I was just wondering......the system is slightly different here in Oz in that you're not just registered with one doc and so your details are harder to find in the case of an emergency......so.....those who take thyoroxine......do you wear a medical necklace or anything that identifies the fact that you are on medication? For me I think it would be pretty obvious to them that I prob dont have a thyroid as I have a cracking scar....but for others who still have their thyroid??

Don't take thyroxine any more, just natural thyroid from the piggies.... but I have my condition recorded on paperwork in my wallet, but I agree it would probably be wise to ensure it was in emergency form in case something happened and no-one told them.
Wouldn't like to end up in hospital without my piggies saving my bacon....

No mate, I don't have anything like that. I haven't had any problems and if I go to another docs they usually just take their own blood tests anyway and go from there.

Because I've had this for nearly 10 years, I'm pretty good at recognising the signs that treatment is or isn't working so can pretty much self diagnose now.

I'm talking in the case of an emergency and you were in hosp.....unconscious......then what??

She means that if you were in an accident, who would tell the hospital if you couldn't..... ?

My OH

And if he couldn't..... ?

No-one

I don't really see that it affects any treatment I may need in an emergency. Not really something I have thought about.

My understanding is that thyroxine is slow acting (3 weeks fram a change before checking it has worked) so any medical situation is likely to have been sorted, or family contacted before adverse effects kick in (my scar is neat and tidy so medico's tend to notice the thyroid eye disease before they notice the scar lol)

Staff

It stays the blood stream for a while, but I think it would be worth while having some way of recording it in case you were incapacitated for a long time... Once your system was depleted it could have some serious knock on effects with recovery if you weren't on an optimised amount...

Hmmmm - maybe I should think about carrying summat then

Staff

But in that situation, they would get in touch with your next of kin - who would then tell them.

I take a natural thyroid support supplement (and lots of other things); they are slow-acting so it's not a big deal if I miss a day or so. However I am allergic to Penicillin and very intolerant to lots of foodstuffs, so if I get in an accident, and people switch on my PDA-phone, the first thing they see is my husband's name and number, plus these facts and my blood group.

I also have a contact in my phone called "ICE" - In case of Emergency. This convention is starting to become well-known across the world. Also an entry "Husband". This way he's in there 4 times and hopefully somebody will find him.

I decided to do all this after a bad fall a couple of years ago; I was conscious but couldn't move myself or my hand, and had to direct people to call my husband and my doctor (conveniently having fallen about 100 yards from the clinic so the head nurse could bundle me in a taxi to A&E and save me a fortune on an ambulance!).

I recommend these measures to everybody, especially expats who may not have their next of kin close by. Single friends especially - we have an emergency support system going.

A laminated card in your purse would also be good.

I wouldn't rely on any of my next of kin being able to accurately describe what I needed and what medication I was on.

Good job you're not me then isn't it.