FDA may ban key pain killers
The FDA has determined that Tylenol enhancing pain killers are dangerous enough to be pulled from the market. Drugs including Vicodin, Hydrocodone, Lortab, Maxidone, Norco, Zydone, Tylenol with codeine, Percocet, Endocet, Darvocet may be permanently banned from the US market, even if the patient has a prescription fro a doctor.The problem is the key ingredient – acetaminophen can easily damage or destroy a patient’s liver if more than 2000 mg are used per day. In man cases that means if you take a pain killer and then take two extra strength Tylenol, you may have gone over the maximum dosage per day. Most people do not understand how dangerous Tylenol can be in large doses, or that many drugs use acetaminophen to enhance the capabilities of the drug. Since there are so many drugs that are tied to this problem the FDA may instead put more extensive warnings on the boxes and prescription paperwork to let the population know there is a problem. Another may be to demand that doctors fully explain the issues with taking these kinds of drugs and make patients sign a document saying they understand the danger. (Source: Philly.com)
While we all appreciate the work that the FDA does in making sure our medicine is both effective and safe, this is one time that they are over acting. Taking some of the most tested and understood medications off the market because patients are not being trained by doctors to be careful is crazy.By adding more documentation with large red letters and making patients signing documents tells them that this is important. Additional warnings could be put on all medication that uses acetaminophen so it is easy to tell when you are getting close to the maximum daily dose.
Patient training is an ongoing issue that needs to be addressed across all drugs. Many patients take pills without regard of interactions or of what the contraindications are. Everyone should have a good understanding of what to look for when they are allergic to the medication. If you are taking prescription drugs, get a copy of the Physicians Desk Reference and the Nurses Desk Reference. They both give a wealth of information on drugs including which interact with others. Keep in mind that even if you are not allergic does not mean that prescriptions play well with each other. Good pharmacies are supposed to have software that flag when interactions can happen but it is not perfect. Plus if the pharmacist is busy they may miss a warning that flies across the screen with all the other things they are working on. It is up to each of us to make sure we are safe and that the drugs we use are working properly and are not causing problems.
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It took over 50 years, to break the media/AMA blockage of this information (although it is still kind of played down by the media)…
Lancet (The British Medical Journal ) Published the information, some time ago, but you had to take two links, to get to ‘Tylenol’. Tylenol was NOT mentioned in the article, which listed acetaminophen as the greatest cause of liver failure in the world (at that time). A rate higher than Alcohol.
Going to all links in the article would not lead you to Tylenol… Only subsequent links, or searches got you there.
Even recently, doctors pushed Tylenol over Aspirin, even though most of the aspirin fears stem from the publicity campaign started by Tylenol in the late 50s, most still not quite substantiated. (Most people who ‘react’ to aspirin are probably part of the 20% of the population subject to anything they hear about being bad for some, is bad for them. (Put in the paper that your drinking water might be bad for you, and immediately 20% of town will get sick, not the expected 2-3% who really might.)
Still not much in media about plastic bottled water… Since that is a real cash cow, now.