Posted on 02/12/2013 5:46:24 AM PST by wesagain
Take a close look through your medicine cabinet. First look for all the obvious Tylenol medications – Tylenol, Tylenol PM, Tylenol Cough and Cold, acetaminophen (the generic name for Tylenol), etc. Next, look for any prescription pain medications you may have such as Lortab or Hydrocodone/APAP – the APAP means Tylenol has been added. Check cold medications – Nyquil, Alka-Seltzer Plus, St. Joseph Aspirin Free and Zicam, etc. Any drug that has APAP, cet, or acetam as part of the name probably contains Tylenol. Notice how many of your medications contain acetaminophen/Tylenol.
This hunt is not just an academic exercise. Tylenol is the No. 1 reason for liver failure in America today – not because people are knowingly taking an overdose, but because they are being unwittingly exposed to acetaminophen from a variety of sources over a long period of time. The Tylenol people have done a great job of slipping their product into a myriad of commonly used drugs.
Instead of Lortab or other combination pain killers, I routinely give my patients plain Codeine after surgery, but until I specifically asked for it, my local pharmacy had no common prescription narcotic painkiller without Tylenol. Generally, pain medicine given post-op contains Tylenol.
Tylenol is marketed for two purposes – pain relief and as an anti-pyretic, i.e. it lowers fever. It is very effective in these regards, but with increased exposure, side effects are starting to emerge. In addition to liver failure – where the science is quite well worked out – Tylenol probably is bad for the brain and the kidneys.
Nearly ten years ago, an article was published in .......
(Excerpt) Read more at wnd.com ...
It was found in the Neurology study that if you take an anti-inflammatory medication for two years, you decrease your risk of Alzheimer’s by about 50 percent as compared to those people who took nothing. This makes sense with what we know about Alzheimer’s being partly an inflammation of the brain. In the main section of the paper, the data also showed that people who took Tylenol for two years almost doubled their risk of developing Alzheimer’s.........
I suppose that I am lucky.
The first time I ever tried tylenol it gave me a terrible headache. It did the same for my siblings. I’ve never taken it since.
Tylenol does nothing for me...Hydrocodone/Tylenol seems to do less.
After my dentist told me to take 6 Advil rather than prescription drugs, then finally accepting that I can’t take large doses of Advil, giving me a script for the above mentioned drug which does little good.
Placebos??
There is no such thing as a medicine that doesn’t have some bad effects.
I have arthritis. Can,t take cellebrex, Doctor told me not to take naproxen, Tylenol will ruin my liver, and aspirin will ruin my stomach.
High Blood pressure will kill me if the medicine I take for it doesn’t kill me first.Many people are taking rat poisoning (warfarin) to stay alive .I haven’t reached that point yet. Pretty soon I will be old enough where I get cut off and rationed by Obamacare.
Stay healthy ——if you can.
Some OTC brands can cause liver problems.
Other OTC brands can cause kidney problems.
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The main reason they put pseudoephedrine behind the pharmacy counter had more to do with it being used to manufacture ilicit drugs.
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Anything in excess is dangerous. Nearly everything is going to have a negative impact on a few.
While it is good to know the dangers and take precautions, we don’t live in bubblewrap.
Too many times articles such as this have the underlying agenda to get products banned or more heavily controlled via prescriptions, etc.
Tylenol has not more effect on me than an m&m would. But since I have a chronic pain problem, I take an ibuprophen once a day and sometimes twice. That’s probably not good either but you have to trade off sometimes. A case of choose your poison I suppose.
If you place your pinkie finger in a vise and gradually tighten it, your head ache will fade away
I’ve used aspirin all my life (blessed with a cast-iron stomach), but likely used the tylenol hidden in other products lots of times. I’ll check the labels more carefully! My liver is needed to process my twice-a-week recovery beverages after rec b’ball, Smithwicks and Guinness!
My father was a dentist in WWII where on board ship he had to also act as physician.
He told me in the ‘50’s that acetaminophen was a no-no and was destructive to the kidneys and liver when Tylenol came out....he always prescribed ASA - Acetyl salicylic Acid - aspirin. He said he learned that acetaminophen was destructive in dental school before WWII, and they were told not to prescribe it.
Duh, knowledge has been around a long, long time. But powerful marketing by McNeil/Johnson & Johnson has so over-shadowed the truth that the majority of the medical community has bought into the lie that it is safe.....and it’s almost impossible to avoid in some form or other.....
same here... celebrex made me feel like a million bucks... until my blood pressure shot off the charts and my urine turned dark brown...
I am now taking enbrel...
