Q: Why do I have to wear a medical alert bracelet for Tegretol, when I use
the medicine for depression as a mood stabilerizer?
Dear Ms. S' --
That's a good question. I would have presumed the alert was effectively for
epilepsy, not for Tegretol as such. Like wearing one that says you have
diabetes, or an allergy to peanuts, or something. I haven't heard of wearing
one just to say you're taking that medication, and none of my patients wear one
like that, nor has anyone asked about this.
However, it is true that while you're taking Tegretol your liver works faster
chewing up medications. So I suppose one could say this alert is to tell
someone, in case you couldn't, that you're taking Tegretol so you might need
bigger doses of emergency medications if you needed them and couldn't
communicate at the time (e.g. like a diabetic bracelet allows EMT's to know that
this person might be unconscious because of their glucose, measure it quick;
that kind of thing). Never heard of it, but I suppose it might be a precaution
one could take.
Compare epilepsy to bipolar: with epilepsy you might
indeed be unconscious (right after a seizure) and the emergency response team
would get a handy clue from your bracelet. Why would you need this kind of
thing if you have bipolar disorder? I know, that's your question too. Not
sure, myself.
Dr. Phelps
Published September, 2003 |