Medi Alert necklace

[vboesen]

Hello all, my confidants!

Do any of you wear a medic Alert bracelet/necklace for your St. Jude or for being on Coumadin? Would you recommend it and what would you put on it?

Lot's of hugs to all

Valerie Boesen

[Karlynn]

Hello all, my confidants!

Do any of you wear a medic Alert bracelet/necklace for your St. Jude or for being on Coumadin? Would you recommend it and what would you put on it?

Lot's of hugs to all

Valerie Boesen

Valerie,
Many of us wear them and they are really a necessity for anyone on Coumadin. You can go to www.medicalert.com and find out all about them. They come in a huge variety of prices. The operators that take your order are pretty good at figuring out what should go on them and then any additional information is put in their system. When someone calls their 800# on your (Alexia's) behalf, they will give them all the info.

I wear a bracelet so I can save my neck for the pretty stuff. :D

[Cris N]

I wear a bracelet - not Medic Alert though. Just got one at local drugstore & had it engraved with mechanical valve, anticoagulant & my name, address & phone. It's come in handy when I can't remember my phone number :D :D

Cris

[tommy]

Necklace all waking hours except bracelet when swimming.

Name
Mech Aortic Valve Repl
Coumadin
Phone number

BTW I take my necklace off at night only after taking the Coumadin.

[MarkU]

My MedicAlert bracelet says:

"Aortic Valve Replaced
Takes Coumadin
Allergic to Penicillin"

I wear it all the time.

Mark

[ALCapshaw2]

Re: Medic Alert Bracelet or Necklace

"Never Leave Home Without It"
(with apologies to American Express)

The MOST important information is that you are on Coumadin. That should probably go FIRST on your list, followed by St. Jude Mech. Valve in ????? (Aortic or Mitral or ...) position.

I chose a necklace because I just don't like things on my wrist (and I could list more of my conditions). I did NOT include my name or phone number since my wallet has lots of things with my name and address.

'AL Capshaw'

[twinmaker]

I have been wearing a Medic Alert bracelet since I had my valve replaced 24 years ago. I never take my bracelet off. I guess after wearing one for this long, it's just become a piece of my anatomy. Mine says, "mitral valve replaced, defibrillator, on Coumadin, call immediately. Your medic alert number is inscribed and the phone number to Medic Alert is also on the bracelet. When someone calls Medic Alert and gives them your number, they give that person ALL pertinent information that they keep on file on you. You can update that information at any time. Medic Alert also now has some new products in addition to wearing the bracelet or necklace. They sent me a sticker to go on my windshield that identifies me as a medic alert member so if you're in your car, the person finding you will see that. They have a lot of information on their website. Linda

[T-Money]

I got a dog tag that I wear religiously. Mine says:

Taking Coumadin
Mechanical Aortic Valve
Aortic Root Replacement
Taking Blood Thinner
Name of Cardio./Cardio Phone #

And yes, my cardio. has a 24 hour line if you were wondering. You may also notice the redundancy of taking coumadin and taking blood thinner. I did that because you never know who will find you and have to make sense out of that message. When I had to call 911 for my heart issues, the 1st responder was about 19 and very nervous. He may not have had a clue what Coumadin was or how to pronounce it. However, anyone can say blood thinner and even fathom a respectable guess at the meaning (even though blood thinning has no scientific relation to taking Coumdin). No offense to the 1st responders intended, but I want to make it easy on the people that have to save me in an emergency. Just my 2 cents. Also, I did not get mine through medic alert. I did some other company off of the internet.
T

[catwoman]

Valerie:

Like several others, I have a Medic-Alert bracelet. Has been mistaken for a watch.