A friend on aspirin for arthritus wound up with a hole in his stomach.
My mom lived until she was 90....wouldn't take her medicine.
Here is a bit more interesting information:
Opposing effects of aspirin and acetaminophen use on risk of adult acute leukemia
“The current study investigated the effects of aspirin or acetaminophen use on adult acute leukemia risk among 169 individuals with leukemia and 676 age and sex matched hospital controls with non-neoplastic conditions who completed a comprehensive epidemiologic questionnaire. Results indicate that regular aspirin use may be associated with a modest decrease in leukemia risk ...”
http://www.lrjournal.com/article/S0145-2126%2805%2900274-2/abstract
Personally, I prefer coated aspirin taken with some food.
What do you do about the elderly who have crippling painful never ending (till death) arthritis? Having older relatives I have watched this destroy them.
I just turned 58. Rarely take anything except for the occasional headache. In that case I take an aspirin. I haven’t been to a doctor in years. I’m overweight but am pretty strong for a woman my age. I imagine it will catch up with me at some point.....
Try Flax seed oil. I’ve seen miracles in people with high blood pressure. (Hubby, friend, mother, me)
Look it up! When I research a supplement, I stay away from the hype and only look at the medical research.
My friend’s cardiologist had her try it about ten years ago. He told her it was his first line of defense for high BP. Most of his patients were normalized within a month without drugs. It worked for her; so, when hubby’s BP started going up, I gave it to him. Within a month, he was fine, now he takes it daily and has no more BP issues. Same thing happened with my mom.
Cutting back on carbs helps, too.
I do not take pain medication of any kind. On the rare occasion that I do, I take Excedrin. That’s about once or maybe twice per year.
I’m in my late 50’s and I have arthritis in my back, hips and knees. I also have several degenerating disks in my lower back, with one of them completely gone. I take the prescription drug Cymbalta, and it helps quite a bit for not being a narcotic. I also take about 1200 mg of aspirin a day for the inflammation, and it helps a bit too. I don’t like taking them regularly, but I occasionally still ask for narcotics, and get Vicodin, with the lowest amount of Tylenol that they offer.
Marie, how do you take the flaxseed oil? Do you cook with it or add it to food?
Maybe if patients took a little personal responsibility and actually KNEW a little about their medical problems and their medications this wouldn’t be a problem. No instead the Nanny State will need to protect us all again.
Combining Tylenol with alcohol makes for a deadly combination. I once knew a woman who was an alcoholic and also took large doses of Tylenol for headaches. I warned her about this; I imagine others did too. But to no avail. She died of liver failure.
I believe that aspirin will not ruin a stomach if taken with food. Aspirin that is not released until it is in the small intestine is available.
I believe if aspirin were invented today it would be heralded as a miracle pain reliever and would be sold for $3 or more per pill and only available by prescription. Aspirin is an amazingly effective pain reliever in my opinion.
However, to be effective for me and I would estimate all adults weighing more than 100 pounds the number of 325 mg pills needed will exceed the 2 or 3 pills prescribed for a 12 year old. Pain relief for me occurs in less than one minute and last six to eight hours. Pain relief from other more modern non prescription pain relievers takes effect in 10-30 minutes and begins to diminish within 1-3 hours.
btt
OK freepers, forget tylenol. Three words: enteric coated aspirin (brand is Ecotrin, and there are generics of the coating). Despite tylenol being called SEAL candy-SEALs are young.
Here’s what happens: the aspirin is coated by design with a PH sensitive coating that will not dissolve in your stomach (which is PH 1.7 or so very acid). The coating remains with the aspirin inside and travels into the duodenum which has a higher (less acid PH) of around 6, which the coating will break down and then the aspirin released,and this actually occurs near the end of the of the duodenum, then heads into the small intestine where the aspirin gets absorbed into the blood.
Tylenol has been pitched for years as “not harming the stomach” because it is metabolized in the liver— well THAT is where the toxins are developed from tylenol—the ones that can kill you. Tylenol is a very weak COX-2 inhibitor vs. aspirin which is the Gold Standard of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs)-the one which all others are measured against.
So why all this tylenol pitch? Lots of people who have aches and pains also have heart/vascular disease and are on blood thinners (warfarin)—aspirin is hum dinger of a blood thinner and ADDs to effect of any blood thinner— SO your blood will be very thin and not clot ( you bleed,.
which is dangerous of course), anf tylenol does not. Aspirin has to be balanced, and there are warnings about use of aspirin in children (rye’s syndrome).
