• He/Him/His • Bi

ugh, mastodon, i guess
l.ecn.io/mastodon

I have a severe allergy to peanuts. Severe enough that within 15 minutes of eating one my airway will begin to close and my heart will begin to stop. It's critically important that whenever I am travelling to a place where peanuts are common that I know if I can or cannot eat somewhere, and to get help should I need it. All of this has to cross language barriers absolutely perfectly.

This card, or in my current case, cards, is how I do that. I spent a lot of time refining these cards to accomplish two very specific tasks. This is the second revision of these cards, after my first when I visited Taiwan in 2019.


The Blue Side

I cannot eat peanuts, I will die.

The blue side of the card says in both English and Chinese (either simplified or traditional, depending on if I'm in China or Taiwan)

I cannot eat peanuts, I will die.

This message is intentionally terse and to-the-point. Peanut allergies are not common in Asia so it's vitally important for the other party to understand that this isn't a matter of taste. It's not that I don't like peanuts, it's that I'll be dead on the floor in 30 minutes if I eat one.

The use case of this card is in a restaurant. When I'm deciding if I want to eat here, I just show this card. I've had restaurant workers shoo me away after showing the card, and honestly I'm not mad - that's all I need to know.

The Red Side

Call ambulance.

The red side is the emergency side. This is the side of the card for when I know I've eaten a peanut and need immediate medical attention. With the use of an epipen I have about 30 minutes to get to a hospital to be stabilized, so time is very much of the essence here.

This side of the card says:

Call ambulance
Anaphylaxis

Anaphylaxis is the medical name for my specific allergy. Again, both messages are written in English and Chinese. Some emoji are added in case the person I'm showing this to reads neither of those languages, as a last resort.

The objective of this side of the card is clear - call an ambulance now. The mention of my specific condition is there for the paramedics when they arrive, so they understand whats happening. By the time they arrive, I will likely be unable to speak by myself. This card is all I will have, other than gestures.

My first iteration of this card was less clear, it was more focused on information for the paramedics but less on how to get the paramedics to para their medics for me.


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in reply to @ecn's post:

On me, at all times (while travelling). Typically in my wallet since I'll be needing that to pay.

I also keep a backup of the images on my phone. I actually lost the original card halfway through my trip, so I'm glad I had a backup.