Medic Alert ID for WL?

To Greater Fool!

Well put, you sure made me laugh and points well taken, especially where it said, child's buffet price. Individual preference for sure. Its not uncommon to see people wearing medic alert jewelry now adays due to poor health. Thanks to all of you.

My dr recommended getting one. It says "Gastric Bypass, Do not force NG tube".
I may never need it and hope I don't, I also have another disability and carry all info on the Med ID card in my wallet. No one has ever asked about my Med Id and it makes me feel more comfortable to have it. I followed my drs advice and do not regret doing so. It was not to call attention to myself.

I have a bracelet.  It says:

On the front:
My name
Gastric bypass
No NSAIDS
No sugars
No blind NG tube

On the back:
In emergency call
my partner's phone number

I'm not trying to be a jerk or sarcastic...

What was the rationalle for "No Sugars"?  If you are concious, you can tell them not to feed you sugar (not that hospital food has much anyhow).  IV Sugars are not an issue for WLS patients, they don't cause dumping, and can be life saving.  How does ruling out a life saving tool that does no harm help?

Same sorta goes for "No NSAIDS"?  If you are concious, you can say "No NSAIDs".  If you are unconcious, they aren't going to put NSAIDs down your throat, nor do they give them to you Via IV.  In fact, if you have a heart issue, the Techs pretty much insist on giving you aspirin anyhow, as the heart benefits definately outweigh the slight Ulcer risk.

In February, had I been wearing your bracelet, there is a definate chance I'd have died, not that I didn't almost die without it.  I had a heart thing that required both an Aspirin (to be safe) and IV Sugars.  To save my life, my sugar, potassium, and some other long named thing were out of wack which caused my heart to go haywire.  Now I'm sporting a state of the art Pace maker... for which I need a Medic Alert Bracelet... grumble grumble grumble.  I need to get that soon.

I asked my heart guy about what would have happened if the EMTs ran across the bracelet.  He said hopefully they would ignore it.

About a month after my surgery, I developed severe pneumonia.  I was unconscious on a respirator for several days.  They gave me IV fluids during that time but no other nourishment.  Once I was awake, they kept trying to give me Ensure even though I kept saying it had too much sugar for me.  I decided I was glad they didn't decide I needed nourishment while I was unconscious and drop an NG tube (blind, of course) and pour Ensure down it.  I'm not sure if you could dump while you were unconscious or not.  Anyway, I decided I would not like to find out.

They can give NSAIDS by IV or injection.  Would they if I was unconscious?  I dunno.  If you had a lot of inflammation from something, don't you think they might?

If you feel wearing a bracelet would put you at risk, then by all means don't wear one.  I feel safer wearing it.

Kelly

Interesting...

I never allow the hospital staff to give or do anything without explaining it first.  While they've tried to feed and inject me with stuff I didn't want, I never allowed it.  This was true even as a child (when I spent some time just every summer of my childhood in one hospital or another) I guess after doing it once, they get used to it, and just check before they do anything.  I am a fairly imposing figure (even laying prone in bed) so I guess they are cowed a bit?  I rather asumed they would listen to everyone, but I guess they don't.  Of course, I demand the doctors explain crap to me too, and let them know my boundries.

I have no fear of NSAIDs generally, I take them almost dailly anyhow.  This is why I only asked about the possibility of IV NSAIDs.  In ALL the pain I've been in while in hospitals, they've NEVER even tried to give me NSAIDs, just tylenol (which I REFUSE because of my Liver) and narcotics (which I encourage).

As for 'feeding' via an NG tube... That is not something they would do in an emergency, you would be there several days unconcious before they decided to feed that way.  By then, they better have a realistic sense of what's been done before, or else we're in bigger trouble than we thought.

I had never even THOUGHT about a bracelet in terms of preventing a life saving procedure as it turned out it would have in my case, only preventing life threatening ones.  I always am asking nurses and doctors "what if" questions, and have come to the conclusion (even more so now) that for WLS, the bracelets actually do more harm than good.

Thanks for responding, I apreciate the insight.

I think you missed the part about me being unconscious.  Not awake.  I have no memory of them putting me on a respirator.  I did not know what was going on.  I could not allow or disallow anything.  I was not awake.

When I am awake, I do always ask what they are giving me.  I wear the bracelet in case I am not awake.  I was unconscious for several days - five, I think.  They knew what had been done before, that I'd had RNY, etc.  But I was not at the hospital where I had RNY.  The docs at this hospital did not know that meant I could not have NSAIDS or sugar.

Kelly

I guess I read it a little different than you intended.  I reread, I think I have it now.

Unconcious... "No Sugar" the only instruction, which they were ignoring. 

I never heard of a WLS patient dying from dumping.  In point of fact, severe dumping causes sleepiness, and once asleep, you don't feel it.  I, on the other hand, could have died if they had followed "no sugar".  It seems an irrational risk... Choosing No Dumping over Living.  "No Sugar", if they listen, is the wrong message.  "No oral sugar" MIGHT make sense if it was that big a risk.  Getting a little sick?  Not Medic Alert level in my opinion.

Yes, it's a personal choice, you made yours, I made mine.  There just has to be some logic to examining what would happen if our situations were reversed... You could very well die / I might dump.  Think about it.

Note, also, the heart thing was purely situational.  Before that I had run 5 marathons, when I had my PS they actually had to turn off the heart monitor because my heart was extremely healthy and efficient.  This came out of the blue.

I have an issue with the One Dimensional Decision process here on OH.  It's ALL about the pouch, no taking anything else into consideration... in this case, LIFE.

I'm not sure how it's one dimensional.  Anyway, I've never posted saying I think everyone should wear a bracelet.  All I've said is that I feel more comfortable wearing one.

Kelly

Where did I say otherwise?

I am simply suggesting a re-evaluation.  When someone puts themselves in danger, I try to help.  It's up to them to see the danger and change.  I've also been known to be wrong.

One Diminsional = Worrying about dumping at the risk of losing your life.  Most reasonable people put LIFE over (possibly) getting sick.   I'll take life.  You choose no dumping.

But, really, it's elementry... Emergency folk will save your life no matter what your bracelet says, so it probably has no meaning but in your head.  They will pay attention to "No Penicillin" and "Diabetic" because normally life saving procedures can kill if they ignore it... "No Sugar", hopefully they'll ignore to save your llife.