SmartAss ProTips: Your Med Backstory

I want to have some resources here for you to use if you want or need them. While writing a piece on Go Bags, I realized that I had not talked to you about putting together a basic medical summary. This is the first thing you want in a hospital/medical BugOut/BugIn bag, or any travel bag for that matter.

Nissi (a black pitt) and Lucky (a tawny Chiwowow) keeping the neighborhood safe by sniffing a suspicious tree.

We will get into what Go/BugOut/BugIn Bags are, why you may need one, and a guideline of things to consider when making one. But before that, and Go Bag or not, you should have a MedStory!

MedStory is my own term for a unofficial medical history. Anything written my you will be considered unofficial - remember, patient reporting is considered the least reliable source of information around by docs, etc - but that was before "fake news." 

Even if you are not doing the whole Go Bag thing, you should do this. Even if you are healthy, you should do this. Keep a copy in your bag, in your car... You know your life best, so keep it where you know it can easily be found in an emergency. Since this will be too big to fit in the typical wallet, a note near your ID that indicates where your history is stored could save your life or the life of someone else if you are a organ donor.

I am going to give you what I think would be useful, and you can use or change it as you see fit for you and your family. We are going to cover information personal, medical, and medicinal. If you have a suggestion to add, please comment below and we will all benefit!

When you write your medical summary, imagine the conversations you normally have with medical professionals, only this time they need to know and you are unconscious with no family or friends present. There is a lot of information to think about here. You do not need to let yourself be overwhelmed by it. Take each suggestion one at a time. 

Ideally, you will have a summary for each family member. Even if you are around for your spouse, kid, or parent experiencing medical distress, this stuff is stuff you want to just hand off and not worry about - you will have enough worries.

Start with the basics: your name, address, phone numbers should be at the top. Another very important piece of information is your emergency contacts: their names, addresses, phone numbers. Who is your next of kin? Who is authorized to receive and act on your medical information? Do you have Advanced Directives (also called DNR orders). Do you have a medical power of attorney? You should have a copy of that in here, along with a notation of the location of the original, should it be necessary. Are you an organ/blood/marrow donor or on a registery?

While the rest of your medical information is covered below, next you should list your allergies, whether you think they would be an issue or not. Example: an egg allergy could really mess you up if you are given certain vaccines. So list them all is my advice! Make a note of each allergy & severity. Iodine makes me itchy, but penicillin will kill me.

You also need to mention any conditions, illnesses, or whatnot. Some people will list psychological diagnosis, and they can be important, but others are not willing to disclose them without establishing, personally, that it is pertinent and that they feel safe doing so. Sometimes an illness can be figured out by the meds you take, but do you really want people guessing at that moment?

You also want the names, addresses, and phone numbers of any health care practitioners you are currently seeing or have seen recently (last couple of years). If you have seen a specialist, you will always get asked why you saw them, so list that too (example: saw a pediatric gastroenterologist for stomach pain that resolved on its own or a physical therapist for SI joint dysfunction that improved with a completed course of PT). 

Now you need to detail what you are normally putting into your body. List any over the counter (OTC) or prescription medications you take, no matter how innocuous it may seem to you. If you take ibuprofen for occasional headaches, they say so. Please keep in mind that many prescription medications are used for more than one application, so list the reason you are taking it. Also list any herbal or homeopathic intake. 

I want to say if you are taking anything illegal, you should put it here because sometimes your docs really do need to know, but you have to make that call for yourself. 

So that is a good start. I will update this article as experiences or conversations make me wiser. If you have a tip, let us know below! I am considering making a Google form or something, what do you think?

Things that Make My Life Easier: Pill Card

I bought the Pill Card on Amazon, but it was sold and fulfilled by SplaceCo. I paid a total of $2.99 ($1.99 + very reasonable shipping).

The Pill Card is exactly what it says on the tin. Actually, it didn’t come in a box, but you know what I mean (or at least TV Tropes does!). Delivery was timely. While it seems that the Pill Card comes in several colors, there is no option to choose color when ordering. Mine is brown.

Sticker says:
Re-Pillable Card
A Wallet Pill Card
Place over the top
Credit Card, it fits!
Pills are a wallet reach away.
Read and remove.

Note: I can’t see a reason to remove the sticker, which is a good thing, since it is a really stuck on there sort of arrangement.

At 2.25 inches tall, 2.25 inches wide, the card is flat, and the compartment sticks out about .25 inch. Most OTC NSAIDs I tried worked fine. An 800mg ibuprophen is a tight squeeze, and a CitriCal Petite (which must be named ironically, I think) does not fit. There is a divider inside the compartment, so you could store, say, aspirin on one side and your Rx med on the other.

This product is useful, but I use a bifold, zippered wallet rather than a male marketed bi- or tri-fold – and the Pill Card works much better in a tri-fold wallet. So I gave it to my step-dad to use.

This is a solid product. My only concern is whether the plastic would grow brittle over time, or the compartment hinges might give, but at the price you can probably keep a spare handy if either of those items becomes an issue.

