Comments on: FDA Panel Sounds Alarm On Painkiller Doses

Experts Warn Of Overdoses On Tylenol, Other Painkillers With Acetaminophen; Say Vicodin, Percocet Should Be Eliminated

[woeisme1]

GeorgeWHoover

Maybe you should'nt post on a public board if you don't care about the publics feelings. And since when did you need to personally know another American before you could care for another American?

[credibility2]

When is this government intervention trash going to end? Why are there so many morons walking the streets who don't read labels and refuse to take any personal responsibility for their own actions? If a person takes more than the prescribed dose of any medication, whether that's OTC or prescribed, then it's their own fault if something happens to them. This isn't a case of government trying to protect the public, it's a case of government hand holding and controlling the stupid masses. Not related to this medication, but related to how stupid some people are: eating raw cooking dough and gosh, getting sick from it; or, buying hot coffee from a fast food restaurant and putting the cup between the legs and gosh, oops getting burned. Stupid, stupid, stupid!

[woeisme1]

I agree that people in general are pretty stupid these days. Just look at the posts from the majority of republicans.

[woeisme1]

albert571.....go suck on a tea bag.

[Benton09]

Pharma companies and doctors....still the number one drug dealers in America, just from an office with a piece of paper on their wall instead of on a street corner or in an alley.

[nextgenman09]

These nuts at the FDA need to make up their mind. They say its AOK for Big Pharme to be TV drug pushers but say we're overdosed on OTCs!

What hoot!

[nancyrlewis]

By the way, while it pains me to take away your reasons for calling me stupid, lacking in judgment & common sense, etc., I will tell you that I checked with my podiatrist before taking the increased dose and he said it should be fine.

Wishing you all the pleasure your charm brings to others!

[nancyrlewis]

Are you that nice in real life, or just online?

[FrankDenise]

Do you know how many people are hooked on these type of narcotics???? I myself was hooked on Vicodin for years and I found a way to get them no matter what....This stupid government thinks it is going to control anything that is addictive and in high demand....If not opiates through pills,they will go on the street to cop heroin..Just like with weed people will find a way to get it...The bottom line is our country is probably the biggest users of drugs and alcohol in the entire world..And America had a hand in flooding its own streets with drugs as well...The war on Drugs...What a bunch of hypocrites...Drugs come into this cointry by so many different ways...Usually through those that are supposed to be keeping it out....What A Joke...

[justfacts2]

This comment is in response to nancyrlewis's comment. You want the FDA to ban something that you admitted to taking too much of in the first place? Why should they ban Tylenol because you were too stupid to take the recommended dose? It is because of people with your judgement that this is being brought up in the first place. If people would just basically use the brains they were given and use common sense, then there wouldn't be the health issues.

[nancyrlewis]

Are you that nice in real life, or just online?

[nancyrlewis]

By the way, while it pains me to take away your reasons for calling me stupid, lacking in judgment & common sense, etc., I will tell you that I checked with my podiatrist before taking the increased dose and he said it should be fine.

Wishing you all the pleasure your charm brings to others!

[megssister]

another thing to consider also is this, i am on coumadin (a blood thinner) and i cannot take ibuprofen or certain other meds due to its interaction. i can only take acetaminophen for pain and fevers, i have no other choice. its either another blood clot and severe pain possibly death or a pain med that can be monitored and controlled inother medications that people are not aware that it is in.

[megssister]

my sister (and possibly my brother previously) died from tylenol overdose. ironicaly she took it as prescribed which i know for a fact, and her tylenol blood levels were never monitored. this should be an absolute requirement. my sister was only 26 yrs old when she passed away last May and was in excruciating pain and those vicoden and other pain meds helped her get through the day. the answer is not to eliminate the drug because it is necessary to alleviate pain (especially chronic pain) but to monitor and be used moderatly in other meds such as cold and flu medicine etc. making the public aware that acetaminophen is in so many other medicines and adds to the daily dose could help save lives like my sister and many others who have lost people they love due to this. and shame on doctors for being too lazy to require a lousy blood level to monitor it.

