Do You "display" Your Diagnoses?

[tonalynn]

I've been throwing the idea around about getting a tattoo (my 1st) of a celiac disease support ribbon on my hip. Just to commemorate the date I was diagnosed, to show celiac didn't beat me, and if, heaven forbid, I should have something terrible happen to me, I could announce I have celiac without having to say anything! ;-)

 

Did any of you here do anything like this? Get a tattoo, wear a favorite t-shirt, have a medical ID bracelet or other kind of jewelry showing just what you've overcome?

 

I'd love to see what people have done since being diagnosed! :-)

[1desperateladysaved]

I have thought of a t-shirt saying, "I survived X years of celiac symptoms!"  maybe someone sells these somewhere.  I would probably sell t-shirt dresses that say it,  If I sold them.  I have a wrist band, but I don't think my family would appreciate seeing it.  I do however mention it many times to whoever will listen.

 

D

[Adalaide]

I have celiac. It is part of who I am, it does not define who I am. I have toyed with the idea of jewelry, but what I want far exceeds my income level and so I don't get it. (Pandora bracelets are expensive!) When I wear clothes (mostly tshirts) that identify who I am to the world, I am first and foremost a geek/gamer and after that a brony. I am far more comfortable having a conversation with a random stranger in Wal-Mart (or 5 random strangers in Hot Topic on Black Friday morning at 6:30) about video games or My Little Pony than some disease I'd rather forget I have for 2 freaking hours. Squeals of delight from small children "look it's Rainbow Dash!!!" pointing at me are far more likely to make my day than someone starting some conversation about celiac or gluten just to prove they have about as much knowledge as a Kardashian.

 

My opinions have evolved over the last 2 years, and I don't expect everyone, or frankly anyone to agree with me. But that's my 2 cents.

[Gemini]

Nope...I don't feel the need to display anything. I just moved on and live my life....and enjoy helping out new Celiac's adapt and move on also.  

[luvs2eat]

I'd consider an alert bracelet. I told my doctor once that I was afraid that I'd end up in a nursing home someday and the workers would be so mad at me for the horror of what would come out of my mouth and butt if they gave me wheat bread and I didn't know not to eat it! My doctor nearly had to pick herself up off the floor cause she was laughing so hard.

[GFinDC]

I have some gluten-free t-shirts that I wear sometimes.   I did a painting about gut damage for an art show once, and put up info about celiac disease on the wall for my art.  No tattoos though, I can't see disfiguring my body that way.

[tonalynn]

Luvs2eat - that's awesome! I love it, and if gluten didn't make you feel so awful, I would say that's a fantastic way to get back at any workers that didn't treat you right! The visual I have is priceless!

 

Thanks for your input everyone. I guess the way I was looking at it was not to have it define who I am. I looked at it as more of a badge of honor, meaning yeah I have celiac and it didn't beat me, I'm still here. I like the idea of symbolic tattoos unique to the individual. I have also thought for years about small tattoos on my 2nd toes on each foot (one for my late husband, one for my father who passed away in '89). I've never worked up the courage to get one though - I'm ascairt of them needles! ;-)

 

Also, it would be in a place that most of the world would never see, so it would be strictly for my benefit only. I don't own a bathing suit that would show it off, and I don't normally go out in public in just my underwear, so most people wouldn't even know I had the tattoo.

 

I know a lot of people here have one (if not many) tattoos, and I assume each one stands for something personal. I've only met one person in my life who just walked into a tattoo parlor and picked a design off the wall (you'll have it for the rest of your life, isn't it worth more than a snap decision?).

[IrishHeart]

I have an "issue" with ink tattoos because my immigrant great- aunt (from Armenia) had a number tattooed on her arm when the Turks invaded Armenia and raped and killed most of the population, so to me, it meant something stamped was "hateful".   

 

That said, if you want a tat that proclaims something you feel victorious over, then go for it.

 

I do not think of anything "displaying my diagnosis" as being important to me , but if I could find someone to replicate the Maeve, Warrior Princess I have as my avatar, I'd put it on SOMETHING! LOL

 

I have a tee shirt from my friend's G F bakery that says "Blame it on the Gluten" on the back.

 

And my pal,  the Gluten dude has a tat that says "No Grain, No Pain" on his arm.

 

My niece has lots of tats--of the significant of things that happened in her life--and while I think it's cool for her, maybe it's not for me.

 

I am getting older and an aging body with tats...is not pretty. (shudder) 

 

As for the medic alert bracelet, as KarenG once pointed out, if you can speak, you can say

"hey. I have celiac..no gluten! " and if you cannot, no IVs contain gluten anyway.

So it may not even be necessary.

[love2travel]

Nope...I don't feel the need to display anything. I just moved on and live my life....and enjoy helping out new Celiac's adapt and move on also.

Same here. Yes, I have the disease, but it is not what/who I am.