FDA may put restrictions on Tylenol

FDA may put restrictions on Tylenol

www.healthzone.ca

ADELPHI, Md. – The makers of Tylenol, Excedrin and other medications are trying to dissuade regulators from placing new restrictions on their popular painkillers, including possibly removing some of them from store shelves.

The Food and Drug Administration has assembled more than 35 experts to discuss ways to prevent overdose with acetaminophen – the pain-relieving, fever-reducing ingredient in Tylenol and dozens of other prescription and over-the-counter medications.

Despite years of educational campaigns and other federal actions, acetaminophen is the leading cause of liver failure

(visit the link for the full news article)

So, now Americans are too stupid to know if they need a Tylonel or not just because some of them overdose and now everyone has to be further regulated because of it. We already have to show ID and be restricted from buying cold and allergy medication to only a certain amount per month, but now we will need someone else's permission to take a tylonel.

It does not affect me much personally, since I take stronger medication than this, but I know a lot of people who take Tylonel regularly for headaches and fever.

Now the government will be able to track who all takes Tylonel as well as who all takes allergy and cold medications. People will have even less control over their lives than they do now.

www.healthzone.ca
(visit the link for the full news article)

I think they also just banned Percocett and Vicodin. Not sure if that passed?

Ok, you have percodan which is the same drug with asprin, but what about those people who take blood thinners and can not take ANYTHING except acetaminophen .

I agree this is nuts. No more Zicam, Tylenol, etc.

Personally I think the tylenol REEKS of them trying to find ways to save money
when the government health plan goes through. People dying of liver disease cost money, so lets stop that problem and take away tylenol.

People have known for decades that tylenol does this. You have to ask yourself, WHY NOW?
'

reply to post by Jessicamsa
They will put tylenol back on the shelves if people lose weight after it is taken off. The FDA is serving the purposes of selfish people. I don't think they are good for the health of Americans.

I'm going to articulate on WHY they passed this, and I'm sure many of you will understand.

Tylenol is in many pain killers, and is often marketed as APAP on the bottle. The problem with tylenol is it has a very low ceiling in terms of theraputic doses vs dangerous doses. The narcotic portion of the pain killer is many times safer in terms of risk of overdose, believe it or not, because many legitimate pain patients build up a tolerance to their medication. They do not build up a tolerance to the tylenol, however.

Lets say that same pain patient is on this medication. This mix of narcotic and tylenol. He may also get a headache at night, take two eccedrin, and some nyquil to help himself sleep. So now without realizing it, he is putting himself at dangerously high tylenol doses.

Lots of people overdose without realizing. They are trying to lower the amount of deaths and accidental liver transplants because of this. It screws up your liver bad, and many people arent aware how dangerous it actually is.

I guess I should stock up tomre they pull it off the shelves. I already have a good supply of asprin and prescriptions. It's bad enough some of the childrens cold medication was all removed in Canada last year.

edit ----Duplicate post... not sure why it happened???

[edit on 1-7-2009 by exile1981]

Originally posted by deadline527
I'm going to articulate on WHY they passed this, and I'm sure many of you will understand.

Tylenol is in many pain killers, and is often marketed as APAP on the bottle. The problem with tylenol is it has a very low ceiling in terms of theraputic doses vs dangerous doses. The narcotic portion of the pain killer is many times safer in terms of risk of overdose, believe it or not, because many legitimate pain patients build up a tolerance to their medication. They do not build up a tolerance to the tylenol, however.

Lets say that same pain patient is on this medication. This mix of narcotic and tylenol. He may also get a headache at night, take two eccedrin, and some nyquil to help himself sleep. So now without realizing it, he is putting himself at dangerously high tylenol doses.

Lots of people overdose without realizing. They are trying to lower the amount of deaths and accidental liver transplants because of this. It screws up your liver bad, and many people arent aware how dangerous it actually is.

Everything you said is true.

But.