I take a ton of medication, different pills for different symptoms...they all have possible side effects. But I don't think about the side effects, because without the meds, I wouldn't be unable to function and would be in pain (I have MS.) I even have a device implanted in my abdomen that deliver anti-spasticity medicine right to my spine, so my legs will move and not be so stiff.
The way I look at it, at this point, I'm more concerned about quality of life than quantity of life, and if meds allow me to live a semi-normal life, then it is what it is (I do have regular bloodwork to check liver/kidney function...and it's never been affected to this point.)
If a person says they don't take meds, I just figure they haven't run up against a health issue yet that cannot be managed any other way.
Some folks with my disease do fine with alternative therapies, but every person is different, and whether a person has to rely on medicine or not, should not be a reason to "judge" a person's fortitude, stamina, or will power.
Just my 2 cents.
Bingo, my post 24 below. If you don’t have a conflict with coumadin.
tylenel ping
I’m 70, and ran miles almost daily until I was almost 60. After I stopped running, i took up daily five mile walks. My health was pretty good, despite two triple bypasses. In the last six months my health has deteriorated significantly. I have severe spinal stenosis, herniated discs in my neck, neuropathy and an undetermined terrible pain in my left big toe that is so severe that I’d consider amputation. My liver is getting worse because of the Tylenol III pills that I take 3X daily, along with warfarin and BP meds. In walk with a cane. I have been known to have a wee drop o’ the creature from time to time. I go to a rehab clinic a couple of times a week and stretch regularly. But, I’m looking down at the lawn and not up at it, so....
Tylenol plain does nothing for my pains.Once took Tylenol 3 with codeine-now that worked really well.Excrutiating back pain completely gone but not ,of course,the underlying reason,a herniated disc.
I did discover Tylenol is deadly to dogs after my little beagle died within an hour of giving her some for injuries;we had given aspirin to other injured dogs and they did fine.(My father’s doctor had told my father aspirin was bad for his stomach and to take only Tylenol,so my father didn’t allow any more aspirin in the house!
For my headaches,general aches and fever, I trust plain (or coated) aspirin .It works and it has a long history.And it is cheap.
Hubby and I just take a 1,000mg pill twice a day. You do NOT cook with it. My friend does a swig straight from the bottle, but I can’t stand that.
vitacost.com has the best prices and a $5 flat shipping rate no matter how much you order. I try to bulk up on supplements twice a year so save money on shipping.
When my daughters were young, before aspirin became a concern as a fever reducer, our pediatrician told me the guideline for dosing was 1 grain of aspirin for every ten pounds of body weight. That advice made my life so much easier.
Sounds like a good idea for me, alzheimers is in my family.
It's the same with the sugar industry covering up the effects of refined sugar, high fructose corn syrup etc. on the brain - they don't want people to know the truth.
After I had an MI july of last year, I was put on Pradaxa, after using it for a couple of weeks I had a BM and there was a lot of blood.
I stopped taking it and went to the hospital, they took me off Pradaxa, I had to receive four blood tranfusions.
After I was stable, I was put on Plavix which has it’s own set of problems but, so far, no problems.
Some people have no problem with Pradaxa, I just wasn’t one of them.
***Doctor told me not to take naproxen,****
I will not take anything with naproxen (Naperson) in it. My mom talked her doctor into perscribing naperson for her arthritis. He warned her that he would have to monitor her kidneys close. One dose killed her kidneys dead. She died a few months later of renal failure.
“...Pradaxa...Plavix...”
All of these anticlotting drugs are dangerous, including Hepirin and Warfarin. DMSO is safe. DMSO (Dimethyl Sulfoxide) is a natural substance that comes from trees. It will not only prevent clotting if used regularly, but it also dissolves clots. DMSO can stop a stroke and prevent serious after-affects. Can’t find it? Go to an animal health store, they will likely have it. DMSO has many other uses/benefits...it should be in every medicine cabinet.
I will never take cymbalta again. I was put on it for chronic pain also and the side effects were horrible! You have to wean off cymbalta really slowly! If you’ve taken it for more than a year (some people still have problems like this after only taking it for 3 months), the withdrawal symptoms can last as long as 6 months or more before you stop feeling like you have the flu all the time.
Many people who wean off of cymbalta properly still have the discontinuation syndrome and have to take prozac to counter it. Prozac is prescribed because of its long half-life. Many people have had success with this remedy for cymbalta withdrawal symptoms.
My pain doc said go ahead and stop taking it (without weaning off). Boy, what a mistake - felt sick for the better part of 4 months - even while taking Benadryl to help with the cymbalta discontinuation syndrome from not weaning off of it properly. I was not able to get prozac prescribed to help...
