I wear a necklace so that it is not on my wrist. Never have anyone question this. It is small (about 1 1/2 inches across and very seldom comes out where people can see it. I travel with it and put in my briefcase for security and put it back on once in the plane. It has been a life saver one time when I had an extreme low and needed assistance. I am a T2 on insulin. Emergency personel were very appreciative as they knew what to do.

My parents were great when i was diagnosed, they shelled out probably not a small amount of cash to buy me a nice silver bracelet (the only MA ones you could get at the time were like the one you’ve pictured) which we then got a jeweller to attach the disc to. I have worn a medic alert bracelet every day since then, apart from on my wedding day.

It’s cool that you can get nice ones now and good ones for kids, like the ones Medaware do in NZ (see the ads on this site) or the dog tag ones that Diabete-Ezy do.

I wear the velcro style sport bracelet. It is perfect for my busy lifestyle.
I will not go anywhere without it.

You’ve just reminded me to take mine into the jeweller – I managed to catch it and have twisted the links so it’s snagging on clothes a lot. I normally wear it, but it (and any other brecelts annoy me so I’ve thought about getting a tatto on my wrist – up from where my watch sits – so that I can cover it with a shirt/blouse if I want to.

Yeah I went from the bracelet to the necklace primarily because the bracelet drags over the laptop when at the keyboard …. don’t wear the necklace much tho … not against them but recently received a birth stone pendent the hangs off a gold chain … feels way nicer!

I have a lovely collection from a US crowd called Loren’s Hope. Really really lovely stuff – and stuff for guys and kids too.

I wore a medic alert bracelet from when I was diagnosed at 4, then I took it off for a few years as a teenager and lost it somewhere along the way, but I got a new one when I was around 20 and have been wearing it ever since.

I don’t really mind when people ask me what it’s for. The only thing that bothers me about it is it always gets caught in my clothing. I have so many pulled threads and rips in my clothing from it.

The other annoying thing I find with wearing the bracelet is when you’re cooking, and the steam from the food heats up the bracelet and burns your skin.

I have worn mine every since I was diagnosed when I was 9 (I am 25 now) and yea, been wary wearing it. Like, I wear it on my wrist but then I cover it under my watch so that it is hidden. I have a huge debate bout how much people should know but I have a rule as well, even though I hade my bracelet, I make sure at least 1 person I’m with knows me just to be on the safe side.

I make my own beaded bracelets in different colours and have the disk attatched to it.Due to the disk being heavier it is always placed on the inside of my wrist and people don`t see it at first glance.

What an interesting list of ‘what to do’ with something we don’t like. The original ones always annoyed me – I found them difficult to remove or I broke them when getting them ‘caught’ somewhere -one place being on the carpet when I had my arm under the bed. Finally I decided to pay out $134 for a lovely gold one on a fitting, expandable bracelet from Medic Alert. It is just the right size. I wished I had done that years ago. I don’t think anyone has ever asked me about it and only once has a doctor looked at it. I don’t think I’ve ever needed it, but I won’t go anywhere without it.

I’ve always worn a medic alert since being diagnosed at 20. Mostly a small bracelet as it’s easiest with sport, but I did wear the necklace for a while – but now I’ve attached the pendant to my keyring.
I keep thinking I should buy one of the pretty coloured bracelets but have never quite got round to it.
I very rarely get asked about it, but I’m always curious when I see other people wearing one about what condition they have.

keyring … excellent idea … will add to mine right now

I got one when I was first dx, I think I probably wore it for 2, maybe 3 years until it broke, then it got relegated to a drawer, and from there… well I’m not sure where it’s got to now I probably havn’t seen it in a decade but it’s sure to be here somewhere.

That said, I do keep a note to say that I’m diabetic, contact numbers and dosages in my motorcycle jacket. Not in case I go hypo or anything, but because if I come off and get knocked silly (not all together unlikely) it’s probably not a bad idea so that the medical people keep an eye on the glucose levels until I regain my senses.

My daughter has worn one since diagnosed at age 6. Even now at 14 she still wears it except for Saturday when she must take it off for netball. I continue to be surprised that she willingly puts it back on each Saturday afternoon without question. I’m sure that soon she will start to question why she must wear it, it just hasn’t occurred to her yet to do so! I have offered to buy her a pretty one with beads but surprisingly been told that she doesn’t think her school would allow it. She seems to have accepted that this is something that is not negotiable (that’s the way I see it) so luckily (at this stage) it has not been questioned.

