Tuesday, October 25, 2011

If You're On Prednisone, You NEED a medic alert bracelet

I was reading about prednisone last night, of course, because I am a geek. And one of the best resource I read about was
All About Prednisone
by Robert D. Fusco, M.D.

One of the things that stuck with me the most last night was that if you are on a steroid treatment of 4 weeks or more, you have become adrenal sufficient and NEED a medic alert type bracelet and wallet card.

I've been on the steroid for almost 4.5 years and NO ONE has mentioned this to me!!

In the event of an emergency when no one can contact someone you know and love, you can slip into an adrenal crisis and no one will know what is triggering the symptoms.

This kinda sorta freaked me out.

Especially for those of us who have been on 40+ mg a day (often twice a day) for weeks at a time.

And the point was made that when you are weaning off Prednisone, you need more care and alert because your body is stressed from the wean, so should you become acutely ill or injured, you will need to increase the dose.

What?!

Why has NO ONE ever mentioned this? I was told to consider a medic alert bracelet for my sulfa drug allergy and/or chronic health woes, but no one mentioned prednisone or adrenal insufficiency.

Yikes.

The medal bracelet has never appealed to me because here you need a letter from your doctor, you then need to buy the bracelet and then pay the monthly fee for your medic alert bracelet. Hence why I never have bothered.

After reading the articles about Predisone and the need for overall awareness of the adrenal issues following injury or illness, I panicked. Google lead me to Mediband which can be bought off the website or in pharmacies in the US.

It's an amazing product! You can get a band in which you write on it, soak it in water and it will never rub off! Or you can get the pre-made bands alerting issues.

Much hipper, cooler and no monthly subscription fee.

They also sell a wallet card, though you can easily make your own.

A point on the site was made that you can wear the bracelets in hospital as they are NOT metal and it can help alert nurses and doctors of facts they may overlook.

As someone who was given sulfa drugs while wearing a bright orange band alerting the doctor to look at my file, being able to sport a bracelet featuring the words Sulfa Drug allergy may have prevented so much damage.

I am contacting them to make a Sulfa Drug allergy bracelet in their allergy style.



If you would like a steroid dependent and adrenal insufficiency bracelet, you can get it here.

Affordable. Bright. Attention Getting. Get Yours soon.

They also have a Facebook Page. Go like them now and ask any questions you may have.

The fantastic KirBir has a suggestion for you all:

There are others for sale from places like Walgreens which are like USB sticks in a bracelet, don't require a doctor's note, and are a little more discrete than those bright ones - http://www.walgreens.com/store/c/care-medical-history-bracelet-medium/ID=prod6016508-product?V=G&ext=frgl_Google_Medicines_&_Treatments

Or more stylish ones: http://www.stickyj.com/zy2068.html


A USB stick in the bracelet!? I'm getting one the next time Matt is in the US.

Now you really have NO excuse not to bling yourself up. It could save your life.

4 comments:

Kirsten Schultz said...

There are others for sale from places like Walgreens which are like USB sticks in a bracelet, don't require a doctor's note, and are a little more discrete than those bright ones - http://www.walgreens.com/store/c/care-medical-history-bracelet-medium/ID=prod6016508-product?V=G&ext=frgl_Google_Medicines_&_Treatments

Or more stylish ones: http://www.stickyj.com/zy2068.html

Oswin said...

This is a great post about the need for a bracelet of some other ID for AI. It's such a rare thing, and a lot of Emergency service providers may not know much about it until they research a little. I've worked with my county EMS to get training and a protocol in place for my daughter, I encourage others to as well.

Rusty said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

Hi! Just found your blog when I was looking at articles for medic alert bracelets for prednisone. I have RA and RA Lung (Intersticial Lung Disease). Just wanted to say "hang in there" you're not alone.

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