Allergic to Medic Alert Bracelet!

Sorry to hear that your child is allergic to the medic alert bracelet, of all things!! My only suggestion to you is that my son wears a medic alert "sports band" that is made of a fabric/nylon type of material with the medic alert symbol on the front. They come in different designs and I think you can see them on their website. Have you contacted medic alert yet? Good Luck!

Last time I ordered a bracelet for my son, MedicAlert advertised a bracelet for people with this problem. Unfortunately, I have a nickel allergy and a lot of jewelry labeled as hypoallergenic or allergy-free like the one they have advertised produce the same intensely itchy, scabby problems. I think a nylon or cloth-based sports band like mentioned above would be a good approach. If a metal part still touches her skin, a couple coats of nail polish may do the trick--assuming the ingredients are safe. Also, you can check out [url="http://www.simplywhispers.com."]www.simplywhispers.com.[/url] This is the only place I can buy earrings and stuff that provide no or minimal irritation to me. They may have medical bracelets but I'm not sure. They have a guarantee on their jewelry too, if a consumer has problems.

Also, another person I know bought a 14K-gold bracelet and attached a smalll MedicAlert tag hooked on the chain. She's older and wanted something more feminine, yet still providing safety in an emergency.

Personally, my skin does not react to 10K gold or higher, but sometimes you have to first test the amount of gold on the skin by actually wearing something. Your daughter may have to have 14K.

On the bright side, we nickel-allergic people are able to demand only the best--real gold (no gold-plated or imitation stuff for us)!

My son had the same reaction to the bracelet with the nickel. we then ordered the sterling silver bracelet from Medic Alert(they gave us a credit towards the price) and he has been wearing it problem free for the last two years.

Sorry to hear about the reaction! I hope they can help you out with getting somthing that will work for your child.

We just ordered 2 bracelets today - a sports band, and the titanium stainless steel stretchy band. I hope the latter doesn't give us any trouble.

Please let us know if MedicAlert helps you out - we just may need to know!

How long did it take to get yours?

Take care,
Tammy

I spoke with MedicAlert and they are giving me a credit towards a different bracelet. We are going to try the 10k gold one next. They were very helpful and I should get the new one within 7 to 10 days.

Well, you guessed it... our son had a reaction to his bracelet -THE SPORTS BAND!!! Incredible. He broke out in hives around his wrist the day after he wore it for the first time - that was Sunday, and he still has faint hives today. I washed the band and so far, he hasn't broken out again (on the other wrist).

Could this be related to the reaction our son had on Tuesday after eating his lunch? He's the one that had an anaphylactic reaction to Huggies Pull-Ups, so it wouldn't surprise me! [img]http://uumor.pair.com/nutalle2/peanutallergy/wink.gif[/img] What do you think?

Tammy

Tammy,

That's a very interesting question. When my son had a reaction about a month ago to the Kellogg's cereal, a week later he had his first asthma attack (relatively mild) from a bad cold in almost 2 1/2 years.

I thought they were unrelated events, but my husband thinks otherwise. He thinks that perhaps his immune system was battered with a reaction one weekend, and maybe his subsequent asthma attack from his cold the next weekend was a result of his "down and out" immune system.

Maybe they are related incidents...will we ever know???

Hi there,

My son also was allergic to the stainless steel MedicAlert bracelet. He also broke out in hives when he would wear it. I bought the 10K gold one and have had no problems. I suspected that he would also react to the fabric bands since he develops skin rashes with certain fabrics, zippers, clasps, etc.

The gold bracelet was an investment, but when I took into account that this is a lifelong allergy it was worth it. When he gets older and his wrist grows, I'll just have a jeweller add a few links.

Take care,
Tina

ryan's mom,

Thanks for the response, and 'back-up' story to mine. I've posted the question under Main Discussion. You may want to check it out - I hope I worded it in an understandable way!! [img]http://uumor.pair.com/nutalle2/peanutallergy/wink.gif[/img]

Tammy

Guess I should have checked this thread out before the other one! [img]http://uumor.pair.com/nutalle2/peanutallergy/wink.gif[/img]

Summary/Update: DS is definitely allergic to the STAINLESS one and can no longer wear it. [img]http://uumor.pair.com/nutalle2/peanutallergy/frown.gif[/img]

As for the sports band, after I washed it, he's had no problems. At least we have that one as a back-up, but honestly, DS doesn't like it.

[This message has been edited by Lam (edited January 23, 2003).]

Lam - Lauren's Hope also has mens bracelets. They are beaded with pooka shells, bone, black and silver etc... I think that About Me Jewelry also had a few mens bracelets - I seem to remember a copper one.

One problem with them is that they are often strung on jewelry wire and not suitable for swimming or bathing with the bracelet on.

There web sites are [url="http://www.laurenshope.com"]www.laurenshope.com[/url] and aboutmejewelry.com . They sell the tags, but I just took an old tag from the Media Alert bracelet dd had outgrown and used that. That way we still had the advantage of the Medic Alert phone number etc...