(Settle down, Mum & Dad…)

I don’t have any tattoos on my body. And I rarely wear medical ID jewellery. How are these things connected?

Well, a lot of people with diabetes have diabetes tattoos, often on the inside of their wrists. Many say the reason they decided to tattoo their medical condition quite prominently on their body is because they don’t like to wear medical ID jewellery, (or don’t want the hassle of remembering to wear it). A tattoo is as permanent as you can get! Once it’s on, it’s on!

I’ve never really been interested in getting a tattoo, and I certainly have never even entertained the thought of getting a medical ID tattoo. This is obviously a very personal decision and I actually really like a lot of the diabetes tattoos that I’ve seen online. But it’s just not something that is very ‘me’. (And perhaps somewhere in this deeply cynical body of mine, a teeny tiny part of me that things maybe, perhaps, possibly there will be a cure for diabetes in my lifetime. And that unicorns exist.)

I do try to make an effort when I am travelling alone to wear my medical ID bracelet that I bought from a number of years ago. But the truth of the matter is that I very, very rarely do. Call me vain or shallow (guilty, guilty), but I don’t like the look of most medical ID jewellery, and even more, I don’t like looking down seeing a constant reminder of my medical condition staring back at me. I love wearing bracelets, but one that screams ‘chronic health condition’ is not really what I want to see when I am typing away and hear the jingle jangle of my bangles.

Today on my Instagram feed, this came up:

It’s from Pep Me Up Diabetes Blog which is run out of Germany by my friend Steffi. Steffi is awesome. I’ve met her in person a couple of times now as she’s also part of the Roche Bloggers Group. To date, her business has mostly sold very cool stickers for FreeStyle Libre sensors and scanners. She gave me a couple of stickers last year in Munich and I quite enjoyed sporting this one on my arm over the top of my sensor:

Now, Steffi has broadened her business to include temporary tattoos such as the one showcased on her Instagram feed today, as well as a couple of others which are also fabulous. In fact, if I were to get a permanent diabetes tattoo, I suspect that it would look like one of these:


(The first one means ‘I am greater than my high and lows’.)

I can see the merit of using a temporary diabetes tattoo. For me, travelling alone would be the time that I think it would be most appealing. But there are a lot of other situations that would be great too: music concerts and festivals, large sporting events, or even as a ‘try out’ for a more permanent inking!

I really love this idea – well done Steffi – and it is another example of some truly wonderful and fun things that are going on in the diabetes world by people with diabetes. Do support them if you can!

Want your own temporary diabetes tattoo? You can order here. And Steffi ships all over the world. Even Australia!

GIVEAWAY!

Steffi has kindly offered to send me a couple of tattoos for a giveaway. Want one? Click here and tell me when and why you would use one of these tattoos.

Wait – I think I found an alert bracelet I like! As I was scrolling through the Pep Me Up website, I found this and ordered it!