FDA recommends acetaminophen warnings

FDA recommends acetaminophen warnings

www.msnbc.msn.com

NEW YORK - A Food and Drug Administration report released Wednesday recommends stronger warnings and dose limits on drugs containing the painkiller acetaminophen, citing an increased risk of liver injury.

The recommendation covers both prescription doses and over-the-counter medication, of which Johnson & Johnson's Tylenol is the most well-known. Acetaminophen is also widely available as a generic over-the-counter drug.

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Thank you FDA for informing people about the dangers of acetaminophen that have been known for over 30 years. This information has been shown conclusive since the early studies of acetaminophen.

Most people are unaware of the dangers associated with taking too much acetaminophen, not just at once but over a long period of time.

...it is estimated that acetaminophen poisoning results in 56,000 injuries, 25,000 hospitalizations, and 450 deaths every year. Medical professionals have concluded that long-term use, or large doses of the drug can damage the liver, leading to liver failure or even death.

www.msnbc.msn.com
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reply to post by iamcamouflage


This is more of a: people are too stupid to do a little reseach so we have to nanny state them kind of thing.

Tylenol should have a black box warning IMHO. Its lethal if taken in great amounts and more often than not serious overdoses if they survive need a liver transplant.

reply to post by FredT


I agree that people should be researching what they put into their own bodies. But i just find it ironic that the FDA acts as though they are in place to protect Americans from unsafe food and/or drugs, yet they continually let dangerous drugs out on the market without taking responsibility for their mistakes. Not to mention all the terrible synthetic food related products that are deemed safe by the FDA and the manufacturer without adequate testing.

Some food examples would be aspartame, brominated vegetable oil, hydrogenated oils, benzoate acid, etc.

Dangero us Food Additives

More scary stuff

You know, the last thing on this earth i would take for a headache, a broken kneecap, a toothache, would be a Tylenol.

I dont know about the rest of you but they just simply do not work. Given a choice between an M&M and Tylenol, id take the M&M in a heartbeat.

I know not everyone can take Ibuprophen or other stuff, but i would personally go without and bite the bullett than take something that doesnt work but ruins your liver.

I think most people know about the problems associated with that bogus medicine.

I take acetominophen on rare ocassions due to a history of ibuprofen intolerance but it is very hard on the stomach, though you don't bleed as much as with aspirin. If you mix it with nonacetominophen painkillers you can amplify its effects and overdose, which is pretty common. The retirement home I worked at strictly monitored what over the counter drugs residents had because that happened, once in the dining room during dinner. NOT good.

Well Tylenol doesn't work for me either, so I got a nice prescription of "other" pain killers that my doctor give me for those "times" I need something more for pain.

Actually I got an entire cabinet full of prescription pain killers because it seems that doctors love to give them away when you complain of pain.

Don't like them because they give me euphoria and that is very addictive and I can not go around feeling like I love everybody.

Still I can handle pain very well without anything.

reply to post by marg6043

I cant take prescription pain killers due to intolerance i have. Hey Marge, maybe it just doesnt work for hispanics???

reply to post by iamcamouflage


Any dosage over 4 grams (4,000 milligrams), or 8 500mg Tylenol Extra Strength tablets (or equivalent dosage APAP(acetaminophen) in a 24 hour period can cause liver damage. If that amount is taken over an elongated period than the chances of damage are high. This is nothing new and has been included on Tylenol and other Acetaminophen containing drugs for years.

Good thing I am allergic to both acetaminophen and Tylenol! Wont have to worry about this at all.

reply to post by dgtempe


I wonder, because I had them all, they may work the first day but after that they don't do a darn thing.

that is why I am so hard to treat as prescription drugs gives me the side effects that are in the package and new ones.

My doctor already told me that I am on my last prescription high blood pressure medicine because so far I have complained about all the other ones.

Well I am lucky the new drug call tekturna so far has been side effect free.

Some Acetamiophen containing drugs.......

Tylenol
Tylenol PM
Lortab
Vicodin
Percocet
Tylox
Firocet
Tylenol 2,3, or 4
Multiple cold medicines
Multiple generic pain relevers (containing between 250-500mg APAP)
Darvocet
Ultram
Ultracet

There are may other drugs under different brand names that contain APAP as an active ingreident. Acetaminophen (APAP) has a synergetic (intensifying effect) with other analgesics like narcotics and thus is commonly used in short acting opioid type pain killers. It is also highly maketed OTC.

reply to post by Tentickles


That is odd, someone being allergic to acetaminophen (Tylenol and generic copies). Are you sure? Or are you allergic to Codeine?

reply to post by FredT


Another dangerous and common pain reliever is Ibuprofen (Motrin, Advil)..It is a NSAID and can cause sever GI and ulcer issues.

