Medical alert bracelet

This year, I took it upon myself to start wearing a ‘Medical Alert’ bracelet as I suffer from non-epileptic seizures. The reason I decided to make this choice was because of my own safety whilst out travelling and enjoying my life.

Non-epileptic sufferers are affected by similar symptoms like people who suffer from epilepsy itself. The difference between these two are epilepsy is caused by electrical activity that takes place in the brain uncontrollably.

Some of the symptoms to look out for in an epileptic person are; 

      - Staring into space with no communication. 
      - Confused about where they are and who they are.
      - If they describe smelling or tasting an unusual scent. 

On the other hand, non-epileptic seizures are caused by the mental and physical state that your body is in. Some of the symptoms to look out for are;  

• Jerky, rhythmic or twitching motions which look like your kicking the air. 
  
• Crying out or making a noise. For example, I’ve been told when I’m experiencing a seizure I make a moaning noise. 
  
• Your body goes stiff - this is a huge one that I suffer with because when I come out of the seizure, it feels like all my limbs have been pulled apart as if I’ve run a marathon without warming up. 
  

Many people don’t realise how different these two can be from each other, one of those people including myself until I was diagnosed with it. But they are not the only two types of seizures people suffer with, there are many more types of cases. 

• Tonic-clonic seizures
  
• Complex partial (focal) seizures
  
• Myoclonic seizures
  

The reason I started wearing a Medical bracelet was for my own benefit of staying safe and well. Before I had the bracelet, I was continuously living in fear of when the next seizure was going to occur. 

One time,  I was in a rush to get to the train station. I was by myself, running and not taking my time as I should have but the train was about to leave. Next thing, I’m waking up on the main road with people around me. I panicked of course, but then I came to terms with what had just happened. 

Luckily for me, there was a young woman with her sons walking on the other side of the road when this happened. They told me they rushed over after seeing me drop to the floor in the middle of the main road. The young lad called 999 and the woman was reassuring me till I was fully conscious again. 

This was when I asked myself, ‘What if I had a medical bracelet on, what would have happened differently?’ But, that’s just a lesson learnt and I was very lucky to have someone who was as kind as that young woman to come over and help me.

Wearing this medical alert bracelet and lanyard gives me the confidence to go out again and enjoy my life. I can go travelling and if I was to have a seizure, people can look at my lanyard and then contact the emergency number on the lanyard. 

Simple things like this can save people’s lives, not just for people who suffer from seizures, but it can be used for many different things. So, I highly recommend looking into getting a medical alert bracelet or create your own lanyard as I did! 

But what should you do if you see someone having a seizure? Watch this video on our channel where I talk about ways you can help someone in need; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8r9rS9c7rYw

If a medical bracelet is not on the person then call your local emergency services for further help and assistance!  Also, whilst you’re waiting for the ambulance make sure the person who has had a seizure is safe, in the recovery position and their tongue is not at the back of the throat otherwise they could choke.  

To find medical bracelets why not visit;  https://www.universalmedicalid.co.uk/cat_uk/medical-ID-bracelets-62 or you could order them from eBay or Amazon! 

- Mel

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