Spinal Cord Resources Network » FDA

Caution on Tamiflu dosing

ghgeorge — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 19:03:03 +0000

With flu season in full swing doctors are prescribing Tamiflu for both prophylactic and reduction of flu symptoms. FDA issued a Public Health Alert to notify prescribers and pharmacists about potential dosing errors with Tamiflu (oseltamivir) for Oral Suspension. U.S. health care providers usually write prescriptions for liquid medicines in milliliters (mL) or teaspoons, while Tamiflu is dosed in milligrams (mg). The dosing dispenser packaged with Tamiflu has markings only in 30, 45 and 60 mg. Because the dosing can be easily confused, please make sure to look at the labeling to verify that you are working in milligrams and not in milliliters. So far there has not been any reported errors of dosing, but it is always good to verify before administering any drug. (Source: Drugs.com)

This is a good idea for any drug that is dispensed by a doctor or nurse. In the heat of trying to do too much, it is very easy to forget what you are measuring and create a potential problem. Take the time to verify that you are measuring out the correct amount and the correct measurement. This is something we need to watch for during this long flu season that came up on us quickly and looks like it will be here awhile. This is a good time for patients to ask questions about the medications that they are on to make sure they understand what they are taking. There were issues last year that children’s cough medicine was measured differently then adult medicine and parents were over dosing their children by mistake. This is an easy fix that could keep the patient out of the hospital.

ACTION NEEDED: FDA may remove pain killers

ghgeorge — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 15:25:30 +0000

Action is need by the chronic pain community to tell the FDA not to remove medications like Percocet or Vicodin from the list of medications available. In addition, extra strength medications like Tylenol would be removed from over the counter and would require a prescription by a doctor. Tens of thousands of pain suffers depend on these medications to have a good quality of life and taking them away would force them to take opioids which are much more powerful and potentially addictive. This action is being looked at because of deaths tied to acetaminophen. If someone takes more than 2000mg a day they risk damaging their liver to the point where they will require a transplant. Others have died because they took more pain medication than was given in their prescription. Rather than dealing with this with training to doctors and also to patients to let them know how important it is to follow doctors orders, medications may be taken away. If this happens there will be much suffering from people that do not have the money to move to more expensive pain killers or to use grey market suppliers to get the drugs they need. We all depend on the FDA to keep bad medications off the market, but well known and safe medications do not deserve to be removed because a few people refuse to follow prescription orders. This same issue can be used for many pain killers and other medications, yet they are not being looked at for removal. There are links that you can go to that will let the FDA know how you feel about this issue. Please follow the links below so that medications we all depend on will be there when we need them. (Source: American Pain Foundation)

Respond to the FDA NOW:

Click here to read APF’s position statement on the FDA recommendations for acetaminophen combined medications and over-the-counter acetaminophen medications.
Click here to read the task force’s concerns about the FDA’s recommendations regarding prescription acetaminophen combined medications.
Click here to read the task force’s concerns about the FDA’s recommendations regarding over-the-counter acetaminophen medications.
Click here to read APF’s Question & Answer sheet on acetaminophen and opioids.

Don’t wait until it is too late and the FDA makes it decision and we are all left with few possible pain killers that work well, are inexpensive and easy to find.

FDA takes away powerful pain killer

ghgeorge — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 13:48:13 +0000

In a move that has baffled pain management doctors, the FDA has decided to restrict distribution of a newly approved pain killer. The drug called Onsolis is a short acting but powerful fentanyl pain killer. The drug was originally to be used for acute pain management and end of life pain control. However, the FDA changes now make it very difficult to gain access to the drug for home and institutional settings. The FDA asked 24 companies that make powerful pain killers to develop plans to reduce overdoses. This plan has come down to reducing the number of people that have access to the drugs rather than letting doctors decide the best course of action for each patient. (Source: ohsonline.com).

It is unfortunate that yet another useful drug that was designed for use by the chronic pain suffers has been removed from the pharmacy. Making drugs more difficult to get hold of is not the answer to overdoses. Training for doctors and patients is the best remedy to keep patients safe. In the end the FDA should be trying to find the best balance between drugs that can help and making sure that everyone understands the issues for the drugs they take. Arbitrarily making it hard to get a drug just puts stress on families that are trying to help a member that is either in chronic pain or dying. They do not need to hear that a drug that would help relieve suffering has been approved but the government has decided that they really don’t need it. This makes everyone scramble to figure out the second best way of dealing with pain and hope that there is not some kind of contraindication that makes the whole matter worse.

It takes many years to bring a new pain killer to the market. There are many facets of what needs to be verified so the drug is both effective and safe. To go through all the tests and prove itself to be a useful and safe drug, and then hit a political problem is unacceptable. The people that live with chronic pain do not want to hear about yet another drug that works great, but because some small group worries that the drug may be abused it is blocked from being released. Any and all drugs can be abused, drug dealers and the idiots that use drugs always find new and bizarre ways to screw up their bodies and minds. Law enforcement is given the task of finding these dregs of society and put them in jail to pay for their crimes against society. The drug itself is not evil, it must be given to doctors who are trained in it’s use. Patients that have run to the end of many pain drugs are in dire need of a new pain killer that works well and gives them time as their bodies get used to that drug. Allowing people to sit and live in pain because an excellent pain killer may be abused is a sorry excuse to not take care of the patients that need the help most.