As for her indoors, she is allergic to Lidocaine, so responders knowing that would be extremely useful – when she had it before, she ended up in anaphylactic shock and nearly died.

It’s very rarely used these days.

To put your mind at rest; very few (if any?) paramedics in the UK carry or administer lidocaine, and the circumstances in which they would be giving you penicillin whilst you are unconscious are somewhat unlikely to coincide with your mountain biking trip.

Drac; natch 😉

Even hospitals don’t really use it.

Assumed it was still widely used as a local anesthetic? I have no specific knowledge either way TBH.

I’m a copper. When I road ride i wear a wrist band with basic details and NOK on it. Clearly visible to anyone attending to or treating me.

Knows how to use a potentially very relevant feature on the world’s second most popular mobile OS.

I nearly always have my wallet with me

And as others have said, if I am in such a state that I can’t tell them who I am, I would much rather the people attending to me actually get me into a state where I can instead of worrying about telling her indoors that I forgot to get the milk and I might be late home

Others might have said it, but it’s massively simplistic; the 2 exercises aren’t mutually exclusive, you know. Medical First responders might not be interested, but the hospital and the police will be.

Recently dealt with a collapsed male. Took us 5 days to identify him and trace NOK – they turned the life support off before his parents got to him. He’d had an I-phone and a wallet, but both had been stolen from him as he lay there unconscious.

I’ve also been to traffic accidents for 2-wheelers where the phone came off about as badly as the owner.

Assumed it was still widely used as a local anesthetic? I have no specific knowledge either way TBH.

If you’re not able to tell them your allergies you’re not really going to need a local.

Lidocaine? I have some on my table in front of me right now.

Rachel

The minutia that me and Drac are discussing is that it used to be a cardiac arrest drug a long time ago (ie; unconscious patient, unable to communicate allergies, therefore relevant to carry something suggesting not to give it) but it isn’t any more. Lidocaine still in general use, but only in situations where the question “are you allergic to lidocaine?” Can be reliably answered, rendering having a tattoo of it on your forehead (or whatever ICE floats your boat) redundant.

Yup long gone in cardiac arrest cases or arrhythmia problems.

When I road ride i wear a wrist band with basic details and NOK on it. Clearly visible to anyone attending to or treating me.

+1

Road ID here, used once in earnest by staff at Glasgow Velodrome when I was knocked out in a crash. They phoned the ambulance, then used the ID band to call my wife.

They’d have worked it out pretty quick though without the band, given that it was a booked session so I was registered in their computer anyway, but it goes to show what could happen out on the road or hills if riding solo.

Yay for me, but I had to run this test through in real life two years back. The police attending the scene found my details from my wallet and drivers license. I’m not sure, but I don’t think my wallet was in an obvious place, but a pocket in my softshell jacket hidden away – but they found this. Fortunately I had kept my address details updated, having just moved, so all worked and wife was alerted quickly. Have ICE number in phone etc, but it was the license that was sought first.

Perhaps if you need specific information conveyed to the police or ambos in this circumstance, stick a post-it with the details to your license?

And I hope that for all of you this remains a diverting academic exercise!

I sometimes wonder what would happen if I keeled over in the gym where I carry neither phone nor wallet, and the key to my locker is a combination in my head? Maybe that is a good argument for a wrist band of some description.

Yeah I never carry a wallet at all. But I am never without my phone so it works well for me. As I said I have basic information on my lock screen wallpaper (as much for a lost phone as for ICE) but the Medical ID thing is still useful because it lets folk (that know about it) dial your emergency contact even if the phone is locked.

worrying about telling her indoors that I forgot to get the milk and I might be late home

Bear in mind that if you are in a state that you can’t communicate then that phone call might be a tad more serious than that:
“we have your husband. Call off the mountain rescue search.”, “Come pick up your daughter that was with him.” or the worst “Come in and say your goodbyes. Is he an organ donor?” 🙁

stick a post-it with the details to your license?

Doesn’t your driving license have your address on it anyway? Phone number might be useful though. Again not something I regularly carry.

The post-it on my licence has the phone numbers of my wife and dad and a minor allergy I have, which wouldn’t be life threatening if triggered

Being mugged for your phone and wallet while unconscious isn’t something I’ve thought about to be honest. In the two emergencies I helped out with, as a passer by, I did the first response type stuff until the ambulance got there. But I can now see how you could easily get separated from your stuff in the immediate chaos, even if unlikely

http://www.argos.co.uk/m/static/Product/partNumber/2198082.htm

Carved my name, dob, couple of phone numbers on the back.

Driving licence with other half’s phone number on it. I for one would bother carrying a phone with me just for this situation.

Dog tags are an option but better off with these than paying that much to do the work yourself.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/MILITARY-TAGS-EMBOSSED-PERSONALISED-FREE/dp/B00P6S4GJ2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1455211550&sr=8-1&keywords=army+personalised+dogtags