Personally I don't take any of that stuff..Tylenol,Advil,Ibprophen,etc,etc. I stick with the old tried and true. Good old fashion plain old Aspirin...and it works better than any of that stuff. Now if you have to take a pain killer on a regular basis then there are other methods for reducing pain, but to be honest I think many people just suffer from phantom pain because they have been so conditioned to take a pill for everything.

My brain has a particular love for opiate pain killers, If i take them I will most likely die a itchy death... most of em have Acetaminophen which the liver is not much of a fan of...

I remember Tylenol tv commercials marketing it to new mothers right after childbirth. Tylenol must be ok/safe, because a hospital offers it.
(There was also the, "Please, mother, I'd rather do it myself!" for an aspirin. Making women feel they were in need of help from going "hysterical".)
Then mothers were encouraged to give it to their children! So Tylenol sales were marketed to two vulnerable groups, women at the moment of childbirth and women in charge of their child's well being. Who wouldn't do anything to keep their child from being in pain and getting the rest they need?!

So, the mother who decides that Tylenol is great for pain, starts to buy more OTC medicines that help her to avoid sinus pain, sleep better at night, fight colds/flu/allergies, etc. She ends up getting more of the drug than she bargained for. Plus, maybe she decides to imbibe in a little wine or martini in the evening or on weekends, along with taking Tylenol for headaches. Now we end up with women needing new livers.

Originally posted by desert
I remember Tylenol tv commercials marketing it to new mothers right after childbirth. Tylenol must be ok/safe, because a hospital offers it.
(There was also the, "Please, mother, I'd rather do it myself!" for an aspirin. Making women feel they were in need of help from going "hysterical".)
Then mothers were encouraged to give it to their children! So Tylenol sales were marketed to two vulnerable groups, women at the moment of childbirth and women in charge of their child's well being. Who wouldn't do anything to keep their child from being in pain and getting the rest they need?!

So, the mother who decides that Tylenol is great for pain, starts to buy more OTC medicines that help her to avoid sinus pain, sleep better at night, fight colds/flu/allergies, etc. She ends up getting more of the drug than she bargained for. Plus, maybe she decides to imbibe in a little wine or martini in the evening or on weekends, along with taking Tylenol for headaches. Now we end up with women needing new livers.

I remember these commercials. They keep marketing these products to people in many forms, pain, sleep, etc and they take them not realizing that if they take a regular tylenol for some pain and then take one to sleep and then take something for a cough, they have done damage to their bodies.

Another poster mentioned that this is well known information but I see people consuming these drugs everyday without knowledge or regard for what is in them or what they are doing to their bodies. How many have seen someone take Tylenol or Ibuprofen for a headache or some other pain and then drink alcohol? or consume one of these after drinking, right before bed to prevent a hangover? Now obviously drinking and consuming these drugs falls directly on the consumer but these companies market their drugs for every ailment under the sun and minimalize the dangers and side effects.

A little off subject but...How many people know someone or have experienced personally this scenario. Go to the doctor for high blood pressure. Doc prescribes HBP medication. HBP medication has a side effect of water retention, which can cause weight gain, and other negative side effects. So patient goes back to doc and is prescribed a water pill(diuretic) to relieve some of the water retention. Side effect of diuretic is over excretion of potassium which can result in heart failure and death. So then doc prescribes potassium meds or a potassium-sparing diuretic...etc

This continues the cycle of prescribing and then treating the side effect of said prescription with another prescription and so on and so on. This seems to be quite common and people I know who have experienced this just continue to treat this as the norm in medicine. This is incredibly unhealthy and sometimes more so than the initial treatment of the first condition.

The crap makes me sick I cant take it. They mix this trash with every painkiller as well which really screws up my options. I can be out of pain but Ill be sick to my stomach. In the past Ive chosen to deal with the pain because this trashy substance is in the painkiller. Why in the hell do they push tylenol so much? Rather have aspirin honestly or nothing at all.

Originally posted by Memysabu
The crap makes me sick I cant take it. They mix this trash with every painkiller as well which really screws up my options. I can be out of pain but Ill be sick to my stomach. In the past Ive chosen to deal with the pain because this trashy substance is in the painkiller. Why in the hell do they push tylenol so much? Rather have aspirin honestly or nothing at all.

I'm not positive but I think one reason they put tylenol in other pain killers is for expensive filler. A Vicodin 5/500 is 5mg of hydrocodone and 500mg of acetaminophen. Now why they use acetaminophen and not some innocuous filler(methocil), I cannot say for sure, it may have to do with the time release properties or to prevent abuse as extracting the pure hydrocodone from innocuous filler would be much easier than extracting from acetaminophen...or its just to sell more acetaminophen. take your pick