We Are Not Anecdotes. We Matter.

4th Leading Cause of Death is Adverse Drug Reactions

Tomorrow, March 24, is National Adverse Drug Event Awareness Day

No one ever thinks something will happen to them until it does. Harms in medicine often go invisible. One person at a time. Now, imagine if jetliners start falling out of the sky. People would pay attention.

Did you know that the 4th leading cause of death is adverse reactions from prescription drugs? Over 128,000 + people die every year from properly prescribed medications. Forty-six million adverse drug reactions (ADRs) are reported each year, leading to 1.3 million emergency room visits.

We need to start talking about harms from medicine. We need to share our stories. I learned long ago the importance of telling our family’s story. Not only is it healing, but lets others know they're not alone.

Right now, we live in a world where injuries and harms from “safe and effective” drugs and vaccines are often ignored, gaslit, or blamed on your “disease” — Not the drug.

Help us connect the dots. Share your story and photo on your favorite social media channels TOMORROW, March 24th.

React19 @React19org

Friday March 24th is national adverse drug event awareness day for the American Society of Pharmacovigilance @AmSocietyPharm Share your story and photo on social media on Friday using the format below. Tag @AmSocietyPharm #fourthcause #wemattertoo

Tag @fourthcause.org and @amsocietypharm

Hashtags: #fourthcause, #wemattertoo #stopADR

Personalize with other hashtags. For example, I will add #antidepressants #suicide #Zoloft

Here’s mine and would love to see yours.

If we can’t all be in the same place telling the world our stories like when we met several other families at the 2004 FDA Antidepressant Suicide hearings and realized we were NOT alone ….

Let’s make it go viral and let the pharmaceutical companies, FDA, CDC, the media, and the world know….

We are NOT acceptable collateral damage. Our lives matter.