Medic Alert Bracelet?

Just moving into biologics and wondering if anyone uses a medic alert bracelet? My list of meds keeps growing. Wondering if any ER care when I'm unconscious may cause issues with all my PsA meds.

Thanks

You may want to look up old posts using Medic alert as a key word. I have seen this posted before. I think the consensus was that biologics doe not have any effect in an emergency nor with the meds might be used. High doses of steroids would be a different matter but since most of us are not on them most of the time it might not be worth the medic alert. Most of us keep a list of meds on us, so that should suffice.

Thanks for all the replies. I like the USB drive idea. Cheaper and with a number of health issues, makes sense.

Anyone put anything special on their cell phones...like the "Ice" contacts?

Always use ‘ICE’. Doesn’t matter if you have PsA, cancer, or pimples, this is basic good practice.

I travel to 3rd world Africa regularly - and still don’t bother with bracelet or special ER alert stuff for biologics. The incidence of major issues is about the same as paracetamol / acetaminophen.

I DO carry steroids though - so that when they rifle through my bag they will realise there’s an issue - much more likely to be significant in an acute care setting - I finished my last taper 6 weeks ago, but will probably be dependent for another 2 months.

I think that's a great idea a bracelet with a thumb drive. I'm on steroids and it I very important that medics know this if I'm unconscious and need surgery.

ilika said:

I respectfully disagree.

EMTs/paramedics or an ER need to know what's going on with you. If you're on biologics, when you go to get a flu shot, you have to check the box on the form that says you're on one so they don't give you the live flu vaccine (which has the potential to be dangerous). I've been lying in the emergency room, hooked up to monitors and IVs, spelling things for hospital personnel so they can go Google them.

Think in terms of a peanut allergy. The likelihood that you'd encounter a peanut in the ER is not high, and you may not even be there for something peanut-allergy related (like if you dislocated your shoulder). But you'd still tell them anyway, because yes, a peanut allergy can kill you in the worst case scenario. Right?

Despite arguments on this board to the contrary, biologics are a strange new world, and their association with, for instance, possible liver or kidney issues is reason enough to put that red flag before medical personnel. If they were so benign, there wouldn't be a list of warnings. And you've probably already figured out that you have a rare disease, and most of the medical specialists out there, outside of rheumatologists, have limited (if any) knowledge about autoimmune diseases, much less PsA, much less biologics. Cardiologists work weekends -- rheumatologists DO NOT. When's the last time you remember an ER visit falling conveniently on a weekday between 9am and 5pm that was also not a holiday?

That being said, I picked up a medic alert bracelet at Walgreens (and I've seen them at CVS) that's a rubber bracelet with a USB flash drive. Don't get it wet if you can help it, but rather than paying a monthly fee for someone to maintain a database, you simply enter all your info yourself via computer -- including doing your own updates. Includes a place for emergency contact info and insurance information. The only downside I can see is you need to keep track of it like your wallet because of the potential for identity theft. But that's the brave new world we live in.

Make it easy on medical personnel. They don't need to go trolling through your handbag or backpack or wallet looking for a possible list of meds or medical issues -- and they might not do that right away anyway. Do you keep a spare tire in your car, or do you go buy one when you get a flat tire? 'Nuff said.

Ask your doctor and or pharmacist. Generally none of the meds we take are near the problem that a delay resulting from the para medics trying find a way to down load a thumb drive or you getting put in a holding pattern in the ER. Even the levels of steroids we take are pretty low.

But don't be surprised if your doc chuckles.................... There is more hysteria about our disease and medications than is generally necessary.