Medic Alert Bracelets - Do you wear one?

[hollyking981]

I have a long neclace with a pink heart on the end, and on the reverse has all my details. its really nice, people have asked me where they can buy one from!. just for fashion purposes, (: i wear it everyday and i carry a card with me, but when you have a seizure people dont imediatley think to rummage around in someones purse. or take notice of any jewellery theyre wearing. hmmm x

[skillefer]

*chuckle* that's because if a stranger saw them doing that, they'd think that they were thieves...

[epileric]

That's why I'd rather it be very obvious that my medical bracelet is exactly that & not some decorative jewellery.

[Crystal11]

FEAST- to answer your question late (Sorry) I am deaf-blind and have epilepsy/complex partial seizures. My guide dog's name is Umbro and he is trained in seizure work- while at guiding eyes for the blind in training, i had several seizures and the trainers worked with Umbro and I. Umbro is a guide dog for the blind but received additional training. So his main title is guide dog for the blind... Usually people get "servicce" dogs just for one job or the other- but since I am blind as well he obvisouly does two jobs instead.. He is my guardian. He is shown in the picture- he is a yellow lab 5 yrs old.

[skillefer]

I am rather curious....does anyone here have one of those flash drive thingies? Do the EMT's actually look for them?

[April1811]

Yes I do and the EMT doesn't look at it half the time anyway.

[paradise survivor]

A paramedic friend told me to wear my medic alert bracelet on my right wrist, as that is the arm they will grab for an iv. Made sense to me.

[joey]

makes sense to me too

[Ruth]

I never thought of that, the right hand

[paradise survivor]

I figure an emergency is chaotic by definifition, so the more information I can provide in a hurry, the better. "Unobtrusive" or "Hardly anyone notices", won't get the job done.

[stilldancing_98]

I need a good doggie. And a bracelet. Then I wont fall on the cement and break my nose.

[paradise survivor]

I know I am arguing against my own point but...I had a really good dog, and a noticable medic alert braclet. I took said dog out for his 'last' walk, had a seizure, I'm on the ground uncoscious and the blessed dog wouldn't let ANY one near me. Poor thing was a wreck. It wasn't till my hubby 'connected the dots' fire truck and ambulence on our street, absent wife, you know, and came running! It took him some stern calls before poor Harry would give up. God bless him, I still miss that bugger.The moral of that story is, you may still end up witha broken nose, but if they can get to you, your info is right there! Oh, it was the dog that passed on, not the hubby

[stilldancing_98]

LOLOLOLOL. Well, where I lived before , the neighbor was an epileptic. He had a seizure dog. He loved us both. One time I was sitting out side on the the cement and had a seizure and he licked my face and it was not banged up. Now I think my friends put something behind my head. But I loved that dog. She was a black lab. I want one now so bad.

[Crystal11]

There are seizure/service dog schools all around America. Some provide the dog for free while others charge a price. You spend two weeks or so in training after all of your interviews with the school ect- the dog has to do work, so your seizures would have to effect you quite a bit. Just like with me- if my vision got better then my dog would not have any more work to do, as in guide me, observe traffice, keep me from running into people ect. Anyways- labs in particular are very smart and my little boy is a yellow lab in the picture next to my name... i love him to death and he will turn 6 in July.. he is very cautious with me and that is one reason they trained him for seizure work while there at GEB.
Anyone interested in getting a seizure responce or seizure alert dog should look into it. Not all dogs can tell seizures or respond and that is one reason it takes such a long time to get one. Also not all seizure-trained dogs will pick up on each person's seizure. Some dogs base their alerting on your behavior, sound of your voice changing or other things they see or hear ..
Anyways- I will stop here since I've written a lot now heheh (sorry)
Everyone take care and be safe- write to me if you want any other info about dogs.
-Crystal and her guide dog Umi

[paradise survivor]

Just chiming in (again) on the dog thing...there have been many anacdotal reports of 'family pets' also becoming in tune with their person's seizures of which I can attest to personnaly. I even had a horse react suprisingly well, I had one while riding and went right over the top of him and he stopped immediatly (thank God or I would not be posting now).Needless to say I don't ride anymore, family voted and riding was no longer an option...they are such sticks in the mudd! One 'little' oops, didn't see that one, and they cut me off...

[Crystal11]

Paradise- good comment- I believe it would be true. Think about it, you have a dog, cat or other animal in your house with you most of the days- they get to know you and start to bond, become aware of things with you. I have had several of my friends tell me they notice their animals responding in some way to their migrains or to hearing loss etc. Service dog school provide training in a class format so they all learn the same basic set of skills, then become trained in specialized skills depending on the person's disability.
But with personal animals- they catch on to things just as we do with them- we notice little things, notice when they are sick or upset, tired or hungry. I love and care for Umbro as he does for me- he is my eyes and ears and does extra to help with my seizures.
Umbro is my guardian as I say.

Barks from "Umi" and Crystal

[Ruth]

Hi Paradise,

I rode horses from 6 years old to 18. The only problem I had, was when I had a seizure and fell off of the horse, the horse would walk home. I woke up and had to walk home. We lived on a ranch, it was good exercise for me. I only had absent seizures back then. Another horse I had, threw me off when I was not looking. My family decided that I was to quit riding horses. I just needed a better, kinder horse. He never hurt me, he just walked home, too. I did not have grand mals until I turned 21.

[paradise survivor]

some pal you had!! Walking home without you...the nerve!

[Ruth]

Hi Paradise,

I am glad it was not several miles.

[sparkiesuze]

Not kidding about that, they must have asked me about 5 times on my last visit to hospital. Made me angry after a while.. my mum wanted my sister to have one but at the time they were very expensive - but looking at some people have posted here I can see money won't be an issue!
A guy who works for the medical center at my workplace suggested I get one with a bell on it, so people can hear if I'm having problems!