Right after my surgery, I bought a very inexpensive necklace at Wal-Mart (was called an Emergency Alert necklace). Then I saw my dad's cousin wearing a Medic-Alert bracelet and she explained about Medic-Alert. Ordered me one the next week.
What I like is that my insurance info, Rxes, all contact numbers for my husband, my parents, cardio & PCP can be stored in Medic-Alert's database.
My purse gets very disorganized from time to time -- I doubt anyone would be able to find anything in it other than me. :eek:

[cocoalab]

Andrew has had a medicalert since his first surgery when he started on Coumadin. I just reordered him a new one with all his new info on it. I have been happy with the company as I can change his medicines and phone numbers easily. It does cost a few dollars a year but gives me peace of mind especially when he is on his own doing whatever.

I had put off ordering him a new bracelet since I had just replaced a lost one in April. Probably a good thing since there has been the major change of the defribulator. I also added that he takes Beta blockers on it and his CHD.

[Lynlw]

Valerie, I like the medic alert one because when they call, they get told my contact info. I got Justin's when he got his pacemaker, and he broke his arm a couple summers ago and the EMTs started asking his history and Justin was pretty glad he had his necklace so they could just call and get all his info
they (medic alert) has this new thing Ehealth key, that you can have all there records down loaded on I think it's called a usp port or something like that and if you go to the hospital you just give them the key and they can down load your records, I'm thinking of getting one of them when Justin goes off to college, Lyn www.caringbridge.org/nj/justinw

[DuchessBear]

If you are a traveler, especially out of the country, here's something else to consider when choosing a medical ID.

You should have some kind of evacuation/assistance coverage in addition to regular medical insurance. Evacuation policies can be quite expensive on a per trip basis, but if you have the Medic-Alert brand of ID, you can add a travel assistance package to your membership for $99/year. It's not really insurance, but will provide evacuation and other emergency travel assistance any time you are more than 50 miles from home. You can get more information from the Medic-Alert site medicalert.com.

The Medic-Alert program is administered by Traveler's Emergency Network (TEN) and you can buy the same package directly from TEN (tenweb.com), although at a higher price. I bought from TEN for several years before my surgery, after which I got Medic-Alert.

[Central Jersey Steve]

Is this recommended for those who have not yet had surgery?

I have aortic and mitral valve insufficiency, plus an ascending aortic root dilation and have often wondered if a bracelet (or necklace) is necessary for me in case I end up in a medical situation where I am alone and unable to speak for myself.

Thanks.

[carista]

Is this recommended for those who have not yet had surgery?

I have aortic and mitral valve insufficiency, plus an ascending aortic root dilation and have often wondered if a bracelet (or necklace) is necessary for me in case I end up in a medical situation where I am alone and unable to speak for myself.

Thanks.

I've often wondered the same thing myself, mostly because of the ascending aortic aneurysm. Like if I were in a car accident or something, I would think that would be something they would want to know asap. I'm curious also if something like that might be necessary since I am planning on getting pregnant before having my replacement (since I've been told that I'm still healthy enough to be able to bear a child) and want to do it soon while I am healthy enough so that I can get a mechanical when I do have surgery.

[Gemma]

Hi Valerie,

Jim's MedicAlert tag says "Mechanical Aortic Valve, on Warfarin". He also has a laminated wallet card (gets a new one every year when we pay the annual fee) which says the same thing, plus lists his medication, desired INR range, name and address, my contact details and I think it also has his cardio's details too. All other details including his parents' contact phone numbers can be obtained by phoning MedicAlert. You can have 3 or 4 emergency contacts listed I think, with work, home and mobile (cell) numbers for each person, which is handy if the first one happens to be unavailable.
The good thing about MedicAlert is that you can phone them if any details change and they issue a new wallet card, but the things that don't change (in Jim's case, mechanical valve and taking warfarin) are on the tag. Cheaper than having to replace the every time your phone number or whatever change.

Steve, if it would make you feel better, buy one. It's not a lot of money for peace of mind. As to what you'd put on it, maybe best to ask them what they'd suggest.

Gemma.

[MarkU]

When I travel I also carry a laminated copy of my EKG print out with notations from my cardioloigst explaining that my inverted T wave is "normal" for me because of my mech valve.
Mark