I wore mine from the age of 9-12 but hated it when people asked me about it. I didn’t start wearing it again until I was 35(!!!!) and the midlife anxiety set in, mainly when I was riding my bicycle and imagining being knocked off, taken to hospital unconscious and not given insulin for hours. Or else losing my short-term memory because of sugar starvation. I am always fascinated when I see other people wearing it, and I spend lots of time imagining what condition they have. I am always hoping to meet another T1, but usually people say they have some kind of allergy.

I remember the necklace my parents bought me when first diagnosed – I hated it and kept trying ot lose it with minimal success. By teenage years though it was long forgotten in the back of the drawer.
I remember thinking on several occasions I should get one the most memorable being
1) fitting in the middle of the night when volunteering at an event (luckily people there knew I was diabetic)
2) being picked up by police mid afternoon thinking I was on drugs when wondering down the middle of the road falling over not making any sense – luckily my body righted itself this time before I was stuck to recover in a cell! – This one really should have made me get one.
However last year I finally saw sense after anothr seizure with a hypo – This and feeling guilty whenever I saw a newly diagnosed diabetic child and advising the family to get one – felt a bit hypocritical. I now have one that I can’t remove – although thinking of replacing it with one I can for certain things.

I’ve worn one since I was diagnosed (18 years ago). I had the same one for 17 years and I didnt need to add any extra links to it even though those 17 years were from the time I was 9 to 26! Magic huh? I’m very used to wearing it, and it was quite a strange sad feeling when I had to replace my first one a year ago.

I’ve often thought about taking it off, but then I start to worry about having an accident and what would happen if no one knew I was diabetic.

I got a silver medic alert when I was diagnosed aged 6. 16 years later that exact bracelet is still on my wrist! The longest I have ever had it off would be maybe an hour at the most… Having grown up with it, it really doesn’t bother me. I’m pretty open about my diabetes so I don’t mind people asking about the bracelet. I have never desired to change it lol always been brought up with it, it just a part of me

When my daughter was diagnosed 2 years ago (she is 5 now) she started wearing her bracelet (like the photo). She never refused or complained and sort of new she had no choice. The only problem is that it catches on her clothes and booster seat quite a bit. I am thinking of getting a beaded or velcro one.

have put a medic alert on James since he was dx at 15 months.
The theory being that he feels comfortable wearing it.
If he decides he doesnt want to………….well will deal with that then

I religiously wore my medic alert from diagnosis at 9 until early 20’s when I decided that I wanted a gold one to go with my other jewellery. Couldn’t quite pay out the $500 for a proper gold so got a gold plated which my skin still didn’t agree with. I then lost my original and have intended getting a new one as I have since had a couple of other diagnosis to add to the list. As we have a family now with very young kids I know how important it is to get anoither, but it is just in line with the rest of the bills at the mo (should be a necessity!!!!)

We just bought his first MEdicAid bracelet for Mr 10 a month ago and he HATES it. Won’t wear it. $75 down the drain. So we’ve ordered the Medic Aid dog tags – still waiting for them… hope he’ll wear those!

Bringing in a comment from the Facebook page from Heidi-Jane James here too:

I don’t wear one…I have a cool road ID. You can put anything you want on them. http://www.roadid.com/Common/default.aspx?referrer=4252&gclid=CIuz0_3ImaICFQ4BiQodWRR3xg

Tyler wears a medic alert bracelet and has done since diagnosis.
Recently he has been complaining about it and it seems he just hates it.
He is now pestering us to allow him to get an alert bracelet tattooed on his wrist when he is 16. I must admit that I don’t really have a problem with that idea, but I am most certainly not telling him that just yet!

I bought one when I was diagnosed and have had it slightly shortened so that it doesn’t catch on things. I really like jewellery and sometimes I take mine off so that the nice jewellery shows more. I’ll put it on again not long after. I quite like the blue stretchy one from the shop at Mt Eden. I keep this one visible in the car and my silver one on me. Thought of getting some pandora charms to thread onto it for a bit of uniqueness. Sometimes I’ll polish it with the silver cloth. My Dad wore his all the time.

Im really naughty and I never wear mine (apart from when I travelled overseas and at a concert) mostly because I hate people asking and its also quite small as I resized it when I was a teenager (now Im 30)
I should really get anther one – where do you get all these pretty ones from?

My parents got me one when I was diagnosed at 12 and I wore it till I was about 18l, when the chain broke and I never bothered to get it fixed.

A month or so ago I was playing indoor netball and saw a man have an epileptic fit and just flake out. It really scared me because I started thinking that I could go low and just flake out like that too, and I could be somewhere where no-one knew about my diabetes.

