'd think it might be helpful to add those other things you're always telling doctors, like if the vein in one arm is much easier to get to than the one in the other. What am I always telling doctors? Well, I feel like I have to inform each new doctor that I tend to err in the direction opposite hypochondria, because hypochondria is the stereotype for my gender. I tell them that I'm visiting for an answer, in case they have one. If they don't have an answer, just tell me. And if I go home without any pills, that's fine with me. I just don't want to be an idiot, like by walking around with a broken bone. But if I'm unconscious, they don't have to worry about any of that.
My vein in my right arm is easier than the one in my left arm, but they all love the one in my left arm, too, so they don't care about that.
Ear thermometers don't work on me. I might include that. I'm sometimes slightly anemic. That's probably not necessary. Probably the most important thing for me to do is to designate my boyfriend as an emergency contact so they'll tell him things.
My mother has an official card explaining that she had gastric bypass surgery (stomach-shrinking surgery), and it has a "before" picture on it. She can often get kids' prices on all-you-can-eat buffets with that!
I don't have any obvious conditions people should know about like hypoglycemia or a deathly allergy to bee stings. But there are still several interesting things that would be good to have. Here are some ideas I've seen:
* Name and address
* Doctor's name and contact information
* Medical conditions
* Current medications
* Allergies
* Blood type
* Emergency contact - especially good if you want someone who's not a relative to be given information
* Whether you are an organ donor
* Whether you have a living will
* Whether you have a do-not-resuscitate directive
* Other wishes like whether you don't want certain things done for religious reasons.
I'd think it might be helpful to add those other things you're always telling doctors, like if the vein in one arm is much easier to get to than the one in the other. What am I always telling doctors? Well, I feel like I have to inform each new doctor that I tend to err in the direction opposite hypochondria, because hypochondria is the stereotype for my gender. I tell them that I'm visiting for an answer, in case they have one. If they don't have an answer, just tell me. And if I go home without any pills, that's fine with me. I just don't want to be an idiot, like by walking around with a broken bone. But if I'm unconscious, they don't have to worry about any of that.
My vein in my right arm is easier than the one in my left arm, but they all love the one in my left arm, too, so they don't care about that.
Ear thermometers don't work on me. I might include that. I'm sometimes slightly anemic. That's probably not necessary. Probably the most important thing for me to do is to designate my boyfriend as an emergency contact so they'll tell him things.
My mother has an official card explaining that she had gastric bypass surgery (stomach-shrinking surgery), and it has a "before" picture on it. She can often get kids' prices on all-you-can-eat buffets with that!
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no subject
on 2005-12-10 11:34 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2005-12-11 04:58 pm (UTC)