Medical IDs

If I have to go to hospital for any reason they always ask me which arm can they use for B.P and blood test and they usually stick a piece of sticking plaster on that particular arm which says do not use this arm.  It is good if you are having an anesthetic,  but pulling the long strip of plaster off later is not very pleasant 

Hi! I wear a BCNA wristband that I bought from the BCNA online shop. It's pink and it brings awareness. 
Take care 

It's not the best sort of solution I know but wearing a pressure sleeve sure solved that problem!! The difficulty is that unless the identifier is extremely obvious and becomes well known, it only reminds you (who hardly needs it) and not others. 

When I had my mastectomy & lymph node removal they put a red arm band on that arm as an alert. I thought it would be standard practice!

I have never had any of my doctors suggest the need for a medical id bracelet for this purpose. But when I went to hospital to have my ovaries removed they used a special (bright pink) hospital id band on my surgery arm. This worked well to warn off any staff from using that arm. It was reassuring that I would be ok even when unable to speak up for myself when under anesthetic effects. Would be sensible to think that all hospitals could have this system.  But in an unplanned situation (such as an accident or something) it is a worry.

On the other hand, I did come across some information about controversies in lymphoedema that said that there is no actual research showing that taking blood pressure or even blood from the surgery side has ever caused lymphoedema. It went on to say that surgeries on the hand that require tourniquets to be applied by a surgeon have even been done without any adverse lymphoedema reactions. But I know we cannot go by everything we find through dr google!

Lymphoedema is an area that needs far more research so that those of us at risk or who have lymphoedema can receive research backed information and recommendations. Meanwhile we are best to err on the side of caution and follow what is currently recommended by lymphoedema therapists. I think you can actually get those rubber type bands as medical id bands. These are relatively inexpensive and may give you peace of mind. 

I wa told by oncology nurses that using the lymph affected arm for needles was undesirable but possible. I understood that the aversion was purely to avoid any risk of infection (always really sensible in a hospital where some nasty germs lurk) just in case as fixing infection in a lymphoedeic arm can be much harder. Wearing a pressure sleeve, I have never quite understood the issue about blood pressure!

I now wear my pressure sleeve. ..stops them in their tracks.

My physiotherapist says it's fine to have blood pressure taken on my lymphedema arm and also a blood test.  However best not to have an intravenous line in the affected arm, though if it was to save my life, it would be worth taking the risk. I  currently  wear a sleeve and have a bracelet on the other arm to say no blood pressure etc on my affected arm.  I have one which is silver metal with stretchy links so it is easy to put on and off.  I thought it was important to get one and wear it, but am not so certain now.  I have one where the company has details of my allergies to medications.  I suppose it might help one day.   The trouble is, if the bracelet is unobtrusive it might not get noticed but I don't want to wear daily something that isn't unobtrusive!  

I totally forgot about this, my GP takes my blood pressure on the same side that I had some lymph nodes removed from with no problems.

My breast nurse coughed one up for me when I had a chemo nurse arguing to use my no lymph arm. You can wear it in the shower and everything. I could see mine would get grotty doing gardening and stuff so I ordered a few for myself from here. https://www.mediband.com/au/axillary-lymph-nodes-mediband