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Carrying a steroid emergency card after adrenal surgery | CION Cancer Clinics
A steroid emergency card tells any doctor that you depend on steroid tablets and need hydrocortisone by injection if you become seriously ill. If you take steroid replacement after adrenal surgery, carry one at all times. India has no single national card, so this page explains what yours should say, how to get one, where to keep it, and what it cannot do. CION Cancer Clinics’ surgical oncologists in Hyderabad can talk this through with you.
MM
Medically reviewed by Dr. Muralidhar MuddusettyConsultant Surgical Oncologist · MBBS (AIIMS), MS (Surgery, AIIMS), DNB (Surgical Oncology), MRCS (Edinburgh) · last reviewed September 2026, next review due September 2027
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On this page
- What is a steroid emergency card, and do you need one?
- What should your card say?
- How do you get a steroid emergency card in India?
- Where should you keep it?
- When should you show the card?
- Why do people leave the card at home?
- What can the card not do for you?
- Common questions about the steroid emergency card
The short answer
What is a steroid emergency card, and do you need one?
A steroid emergency card is a small card that tells any doctor you depend on steroid tablets and need hydrocortisone by injection if you are seriously ill. If you take steroid replacement after adrenal surgery, you should carry one at all times.
Why a card matters in an emergency
If you collapse, are confused or are vomiting too hard to speak, the doctor in front of you has no way of knowing about your adrenal surgery. An adrenal crisis looks like many other illnesses. The card speaks for you, and it tells the team to give steroid first and do tests afterwards.
Is there an official card in India?
The NHS in England issues a national steroid emergency card, and several endocrine societies publish similar ones. India does not yet have a single national version that every hospital recognises. Some endocrinology departments in Hyderabad hand out their own card. If yours does not, you can make one, and this page shows what it should say.
Who does not need one
If one adrenal gland was removed, the other works normally, and you have not been started on steroid tablets, a card is usually not needed. Ask your team to confirm this in writing on your discharge summary.
A card is a safety tool, not a treatment. It does not replace sick day rules or going to hospital.On the card
What should your card say?
- Your full name, and a family member's name and phone number
- The words "Adrenal insufficiency: steroid dependent"
- Why: for example, adrenal surgery for a cortisol-making tumour, or both glands removed
- The name of each steroid tablet you take, exactly as written by your doctor
- "In an emergency give hydrocortisone by injection without delay", as your team words it
- Your treating hospital and your endocrinologist's department
Not sure whether this applies to you?
Ask an oncologistGetting one
How do you get a steroid emergency card in India?
Ask before discharge
Ask the surgical team or the endocrinologist whether the hospital has a printed card. If you are started on steroids after adrenal surgery, this is the easiest moment to get one filled in and signed.
If there is no printed card
Write the details from this page on a stiff card, in English and in Telugu, and ask your doctor to check and sign it at the next visit. A signature and hospital stamp make it far more likely to be taken seriously.
Make a digital copy
Put a photo of the card on your phone's emergency or medical ID screen, which can be opened without unlocking. Send a copy to the family members who live with you.
Keep it current
Whenever your tablets change, update the card. An old card listing a medicine you no longer take causes confusion at exactly the wrong moment.
Always with you
Where should you keep it?
The card only helps if someone finds it. Most families use more than one of these.
In your wallet or purse
Next to your Aadhaar or insurance card, which is the first place hospital staff look when they need to identify someone. Keep it in a plastic sleeve so it survives the monsoon.
On a medical bracelet or pendant
A bracelet engraved with "steroid dependent" works when you are separated from your bag, for example after a road accident. Several Indian sellers make these at modest cost.
With your emergency kit
If you have been prescribed a hydrocortisone injection for home, keep the card in the same pouch, so whoever picks up the kit also has the instructions.
Keep together
- The card
- The injection kit, if prescribed
- A copy of your discharge summary
With the people around you
Tell your spouse, grown children, a colleague and anyone you travel with where the card is and what it means. A card nobody knows about is easily missed.
Leave a number, we will call you
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Using it
When should you show the card?
Situation
What to do with the card
Arriving at any emergency department
Hand it to the triage nurse before anything else
Before a dental extraction, a scope or another operation
Show it when booking, so extra steroid cover can be planned
Seeing a new doctor for a fever or infection
Show it at the start of the consultation
Travelling by road, rail or air
Keep it on your body, not in checked luggage
Commonly believed
Why do people leave the card at home?