I can't see myself living in a nanny state. Where does it end? Smoking, tylenol, trans fat, red meat, give me a break.
What's next? A government official coming to your house with a ruler, measuring how close you're sitting to the tv?

reply to post by deadline527


As a person who takes hyrdocodone with APAP (legaly..2 bad knees)I agree that it is very easy to over do the amout of tylenol..I have readon forums for chronic pain patients ways to seperate the APAp from there meds just for this reason..

Though I dont think that they should go as far as removing them from shelves or changing ingrediants,I do however think that education is far more worthwile..I do not like companys changing there products to releive peoples personal responsibilitys..

reply to post by Jessicamsa

That is one of the most common overdoses seen in ERs and yes, you can die from it. You also can develop chronic liver and kidney disease, stomach damage and other serious issues that may kill you down the line from overuse.

I rarely use any type of medication but I can tell you I have purchased over the counter painkillers that have had as much of a drugging effect as demerol, codeine and some of the other stuff I was given after surgery. There is one called Percogesic made by Vicks that literally will knock you out, a coworker who was hooked on somas actually switched to that. When I worked in a grocery store many years ago we used to limit how many bottles of any type of over the counter medicine people could buy for that same reason, especially cough syrup.

reply to post by deadline527

Something to add to that, as a friend learned with his wife. If you are a recovering or recovered substance abuser, that also can affect how your body processes over the counter drugs and heighten their effect. His wife completed recovery, caught a cold some months later, took an OTC with cough syrup and died of an overdose. Nice thing for his daughter
to find the next day.

Originally posted by amatrine
I think they also just banned Percocett and Vicodin. Not sure if that passed?

Ok, you have percodan which is the same drug with asprin, but what about those people who take blood thinners and can not take ANYTHING except acetaminophen .

I agree this is nuts. No more Zicam, Tylenol, etc.

Personally I think the tylenol REEKS of them trying to find ways to save money
when the government health plan goes through. People dying of liver disease cost money, so lets stop that problem and take away tylenol.

People have known for decades that tylenol does this. You have to ask yourself, WHY NOW?
'

Banned percocet??? I hope not... it's the only thing I can take after surgery.

reply to post by amatrine

They may not ban those drugs entirely since since so many people are allergic to aspirin or ibuprofen but they make them prescription based. The whole concept of aspirin as a blood thinner is dangerous, you actually lose blood by inducing stomach bleeding in many cases.

They need to find a replacement then. Personally I think tylenol sucks. It never did any good. I have to take asprin every day as I had a bad reaction to blood thinners, but while I was on them tylenol was all I was allowed.

My neighbor takes some kind of painkiller that is percocett with no tylenol added. It has another name but that it what it is, so I know that would sill be on the market and may even replace the stuff with tylenol.

One of the reasons for mixing it with the tylenol was so people would not take too much and overdose. That does go the other way too.

I can not take any opiates, I am allergic to them all. All I have is Ibuprfen , and if they took that away, I would be up the creek.

Making tylenol prescription, I wonder will they change the formula on that too,so they can get a new patent and charge a lot? Would not surprise me.

Something just does not strike me rite about the FDA coming down on all these drugs all of a sudden, like I stated above.

I agree tylenol can cause problems. but like I said, it has been known forever. WHY NOW, Why now, Why now. I stated above why I think it is the case.

What is next? Pretty soon EVERY kind of medication or vitamin will require a script. Everything you put in your body will be on the master computer.
Every thing you buy already is! Uggg

reply to post by deadline527


in my opinion, the rush of a lot of pharmaceuticals to "over the counter" status so that drug prescription insurance plans did not have to cover their cost has put many in exactly this kind of jeopardy. greed always trumps everything else. pay me now or pay me later...and of course we all know who always pays in the end for everything...the lowly consumer.

on a side note...i've had doctors tell me to take double the directed amount of advil, tylenol, aleve to reach "prescription level," and many people i'm sure get the same advice and then just continue that higher dose as a routine. *shrugs

[edit on 1-7-2009 by ~Lucidity]