Medical Bracelet - Important to have

We all have to choose what we feel is right for us. For me,putting that anywhere is just dangerous. In my 50 years on this planet I have never been unable to speak for myself so highly doubt it will happen any time soon and if they placed a blind NG, it wouldn't be the end of the world. I believe that all our medical info is linked to our health cards now so they would likely see we have RNY anyway. I will still take the aspirin and the sugar if they gave it to me as neither will kill me and if they perforated my stomach with a blind NG they'd know quickly and fix it. To me it's a no brainer to just not have one but if you feel comfortable with one that is your choice.

NG tube is a feeding tube. I don't see the EMT saying, "This one looks hungry, let's hurry up and get a feeding tube in before we take her to the hospital"

Hunger is not an emergency. If a feeding tube is needed it will be done at the hospital and not blind.

Hi! Thanks for your reply - it is actually used to pump your stomach too.

My surgeon gave me a pocket card explaining the sleeve surgery I had and asking restaurants to allow me to order a child's plate or share with someone else. No medic alert bracelet.

As a paramedic, I can tell you there is nothing in emergency medicine that will harm you, if you get an IV it will likely be one of 3 solutions, Normal Saline (no sugar), 5% Dextrose in Water (little sugar), or Lactated Ringers (You are losing blood and need volume replacement). If you're a diabetic who has crashed, you will get a 50% Dextrose added to the IV which will wake you back up and resolve a medical emergency. If they're using an NG tube it is likely to try and remove something that you ingested that may kill you if they don't get it out and the tube is so soft and flexible it is highly unlikely that it could perforate anything. Any drug they may give you is to combat something that would be far worse to you than any effect on your stomach or what's left of it.

That being said, you should provide the information on your surgery just as you would the rest of your medical history so it can be taken into account for any treatment after the emergency is resolved. If you feel better with a bracelet that is certainly up to the individual, but much more important info would be a history of diabetes, heart issues, epilepsy, etc.

Thanks for this very useful info!

I asked this question when I was getting surgery. And my surgeon from Northwestern said no you don't need one and most on the boards said no you don't "need" one. After 13 years I agree you don't "need" one. That begin said, if it gives you peace of mind then it's right for you

I have a MedicAlert membership and bracelet. I had one before the surgery and after losing 70lbs I needed to replace it (too loose) so I updated my information.

In doing so I realized it wasn't necessary to put the whole gamut on the bracelet. I opted for "gastric sleeve and no blind ng tube". They will put whatever you want on your medallion... even just 'gastric sleeve'.

Would I have gotten a bracelet just for the sleeve, doubtful. Adding the info to an existing (new replacement) medallion, you betcha.

I know I sleep better with it. And I love the bracelet too!

Cheers,

A

And just to add, I know of someone who had sleeve and had to have a blind scope due to an issue of timeliness. Had she not had it she could have died. She had a bunch of health issues.

Thanks for posting. As you can see from the responses there are differing opinions on whether it's useful to have a medical ID bracelet and how much info to have on it. I bought a few at the start and had an ICE number on it but that info changed so I don't use those any longer. I had this info on mine -

Gastric bypass (RNY)

No blind NG tube

No NSAIDs

ICE ...

I discussed it with my surgeon a few years after and his opinion was that if you're in a situation where they need to insert an NG tube then it's worth the risk that they do it blindly. Deal with the issue of the pouch being damaged after the fact, if it happens. I think you've had the same surgery as I have so taking NSAIDs do increase our risk of marginal ulcers. That's something I'd like to avoid.

I'd like to get a new bracelet and I'm going to keep it simple and go for this:

Gastric bypass (RNY)

Preferred: No blind NG tube

Preferred: No NSAIDs

Now that's if I can find a bracelet that allows that number of letters in that configuration. If not I'll have the text wrapped around and maybe use "Preferred: No blind NG tube or NSAIDs" as my second and third line.

I've got my ICE numbers in my wallet under my driver's license so they can get that info there. :)