YMMV
“The point of the story is that the medical industry has covered up the effects...”
Please note...the FDA is not in the business of protecting ‘we the people’. The FDA is in the business of protecting the pharmaceutical industry...BIG PHARMA. Watch the Drug ads on TV...and there are many of them...pay attention to the warnings...they are all deadly. And all their drugs and treatments are treating symptoms only...it is not about curing or preventing disease. We avoid ALL prescription medications. There are natural alternatives that have no side effects and that treat the disease, not just the symptoms.
So are NSAIDs and aspirin. There is no one size fits all remedy for people. I am guessing that we will have to go to the doctor for scripts for aspirin and Tylenol soon. To protect us. And to cut down on the high costs of treating liver or kidney failure. Or stomach ulcers.
All very well said, and the bottom line is, you do what you need to do, to get through as best you can.
Arthritis...Try borax, as in ‘Twenty Mule Team Borax’. Get it in the laundry section at the super market. Lick the tip of your finger and dip it in a bit of the Borax, then lick it off. Do that three times a day. It works for most people.
http://www.whale.to/w/boron.html
http://www.health-science-spirit.com/borax.htm
http://www.positivehealth.com/article/nutrition/boron-major-cause-and-cure-for-arthritis
Thanks Marie. I’ll check out the vitacost site. I already checked Amazon.com and the Nature Made at a reasonable cost as well!
You’re the first person I know of who can’t take Celebrex, which is one of the least harmful NSAIDs.
There are some tricks worth investigating for high blood pressure, such as garlic, which is fine for some, not so good for others, and fat soluble vitamin C, which is best to make yourself, but not particularly hard if you know how, and much less hard on the stomach.
“...a daily supplement of 500 mg (vitamin C) dropped systolic blood pressure, the top number in the blood pressure reading, by 9 percent after four weeks”, according to the Linus Pauling Institute.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SeU—wadrMY
Potassium supplements, with your doctor’s permission, can be very good for dropping high blood pressure. Oddly enough, potassium supplements only contain a tiny amount, compared to Morton salt substitute, 1/4 tsp of which has 17% of the US RDA. It also tastes almost the same as table salt, that is, they have improved the flavor considerably.
The two favored oils to reduce blood pressure and with other good cardiovascular properties are olive oil and Omega-3 fish oil. And both you can consume in quantity.
The nuclear weapon of herbal medicine is oregano oil, that contains dozens of anti-inflammatory chemicals, pain relievers almost as good as opiates, and lowers blood pressure both systolic and diastolic.
The spice cardamom at 3g/day has also been shown to reduce blood pressure without side effects.
Vitamin D is a natural ACE inhibitor. ACE inhibitors are used for both hypertension and congestive heart failure.
I have severe stenosis and sacroiliac joint horrible pains. For a month I have been taking CURAMIN (turmeric + boswellia) and glucosamin MSM. My pains are leaving me and most of the times I am erect and walking normally.
I will continue this regimen and see where it takes me.
Glucosamin and Curamin twice a day with some food. I do take krill oil too as well as other vitamins. Swanson Vitamins has the Curamin at $53 for 200 pills and most of the time specials with 0 shipping.
People on warfarin, also take aspirin in many cases. They get their blood checked regularly for clotting time, and they are careful about their dosages and their diet. Yes, they have a higher risk for bleeding, but they have a lower risk of blood clots causing harm, which offsets the bleeding risk.
My family didn't get the internet until 1998. When I look back on what I knew 15 years ago vs. what I know now, it's amazing. My son was diagnosed with Celiac disease ten years ago. I had never *heard* of such a thing as being allergic to wheat. NOBODY told me that Tylenol was bad for my liver. I didn't find out about that until the year 2000.
"Taking responsibility" for your medical condition simply wasn't possible before technology. Heck, when I was diagnosed with PCOS in 2000, the breakthroughs in the disease had JUST happened a couple of years ago and it was in the mid-90's that they recognized that it was a pre-diabetic condition.
Now, the situation is different and we have the ability to do our own research. But right now there's also a massive debate in the medical community on a variety of topics and you can find information contradicting a lot of recognized medical practices. My dr. has me on 1.3 grams of Tylenol a day. Her manual says that it's safe. I knew Tylenol was bad for my liver, but I didn't know HOW bad until today.
Except if you take any PPIs like Prevacid for GERD/heartburn. It will open in your stomach...
For general health reasons, I started taking fish oil. I was so surprised when I saw that my cholesterol (which was starting to get high) dropped.
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