Mission
MedShadow protects lives and improves the quality of your life by ensuring you get independent, evidence-based health information.
Vision
MedShadow wants everyone to have the information needed to balance the risks and the benefits of medicines and their health care options.
Who We Are
MedShadow is the leading nonprofit health news site focused on the side effects of medicines. We are journalists and health professionals who believe that the only way to get information that is free from pharmaceutical company influence is to refuse to accept any advertising or financial support from pharma and medical device manufacturers. MedShadow is the leading health site that makes you the promise: no pharma money.
MedShadow is made up of award winning health journalists, medical professionals, donors, and volunteers who are committed to making the hidden and minimized risks of medicines visible so that everyone has the information needed to make the best health care decisions for themselves and their families.
What You'll Find on MedShadow
Our professional health journalists reveal what you need to know about side effects and risks of medicines alongside the benefits. Our First Person stories inspire you to take control of your medical well being. Our commitment to the big picture will encourage you to discover your options which might include nutrition, exercise and wellness choices. By reading MedShadow articles you'll protect the quality of your and your family's lives by getting influence-free health information. MedShadow is the leading independent, nonprofit health information source free from pharma influence -- because we do not accept advertising or financial support from pharmaceutical companies or medical device manufacturers. We report on the side effects of medicine that have been researched through high-quality studies. When those studies are not available, we tell you that honestly and objectively share what is known. We don’t sell medicines, yoga mats or even t-shirts. We just give you the best information on the internet.
Why You Should Care About Side Effects
Every medicine has a side effect. So does every herbal remedy, vitamin, supplement, etc. A side effect is any unintended reaction.
- Ibuprofen is effective at relieving muscle aches but using too much can create liver damage in just three days.
- Lavender essential oils have properties that relieve anxiety, but can cause estrogen surges in infants (babies with breasts!).
- Statins lower cholesterol, but cause muscle aches and pains, increase your risk of diabetes, and might affect your cognitive reasoning.
But that’s what happens to other people, most of us don’t worry about side effects until it happens to them. But it happened to me, Suzanne, the founder of MedShadow. Before I was born, my mother was prescribed a drug that was supposed to help her pregnancy. Instead, it affected the fetus’ fertility organs.The drug affected my fertility organs, leaving me without the ability to bear a child. That drug was given to about five million pregnant women before it was finally banned in pregnancy.
Side effects are personal. They happen to real people and to a lot of people.
- Read about Kim’s heartbreak when her husband Woody suffered the undisclosed and devastating side effects antidepressants; or
- Rachel’s story about the harms that women aren’t warned about with breast implants; or
- Andrew’s search for help with his military service related injuries when traditional medicines couldn’t help.
There are more than 2 million serious adverse drug reactions in hospitals yearly, leading to more than 100,000 deaths. (Source: Lazarou J et al. JAMA 1998;279:1200–1205) Side effect awareness, management, and avoidance can change that number. Thank you for reading.
Side effects are personal. They can seriously affect you and your family's health.
