Thanks for posting. Awareness is very important, and I also visited your blog and saw you had commented on Plaquenil and how it is etremely toxic to children. Trust me your not alone in your fears, I have a 3 yr old that also like to put everything in her mouth. I am thinking abt buying a safe or tackle box with a lock to put all these medications in! I really hate having these types of medicines in the house at all.

That's weird because it was always October. In fact, it was Lupus Awareness month long before breast cancer got such a big advocacy group with the Susan Komen Foundation. (That's the group responsible for the pink ribbons and 90% the breast cancer funding these days.) I guess the LFA must have requested it be moved. (I sent out enough mailers for donations the first 10 years I was sick.)

Well, I'm glad that it's not in conflict any more. Better that way.

Allison,
Let me tell you that I actually experienced the nightmare of ryan getting a couple of my pills. He was in his high chair and my purse was across the table. Somehow he grabbed my purse and got to my little pill box. He ate some plaquenil and part of a valium. Rushed him to the hospital and he was watched for 8 hours. The valium did nothing to this kid (the hospital was laughing at what a clown he was being). I felt horrible about it and beat myself up over it for a long time. Now, I keep all the safety caps on and no meds in my bag or anywhere where he can get them. My toxic drugs I keep in a little locked case (with key) up high in the cupboard that I bought at walmart, I am so thankful that he didnt actually eat much of the pills because they tasted so bad. Your idea is a good one. I do it myself now.
Hugs

Allison, thanks for checking out my blog. That is a great idea about a lockbox. My issue is I will take 10 medications at once and I sometimes drop one. So I am taking less at a time and being so careful.

Luv, thank God that Ryan was okay. If you read my article on my blog, a 3 year old died from 1 g of cloroquine. My 22 month old is the same, always in my purse looking for gum but he puts anything and everything in his mouth. He ate a piece of my husband's lexapro last month but fortunately it was little enough that poison control told us it was okay. But it can happen so quickly. I am the same way, I blame myself for anything that happens to my boys.

It angers me so much that NO doctor or pharmacist has ever warned me about this. I had an 8 month old when I started plaquenil in 2005 and a 6 month old when I started it again in 2009. I think there should be a warning label on the bottle since it is so toxic to children.

Tracy, I thought they changed the month to correlate with World Lupus Day which is in May too. But that makes sense that they would not want it to be the same month as Breast Cancer Awareness since we know that gets so much more press.

That is such a shame that only 1 gram can do that. So scary to have these pills but just like firearms if you use them correctly they shouldn't have to be a danger. I bought a childproof case for the meds, particularly Plaquenil, it looks big enough to itleast put the prescriptions in. I found out abt the Plaquenil while reading the prescription when I first got it and wanted to know every little thing. I read the online version which was longer than the one I got from the pharmacy.

Mel you must have been so scared in that moment knowing how toxic it is, ugh I have been there but it was Advil. She had gotten into my purse and opened the bottle. She had them in her mouth maybe 3 but I got them out. I don't think she swallowed but maybe one but we took her to the ER anyway. She acted completely normal there, really its just a wait and see. They really didn't do much other than give her some charcoal. Of course she didn't drink it. Never again! I always keep very child friendly things only in my purse now.