Posted on 01/15/2011 1:08:23 PM PST by EBH
Federal health regulators are limiting a key ingredient found in Vicodin, Percocet and other prescription painkillers that have been linked to thousands of cases of liver damage each year.
The Food and Drug Administration said Thursday it will cap the amount of acetaminophen in the drugs at 325 milligrams per capsule. Current products on the market contain doses of up to 700 milligrams.
Acetaminophen is a ubiquitous pain reliever found in Tylenol, Nyquil and thousands of other medicines used to treat headaches, fever and sore throats. The ingredient is also used at larger doses in prescription combination drugs that mix it with narcotic drugs like oxycodone.
Those products are not dangerous by themselves but can cause toxic overdoses when patients combine them with a second acetaminophen-containing drug like Tylenol.
FDA officials said the labeling on prescription drugs often does not make it clear that they contain acetaminophen, instead using abbreviations for the ingredient like 'APAP.'
"One of the real challenges we have is that patients taking these products don't know they're taking acetaminophen at all," said FDA deputy director for new drugs, Dr. Sandra Kweder, in a telephone briefing with reporters. "They don't realize that they are overdosing."
The FDA said it is working with pharmacies and other medical groups to develop standard labeling for acetaminophen, though that is not part of Thursday's action.
Agency officials said the drugs will still be effective at lower doses.
"The amount of acetaminophen in these products has gradually crept up over the years," Kweder said. "If you look at these products 20 to 30 years ago, many did not contain high doses of acetaminophen."
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
A friend of ours practically destroyed her liver taking Tylenol for years for back pain......
Shouldn’t this be up to actual doctors?
We keep aspirin on hand as an option.
Liver damage... what about people dying from cancer?
Acetaminophen, once considered safe, has now been shown to cause liver damage if taken in large doses for prolonged periods.....
Aspirin burns my stomach, so I use Advil. ....
Less per dose, people take more doses. Corolary to low volume toilets.
Its been at least 10 years since I’ve taken anything stronger than asprin.
I’m allergic to Acetaminophen... makes me break out in burn-like sores all over, which take a couple of weeks to scab over and heal. Nasty stuff (for me at least).
You think too much of actual doctors.
That's not a slam. I'd be dead without them.
Doctors rely on the studies and opinions of others. They have no way to make all the determinations required to make a call like this.
The politics of medicine. Medical research inevitably gives way to some sort of hot story in the press, and the results are damaging.
Aspirin had been used for many years, with few ill effects. But suddenly the media went wild. Aspirin was deadly dangerous. So people stopped taking it, and turned to things like tylenol instead.
Yes, there were problems with aspirin for a very few people. But it was still much, much safer than tylenol, IMHO. The doctor says take tylenol, but I find that aspirin is equally effective, and it’s not rotting my liver.
Same thing with that artificial sweetner, saccharine, that got kicked to the curb many years ago. It turns out that aspertame is far worse for you. But never mind, the media had a great story and ran with it. So the regulators hopped on board, as usual, and a relatively safe sweetener was replaced by a much less healthy one.
i think one problem may be that prescription drug abusers are getting too much acetaminophen when taking too many pain killers.
I wish I could say that.....
“Aspirin burns my stomach, so I use Advil.”
Try Enteric Aspirin. Doesn’t dissolve in the stomach. This is my preference. Available in many different brands. I just buy the store cheapie brand.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enteric_coating
So those of us who know what the hell is in them have to get reduced doses? I read the data sheets for every prescription I get.
Bufferin (aspirin). It’s coated and easy on the stomach. Been using it for decades.
Over-the-counter extra pain reliever has 500mg per caplet.
“Bufferin”
Yeah. But I’m a cheapskate in my old age. The store brands work just as well, and are usually quite a bit cheaper.
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