Have you written your own medical profile?

[Brian63]

Has anyone written a comprehensive medical profile of themselves? It is a handy reference for yourself and also for your doctors during regular visits or even emergencies. Includes contacts of all your doctors. Your medications. Your detailed medical history. Family’s abbreviated medical history. Surgical history. Social history and lifestyle. Mental health history. Vaccination status. Phobias, height, weight, allergies, preferences if on life support (go FULL CODE or DNR/DNI), preferences on death (burial or cremation). It is easily accessible to you and regularly updated. What else would you include?

I am in the process of writing mine and was hoping to gather some info from my parent's about their family history. My mother seemed interested in discussing it with her own mother (who knows it better) for the benefit of us all. My dad perceived the idea of bringing up the topic to his family to be an invasion of privacy. I disagree with his interpretation (it would be voluntary in nature, and others may have never even considered the idea of writing a self medical profile before and never thought of the benefits of having one).

 

[Loren Pechtel]

I have put the basics a doctor might need on a web page that has no links to it--but the URL is on my phone, accessible from the lock screen. It's also on the whiteboard I leave in my car when I go out on a hike. I've got copies of various labs and imaging on my computer, but it's just sorted by data type, I haven't tried to turn it into a profile.

 

[Elixir]

I'm almost seventy two. I could spend my remaining years writing profiles and histories of myself, or do other things.
If I was in my thirties it would be more appealing as an idea, since I'd have less history to write and more opportunity to benefit from having written it.
If that were the case, I like Loren's idea.

 

[Brian63]

Right now mine is in a very early draft as a Word document. It is almost 20 pages, which sounds excessive, but it actually will be organized well and is NOT small nonstop text. Instead a single page will be devoted to things like:

My emergency contacts
My neurologist contact info
My optometrist's contact info and stats about my vision
Family physician contact info
Social history
My medical history
Etc.

At the front is a table of contents that will include links to the exact page that I or a particular doctor may want to visit. So they would not need to scroll down to find what they are looking for. Very easy to navigate and includes good notes and timelines. Key points will be formatted to bring proper attention to them.

 

[TV and credit cards]

The VA has"myhealthevet" portal that has everything relevant and sections for me to add if I so desire. I believe it was made after the initial Obamacare website fiasco when, if memory serves, they went outside the normal government contracting and hired folks who actually knew what they were doing. If I recall, the same folks made myhealthevet. Still works just fine. I can even annoy my doctors through it with email whenever I like.
It took awhile to populate but now has info going back to '08 for me. What's more, I can actually transfer info and images to civilian HCPs. Initially there were two different transfer systems but I eventually reconciled that.

In that I carry my retired military ID in the front of my wallet, I trust anyone finding me dead would figure which avenue to take. My iphone will show my Medical ID info if they know enough to activate the SOS buttons.

I did, once upon a time want to graph my bloodwork year over year, complete with definitions for a quick howgozit reference. But opening up anything akin to Excel is probably last on my list of desirable things to do.

Now if I could just bring myself to fill up that DNR.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

I did, once upon a time want to graph my bloodwork year over year, complete with definitions for a quick howgozit reference. But opening up anything akin to Excel is probably last on my list of desirable things to do.

Now if I could just bring myself to fill up that DNR.

I used to keep a spreadsheet of blood work, but I realized there's nothing in there they'll need in an emergency and they'll track it down soon enough from my PCP anyway. My focus is on what a doc might need to know NOW.

 

[bilby]

I am fifty one years old, and the last time I spent a night in hospital was on a maternity ward.

I have never had a broken bone, take no regular medications, and have only ever had a general anaesthetic for dental work. The only day surgery I have undergone was removal of my wisdom teeth.

My medical profile reads:

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[Loren Pechtel]

I am fifty one years old, and the last time I spent a night in hospital was on a maternity ward.

I have never had a broken bone, take no regular medications, and have only ever had a general anaesthetic for dental work. The only day surgery I have undergone was removal of my wisdom teeth.

My medical profile reads:

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At 51 that pretty much described me. Tonsils/Adenoids when I was young, the only regular medications I ever took were malaria prophylaxis when I was in malaria territory. I can still use my fingers to count illnesses as far back as I can remember.

 

[Brian63]

A few days ago I asked my neurologist to give a helpful description of my epilepsy for the purpose of this medical profile, and he really came through for me today. Very cool. One is more layperson-oriented and the other is geared more for other clinicians. Though even the lay version seemed quite technical to me---it is probably normal prose for him.