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Permalink Reply by bzachary on July 9, 2011 at 9:05pm

I like your outlook on that and its a great idea!! Its not that i don't want to be cured but I am okay with living the rest of my life with it if it comes down to that. I spent 13 years in denial of the disase and I came to the realization that there was no point in being negative about the situation because it didn't change it. So why not be happy and embrace the good qualities of diabetes like eating well and excercing and not to mention the life experiences that only us diabetics will have : ) I like the idea of the tattoo because it is who I am and If I ever do get cured that will be part of the tattoo, I'll call it a work in progress!

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Permalink Reply by Natalie ._c- on July 10, 2011 at 1:35pm

If I were getting a tattoo for diabetes, I would also add Type 1, because if they make a mistake and think you're Type 2, the treatment is different, and you could just get sicker instead of getting better. This happened to me last year, and believe me, it was NO fun. I should have been in the hospital a week, maybe, but it ended up lasting a month, because they couldn't get my BGs down, and couldn't figure out why, and I had to fight for an appropriate insulin regimen.

Of course, if you're young and skinny, you might think it's obvious that you're Type 1, but even YOU will get older :-) and for me, as a 62-year old, with an appropriately middle-age (or is that senior?) shaped body, it was NOT obvious to the medics.

And as a member of the generation that shunned tattoos, I'm having a LOT of fun asking tattooed people to show me theirs -- I figure if you get one, why not let other people enjoy it too? :-)

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Permalink Reply by acidrock23 on July 9, 2011 at 2:54pm

I got a diabetes tattoo but not really with the intent of notifying EMTs:



When I run in the winter, I have layers of shirts, some of those double layered compression shirts that make me think even a wrist tattoo would be unlikely to be discovered? I'm not sure if the chain would work either in that situation but I think that if you are keeled over, they can tell, like you look different than a heart attack or stroke person? I have no idea if that's true. Whenever I've zonked out lately, it's been @ family events so people know what's going on.

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Permalink Reply by bzachary on July 9, 2011 at 9:14pm

Yea everytime I had a hospital visit it was around people who know about my Diabetes but everyone I come in contact with knows about it. And kudos to your artist!

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Permalink Reply by T1Student on July 9, 2011 at 7:54pm

I got mine a yr or so ago to ensure I was always prepared because I am not always around people who know that I have diabetes so it worked for me and I made it my own!

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Permalink Reply by Tord on July 9, 2011 at 8:04pm

Practical and nice :) It says it all!

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Permalink Reply by bzachary on July 9, 2011 at 9:06pm

I love It! I love the personalization and It is absolutely beautiful!

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Permalink Reply by bzachary on July 9, 2011 at 9:12pm

I used to but i've had 6 bracelets break on me and a necklace that kept getting lost, it's just never has been very practical for me, plus everytime i've been in the hospital for lows i've never had a problem with the emts recognizing what was going on. Maybe I like it cause I can personalize it how I want to without limatations and I won't lose it ha!

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Permalink Reply by LaGuitariste on July 9, 2011 at 10:31pm

I have a tooth story to tell you, which will answer your question. I used to have a diasma (gap) between my top front teeth. It didn't really bother me at all, and I was used to it. It wasn't as big as Lauren Hutton's, but it was noticeable (about 2/3 as wide as hers.)

One day, my father -- a dentist -- was cleaning my teeth and he said, do you want me to bond that gap for your? I asked a few questions, and influenced by his frowny-face when he said "that gap" I was intimidated into accepting his offer. I mean, here I was, getting an offer for free bonding that other people payed a lot of money for, what an ungrateful wretch I'd be for not saying, "Yes, thank you." Right?

Wrong! As soon as I got home after the procedure I cried when I realized that I'd let him make a permanent change to my face without really thinking through how it would look and that it couldn't really be un-done (the teeth are buffed down to prep for the bonding, so another dentist could try to recreate the old me but it would never be exactly the same.)

I hated it and it took years to get used to it (resigned to having the change). Now, thirty-five years later, if I could snap my fingers and have my old teeth back I'd do it in a heart-beat. Why? Because that old gap was ME. It was part of the complex and undefinable collection of features that made me who I was, and now I had these generically more "perfect" front teeth that weren't me at all.

That's why I don't have a tattoo. Not only would it mar the perfectly healthy, smooth human skin that God and nature gave me, it would never come off -- if I hated it in five minutes, five years, or fifteen years, my skin would never be exactly the way it was before the tattoo -- not even laser tattoo removal can give you back what was taken from you by the tattoo machine.

That's one woman's opinion, for what it's worth.

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Permalink Reply by latvianchick on July 9, 2011 at 10:41pm

My sister makes customised silver jewellery and has hundreds of franchisees over the world. I could give you her website address if you wish. This is not an advert. It is a solution to a problem should you care to go down that line.

She has never made an identity tag/bracelet etc before, but when I visited her in January she and I decided to sit down and design one as the tag from the company who stores my records is as ugly as sin!

We settled on a dog tag shape with the medical symbol on the one side and nothing else, (but what you have on it is entirely up to you), and all the information on the opposite side. I could choose any chain I wanted out of quite a few. I never take it off. If you need to take it off, you could put it with your car/house keys (unless you lose those too!) or on your dressing table when you put your face on in the morning!

Of course there is nothing wrong with having a tattoo, apart from that it is is very painful, there is a high risk of infection (something as you know, diabetics do not recover from easily, and it messes with your sugars), it is permanent though can fade over time, and people other than medics cannot fail to see it, and if you do want to wear a pretty watch or bracelet, the effect is ruined.

Message me if you want more details. I could try to send a photo of mine, and remember, mine is a prototype. I one of a kind, and probably could be improved upon, but it is pretty.

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Permalink Reply by bzachary on July 9, 2011 at 11:21pm

I would love to see it:)

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Permalink Reply by latvianchick on July 9, 2011 at 11:37pm

Ok, will try to do a picture, but not an expert at sending pics, so will try later. As I say, it is not on the website as it is a one off, but all the franchisees all over the world are pretty creative and accommodating.

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