I really hate the chains that the medic alert bracelets come with, so I brought a pretty silver belcher bracelet, took it to a bead shop where the shortened it and added another clasp to the end. I’ve attached my medic alert tag to it, and so far no-one has noticed that its a medic alert bracelet. I’m gonna go back to the bead shop and make a few other bracelets so I can have a bit of choice each day for what I’d like to wear it with. Way cheaper to make them yourself and you can get exactly what you want!

As someone working in medicine it is great to hear that so many people have worn their medic alert through childhood and are continuing to do so.
The companies have come on board developing new more wearable items which is excellent.
The only thing I will add to this is to make sure that it is obvious that your bracelet or necklace is a medic alert. The traditional bracelet is engraved in health peoples and first responders minds to look for. A large number of people wear jewellary and in an emergency situation there is a lot to go through. Ensure your bracelet stands out as somehting that peoplle need to look for (simply having it as the only bracelet should be sufficient).
Putting your ID in your wallet only will let them know the information eventually but usually not until you have made it to hospital (hopefully with your walled still on your person).
Sorry for being boring

Those of you with children who won’t wear them. The diabetic camps if they have the opportunity to go are great. They meet other children with the same problems. You often find a lot of the children there have medic alerts and (as long as this is the case) they start to feel the odd one out without one.

@Kay, my kids wear the braceletes from MedAware and they just show the teachers that it’s a medical ID and they let it go. They have never been asked to remove them

@Penny I am hoping you mean to say that he braceletes need to have the universal medical symbol, not the medic alert symbol(which is a variation of the universal symbol), because that in fact it s what the First Responders are trained to look for. All of the St. Johns location have been trained to look for MedAware bracelets and considering there are quite a few vistors to this country most know to look for the symbol itself..not a specific brand of bracelet.

Medic Alert?
I have been on insulin for maybe 16 months and when discussing with my specialist medicalert he sort of scoffed and sort of indicated it was a waste of time. I have a Auckland diabetes membership card I carry with me everywhere and has all my diabetes information on it and contact details. No need for jewellery. My wife’s contact information is named on my mobile phone starting with ICE (In case of emergency).

@Mark, I am really suprised you were told by a professional that it was a waste of time. I think it’s great that you have a card, however the responders are trained to look for a Medical ID (no matter whose it is). They chances of them stopping to look in your wallet is slim. Not that they won’t, but they are trained to look for some sort of jewellery ID.

Wow, I’m really shocked a medical professional would say a medic alert bracelet is a waste of time. They could very well save your life.

Oh and as far as I’m aware in NZ legally no one has the right to ask you to remove a medical id.

Renate
Thank you. I did mean the universal medical symbol.

Karen – thanks for that idea – I may just do that too – was looking at getting a new one but they are really expensive! so might just revamp my old one that doesnt really fit.:)

I felt the same way about my old medic alert and stopped wearing it.
my mom arranged for my stainless steel disk to be gold plated and put into a belcher bracelet and turned it into a nice piece of jewellery which I have been wearing now for 16 years, however had to replace the medic disk and got a 9ct gold one which was +$300 expensive but nice! and now im always happy to wear

I used to wear a metal bracelet one, but it dragged on my zinc etching plates (studying printmaking 20 odd years ago) and scratched them so I stopped wearing it most of the time. Have worn it at times since but not been in a situation where it had to ’speak for me’, unconscious episodes have only happened at night when partner was (thankfully) there.
Now I wear a soft rubbery bracelet that says ‘medic alert – diabetic on insulin pump’ – is comfortable and cheap to purchase (about $5) purchased from Diabetes NZ Auckland shop. They come with different options in messages. But if travelling the MEDIC ALERT brand one (like above) is possibly more recognisable – but I’ve always wondered how useful having the phone number for NZ would be – would a passer-by in another country ring NZ to get your medical info?

The reality is no one calls for your medical information, that’s why you wear the ID. The phone number is to call, usually, to inform that person that you are heading to the hospital. I stopped to ask several St. Johns drivers on if they call the number to get information and the answer is a resounding “NO”. They react to the information that is given on the bracelet. They have to act immediately and treat the condition or patient not stop what they are doing to make a phone call. The same would be for a passer by, they are going to react based on the info on your ID.

It would be interesting to ask them if the bracelet is useful and how it might change their treatment plan, or if it does at all.

I actually asked all of them the same questions. Like do you look for the ID”s and does it matter what company. They responded with yes they look for an ID right away and no, it doesn’t matter the company. Then I asked if they make judgements based on the bracelet…again they were all in agreement that the Medical ID is incredibly important. It allows them to look for signs based on the information instead of going through a long process of elimination.

I wear a medical bracelet with my son’s info alerting them to his diabetes and epilepsy. He also wears one, but if I was seriously injured and he was present, it requests that they identify and monitor him before he runs into trouble himself.