Who needs an injection kit?
- ANYONE who has been diagnosed with Addison's disease. If your doctor says you don't need an injection kit, he is sadly, sadly mistaken. Most ambulances DO NOT carry Hydrocortisone and/or will make you wait until you get admitted to the Emergency Room to be injected. Check with your local ambulance crew to see if they carry and will administer Hydrocortisone. Idaho, Montana, Utah and Colorado are a few states that do not carry or administer Hydrocortisone to Addisonian's in crisis.
- Emergency Medical Response by state, complements of CARES
- Vomiting - vomiting more than twice is cause for an injection. Dehydration is dangerous for Addisonian's.
- Accidents - see above.
- Back country travel - often if you are hiking or biking in the back country, transportation to medical services is a long, long way away.
- Foreign travel - you need to be prepared if you are in a foreign country. You need to be responsible for your own health at all times especially if you're in a foreign country.
- A basic kit could contain the following
- A needle (I've got a 21 Gauge 1 inch - your doctor can recommend the best needle for you
- 250 mg Solucortef (I've got 250 mg because I am often far from medical help and my doctor thought that would be a better choice for my circumstances). I keep mine in its original box
- Alcohol swabs - inexpensive and can be purchased from pharmacy
- Instructions on how to give an emergency injection sealed in a zip-loc bag
- MedicAlert card
- Addison's crisis emergency protocol
- A letter from my doctor that says: "This is a letter stating that (YOUR NAME HERE) (Date of Birth HERE) is a patient of mine who has Addison's disease. She must carry in her possession a supply of Solu-Cortef and syringes while traveling. Please accommodate her in this regard."
- Peptobismol, Hydrocortisone pills, salt pills (all optional but I like to carry them with me)
- These are the contents of my basic emergency kit
A close up of the Solu-Cortef
This is what my basic kit looks like all wrapped up in a snack size zip-loc bag (6.5 inches x 3.5 inches and 2 ounces)- The deluxe kit could contain
- All of the above items
- Rubber gloves, plastic wrap and a trash bag
- Mole skin, minipads, various bandaids, athletic tape & toilet paper
- Tweezers, safety pins, razor
- A light source, matches and lighter
- Pills: Immodium, Hydrocortisone, Zofran, pain killers
- Sunscreen stick
All the junk in the deluxe kit
Deluxe kit all packed up. 7 inches x 4.5 inches x 1.5 inches and 8 ounces
Last but not least the MedicAlert bracelet
- All Addisonian's need a MedicAlert bracelet (or similar). I've been told the necklaces are not a good idea because if you are laying on your back, the pendant slides around to the back and can be undetected by emergency crews
Both of these pendants were ordered from MedicAlert. I sewed the pendant on a watch band (above) because the "active band" from MedicAlert has a clasp that opens easily when you're being active. I also put the pendant on the second one because I liked my beads better than the MedicAlert choices.
