Living With Heart Valve Disease
Here are some tips for people with heart valve disease. They are also applicable if you’ve had the situation addressed through replacement or repair.
- Take Antibiotics before medical tests or procedures that involve bleeding, such as major or even minor surgery. You are at risk of an infection called Endocarditis even if you’ve had a valve repair or replacement.
- Make sure your dentist knows any medications you are taking, and that you have valvular disease, so you can be given antibiotics before cleanings and other procedures as well.
- Have at least 1 Emergency Identification Card to carry with you. One the Emergency ID card indicate that you have heart valve disease. This will help doctors to understand how best to treat you in case of a cardiac event.
ICE Identification Cards
In Case of Emergency (ICE) is a program that enables first responders, such as paramedics, firefighters, and police officers, as well as hospital personnel, to contact the next of kin of the owner of a mobile phone to obtain important medical or support information (the phone must be unlocked and working). The phone entry (or entries) should supplement or complement written (such as wallet, bracelet, or necklace) information or indicators. The program was conceived in the mid-2000s and promoted by British paramedic Bob Brotchie in May 2005. It encourages people to enter emergency contacts in their mobile phone address book under the name “ICE”. Alternatively, a person can list multiple emergency contacts as “ICE1”, “ICE2”, etc. The popularity of the program has spread across Europe and Australia, and it has started to grow into North America.
You can find out more about the ICE program and print out an Emergency Card by going to https://geticecard.com/