Reasons Not to Panic Over a Painkiller

[groovedaddy]

Few drugs are more ubiquitous than acetaminophen, the pain reliever found in numerous over-the-counter cold remedies and the headache drug Tylenol. But last week, a federal advisory committee raised concerns about liver damage that can occur with overuse of acetaminophen, and the panel even recommended that the Food and Drug Administration ban two popular prescription drugs, Vicodin and Percocet, because they contain it.

The news left many consumers confused and alarmed. Could regular use of acetaminophen for pain relief put them at risk for long-term liver damage?

To help resolve the confusion, here are some questions and answers about acetaminophen.

What prompted the committee to look at acetaminophen in the first place?

Every year about 400 people die and 42,000 are hospitalized as a result of acetaminophen poisoning. When used as directed, the drug is not hazardous. But acetaminophen is now in so many products that it is relatively easy to take more than the recommended daily limit, now four grams.

“People often don’t know what products acetaminophen is in,” said Dr. Lewis S. Nelson, a medical toxicologist from New York University who was the panel’s acting chairman. “It isn’t that hard to go above the four-gram dose. If you took a couple acetaminophen for a headache until you got to the maximum dose, and then maybe later you take Tylenol PM and some Nyquil for a cold. And your back hurts, so you take Vicodin — by now you’ve probably gotten to a seven-gram dose.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/07/health/07well.html?th&emc=th

[uppityperson]

1. Person once told me he took 3 aspirin for a bad heachache, 2 for a sore toe, 3 for a sore back

a couple more for a stomach ache, and wondered why his ears were ringing. I tried not to laugh at him while explaining that the ones he took for his headache ALSO went in his bloodstream to his toe and back and the stomach ache was probably from taking too much aspirin. The ear ringing definitely was.

If you have taken 8 extra-strength tylenol for a headache, then later take tylenol PM (tylenol and bendaryl combo), then take vicodin, you have overdosed yourself.

Making extra strength only by prescription seems silly to me, since people will take 3 regulars rather than getting and Rx for the same amount. I don't know how to educate people more about responsible medicine usage, but seems that would be the way to go.