"My family knows, so I do not need a card."
Emergencies happen at work, on a bus or during a journey to a village function, when your family is not there. Even when they are, a panicked relative may forget to mention steroids. The card does not panic.
"A handmade card will not be taken seriously."
A clear card signed by your doctor is taken seriously. What matters is that it states the condition, the medicine and the instruction in plain words. A hospital stamp helps, but a missing logo does not make it useless.
"I only need the card while I am on a high dose."
Replacement doses are low, and people on them still depend on steroids completely. Carry the card for as long as you take any steroid replacement, and ask your team whether to keep carrying it for a while after stopping.
"Showing the card will make doctors over-treat me."
An extra dose of hydrocortisone during an emergency is very unlikely to harm you. Missing one can be dangerous. The card helps the team make the safe choice quickly.
Being straight with you
What can the card not do for you?
A card makes sure the right treatment is not missed. It does not decide when you need that treatment, and it does not work if you wait too long to go to hospital.
It does not replace sick day rules
Sick day rules are the instructions for adjusting your tablets during a fever or a stomach upset. Those come from your endocrinologist, differ from person to person, and should be written down separately. The card is for when those rules are no longer enough.
It does not replace a hospital visit
Even if a family member gives the emergency injection at home, you still need to be seen in hospital. The injection buys time. It does not treat the infection or illness that caused the trouble.
It cannot tell you whether you need it
This page cannot tell you whether you are steroid dependent. That depends on the tumour that was removed and your blood tests. If you are unsure, ask your surgical team or endocrinologist directly, and ask them to write the answer on your discharge summary so any doctor can read it.
Questions we are asked
Common questions about the steroid emergency card
Can I download a steroid emergency card for use in India?
The NHS England card and similar cards from endocrine societies can be found online, and some Indian patients print them. They are useful as a template. Fill in your own details, add your Indian hospital and phone numbers, and ask your endocrinologist to check and sign it.
Should the card be in English or Telugu?
Both, if you can. Doctors in emergency departments will read English, and the medicine names should stay in English exactly as prescribed. A Telugu line helps a bystander, a driver or a relative understand that you need to be taken to hospital quickly.
I had one gland removed. Do I need a card?
Only if you have been started on steroid tablets, which usually happens when the tumour was making cortisol. If you are not on steroids and your team has confirmed your other gland is working, a card is usually not needed. Ask them to confirm this.
Is a phone medical ID enough on its own?
It helps, but phones get lost, run out of battery or are locked in ways staff cannot open. A physical card in your wallet, or a bracelet, is still the most reliable. Use the phone as a second copy, not the only one.
Do I still carry it after my tablets are stopped?
Ask your endocrinologist. Some advise carrying it for a period after stopping, because the recovered gland may still struggle during a major illness or operation. If both glands were removed, you will carry a card for life.
Will airport security or railways ask about it?
Usually not. The card is not a travel document. It is still worth carrying on your body when travelling, with tablets in your hand luggage and a copy of your prescription, especially for long journeys or trips abroad.
Should my child carry a card after adrenal surgery?
Yes, if they take steroid replacement. Give a copy to the school office and the class teacher, and make sure they know what vomiting or collapse means for your child. The paediatric endocrinologist can help you write the school's instructions.
What if a hospital ignores the card?
Stay calm and repeat clearly that the patient is steroid dependent after adrenal surgery and needs hydrocortisone now. Show the discharge summary. Ask the staff to call the endocrinologist on duty or your treating hospital. Most teams act quickly once the message is understood.
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Sources
- NHS — Addison's disease
- NHS — Hydrocortisone tablets
- NHS — Steroids
- Cancer.Net — Adrenal Gland Tumor
This page is general information, not a prescription. Do not change or stop any treatment based on what you read here. If anything is worrying you, contact your own treating team — or call our helpline and we will help you reach the right specialist.
Keep reading
Related pages
Adrenal Crisis: The Emergency to KnowThe signs that mean the card needs to be usedSteroid Replacement After Adrenal SurgeryWho takes steroid tablets afterwards and for how longLiving With One Adrenal GlandEveryday life once the operation is behind youCaretaker and Family Guide to SurgeryFor the family member who keeps the card and the kit
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