More information can be found at Repillable.com.

Things that Make My Life Easier: Online Rx Refills

“Things that make my life easier” was an idea from Amanda W., and she wrote about it at her home site, Three Rivers Fog. I read about her idea on FWD: Feminists with Disabilities (the site is still there, but is no longer producing new content, which is a shame and I will talk about that soon).

I think that the idea is a really good one, and I would like to lend a hand in helping to keep it alive. So here is my first PatientC: Things that Make My Life Easier!

I use a CVS. Our family has since we moved away from a really great family owned pharmacy. CVS has been convenient for us, and we have been pretty happy with them most of the time. I manage my own ‘scripts along with my husband’s and both our daughters. Unfortunately, that is a fair amount of pills, etc. Recently I have started streamlining our habits and trying to cut out time and effort that is ill-spent (relaxing or goofing off counts as time well spent, unless something else really needs to be done!). So I finally investigated the web site functions offered by CVS.

I could really kick myself for not doing this sooner! They offer prescription refills, transferring prescriptions online, and easy access to your annual Rx records should you need them. I was also able to set up my daughters Rx’s on my account. My husband had to set up an account to give me permission to manage his ‘scripts, but I do appreciate that they do try to keep fraud down.

So setting up the accounts and getting them connected was a bit fidget-filled, but it paid off almost immediately. When I log on to fill a ‘script, it is red if it is eligible to be refilled now, I check the box next to the ones I want, and then click the big red button near the bottom of the page. Depending on your insurance, they may be able to tell you how much it will cost before the next screen. The next screen you can enter when you want to be able to pick it up, just like their automated phone line refills. Once done, you receive a confirmation e-mail, and the stuff has always been ready when we came in to pick it up.

*Note: if you use their customer card for discounts and savings, you can manage it from the same log-on.

*Note: this service is not helpful for refilling prescriptions of controlled substances (painkillers, ADD/ADHD medications, etc…) as you have to deal with the physical prescription, but is otherwise very useful.

The following all have, or as best I can tell, appear to have, online refills available. Some of them also allow you to transfer prescriptions, get e-mail reminders, and whatnot. This is just a quick hit of places that offer similar services based of off a quick mental list and then a scan of their available services. Feel free to add more in the comments section, and I will list them here.

CVS
Walgreen’s
WalMart
Target
Kroger
Rite Aid
Kmart
Meijer’s
Tucker Pharmacy (used to be Tucker State Pharmacy) was bought, but is still around, but if it does have a web page, it is not under that name. Upon a Google street view search, they are still there, but are now a Tucker (Walgreen’s). So they have it.
BioScrip
Marwood Low Cost Pharmacy does not appear to have a web page.
Dr. Aziz Pharmacy does not appear to have it.
Marsh does not appear to have it.

Medical Information Binder

Okay, we talked about your emergency wallet card, so I think now we will go to your medical binder: who needs it, and what should be in it. I keep a medical binder, and I know a handful of people that also have one, and it can make your life a lot easier. Now, I am not talking about the medical file that most people have at home, where you keep all your doctor information, your insurance stuff and your receipts.

Please keep in mind that I am not a medical professional. Sometimes I jokingly refer to myself as a “semi-professional patient.” This is more of a been-there-and-done-that road weary kind of advice. Okay? Okay.

(Here is my first attempt at a blog jump, here we go!)

Wallet Card

Let's talk about something practical and useful. I believe that everyone, especially the chronically ill, should carry a wallet card. This card should have a condensed version of all your current medical data.  Sometimes you can pick up blank ones at doctor's offices, and some pharmacies offer them, but you can always make your own using a blank business card, or a piece of paper folded up to wallet size.

Off the top of my head, here are some of the things you should have on your card. If you have additions or changes to suggest, please leave them in the comments! Note: I did not include insurance information as I keep mine between my ID and my insurance card.

• Name,
• Address,
• Phone Number,
• Emergency contact name and numbers,
• Current doctors' names and phone numbers (include specialists you currently see),
• Allergies,
• Medications you take and dosages -- both Rx and OTC,  
• Equipment you use and implants you have, 
• Any tools you may need to communicate, and
• Conditions -- both diagnosed and suspected.

Take a moment to think of anything else a medical professional may need to know if you are in their care and unable to answer questions.  Whether you are in "good health" or chronically ill, you could end up in a situation where a simple effort like this could save your life.

Again, you can make your own if you want, ask at your doctors' offices or pharmacy, or you can look online. I found a service that offers both free cards and ones you can buy here. This site has you fill out the information and puts it in a card you can print out.

Additional solid advice on emergency identification can be found here. I generated over five million search results on Google using "medical emergency card."


Having a card like this is not only handy in emergencies, but also useful when you are filling out the dreaded new patient forms at an unfamiliar doctor's office. It will not keep you from needing to go over the information at, say, an emergency room visit, as they will sometimes discuss it with you anyway to see how you are doing cognitively.