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FDA Considers Banning Acetaminophen-Based Pain Killers
Greg George writes "The FDA has determined that Tylenol enhancing pain killers are dangerous enough to potentially be pulled from the market. Drugs including Vicodin, Hydrocodone, Lortab, Maxidone, Norco, Zydone, Tylenol with codeine, Percocet, Endocet, and Darvocet may be permanently banned from the US market, even if the patient has a prescription from 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 many 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."
Before everyone screams bloody murder, the fact remains that you'll still be able to buy the stuff, separately. Percocet, for example, is actually a mix of oxycodone and acetaminophen. You can buy them separately as Oxycontin and Tylenol (or paracetamol in the UK).
It's the combination that causes problems; people wind up overdosing. Overdosing on the oxycodone portion is not all that dangerous (you could swallow 2 dozen of them at once though I would definitely not recommend it) compared to Tylenol, which can damage your liver. Thirty extra-strength tylenols at once can destroy your liver and you'll die within 72 hours. These medications have acetaminophen in them as an an anti-inflammatory to work with the painkiller, but they wind up being the deadlier part of the drug since people take too much. A few people think they can commit suicide by swallowing the whole prescription, but what happens is the codeine-based painkiller part wears off in hours and then the agonizing abdominal pain of liver failure begins until they're dead 3 days later.
You'll still be able to buy the separate ingredients, hydrocodone is Vicodin and Norco, oxycodone is Percocet, etc. There are other formulations; Percodan is nearly the same as Percocet except it uses aspirin in place of acetaminophen (Tylenol)
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.
Disclaimer: Not a doctor or med student but my three sisters are nurses/researchers.
My older sister warned me when I started college that if I was going to drink I should avoid acetaminophen at all costs. Luckily, I don't get headaches or have had a need for a painkiller in a very long time and I think it's been about six years since I've taken them. If you are a heavy drinker, avoid acetaminophen as your liver's already dealing with the alcohol and crap in the American diet and doesn't appreciate it. My sister told me that people who use acetaminophen during hangovers may be putting themselves at a much higher risk for liver diseases. I'm a little concerned these have been out for this long when there's safer alternatives. I'm sure the companies that stand to profit have tons of tricks up their sleeves yet.
My work here is dung.
The FDA made the drug companies put acetaminophen into the narcotic painkillers to keep people from recreationally overdosing on them (same as they "denature" ethyl alcohol that you can buy at the hardware store by poisoning it with methyl alcohol)...
This is not true at all. Acetaminophen and narcotics are mixed because the combination is a much more effective pain reliever than either alone.