[woeisme1]

GeorgeWHoover

Maybe you should'nt post on a public board if you don't care about the publics feelings. And since when did you need to personally know another American before you could care for another American?

[bobnjersey]

[Maybe you should'nt post on a public board if you don't care about the publics feelings. And since when did you need to personally know another American before you could care for another American? ]

maybe you should lower your expectations about what others will and should do ... and how you allow that to affect you ... especially when it relates to postings on an online message thread.

everyone doesn't (and shouldn't) need to worry about meeting someone else's standard of decency. you have the control ... don't read it ... don't watch it ... don't consume it ... if you don't like it. this way ... other's are free to express themselves as they choose ... and you're free to choose to be exposed to it or not.

[nancyrlewis]

I was told the same thing, i.e., acetaminophen is the leading cause of liver failure in the US, by doctors at the Hospital of the U of Pa where I was rushed by ambulance after I fell into a coma following routine foot surgery. The cause of the problem: I took more than the prescribed amount of Percoset and inadvertently suffered an overdose of acetaminophen. I knew I was taking a little too much (AND IT WASN'T THAT MUCH), but since it was basically "just Tylenol," I thought it would be safe. Upon arrival at the hospital, I was evaluated for a liver transplant, which I fortunately didn't need, but was in the hospital for 2 weeks on dialysis and feeling more horrible than I could imagine. (And having endured chemotherapy for breast cancer, I could imagine feeling pretty bad.) Fortunately, I recovered completely, but it was some time before it was clear this was going to be the result. This stuff is TOXIC, TOXIC, TOXIC. The ads about its safety are totally misleading. The doctor at the local community hospital where I was first taken told me he hadn't seen lab numbers like mine on anyone who was alive. I have since shared my experience with everyone I know to try to keep them from making the same mistake I did.

Another thing the doctors told me: Young women sometimes take an overdose of Tylenol after they go through something really upsetting, e.g., the break up of a relationship. They have no intention of committing suicide, so they choose Tylenol to be safe. Unfortunately, the most common result in such circumstances is that the Tylenol kills them.

"Hospital-safe" Tylenol is bad stuff. I say ban it.

[ibsteve2u]

Re: "you know, there are painkillers available WITHOUT acetaminophen..."

That being the case, then the existance of those other painkillers begs the question: Why so many prescriptions for acetaminophen-containing drugs?

Is there a complicating factor, like an allergic reaction to ibuprofen - or some other complication more serious than the risk that acetaminophen poses that has lead to the prevalence of the latter?

Interesting questions, don't you think? Particularly in light of the fact that the risks associated with acetaminophen have been known for quite some time...and yet action is only being taken now?

lollll...was I correct, and PhRMA's influence was sufficient to keep the FDA looking the other way - as long as Republicans dominated the promotion process at the FDA?

Curious world, Washington...what they will permit to kill you appears to shift with the vagaries of the political winds.

[kaylag04]

For 200 million prescriptions last year, and untold millions of over-the-counter sales, this report indicates that there were 56,000 emergency room visits associated with acetaminophen overdose. For the prescriptions alone, that's a rate .028 of 1% occurance per prescription. Is that now the Government standard? If so, I can't think of an activity or item that would make the grade. As an example, 200 people die of liver failure associated with acetaminophen OD each year - about 1/3 the number of children killed annually choking on coins.

[John_Merritt]

This is 100% overkill and highly irresponsible. I had been an abuser of drugs in the past, and I know what that can do. I also know today when I get a rare backache or head ache I will take a 1000 mg. Xtra strength Tylenol and it helps. Pain no more.

But if I do not have that to choose from, I will have to take two (2) 650 mg. Tylenols and now I have taken 1300 mgs. So I will be using more of the less and I will have to buy more frequently. It is a positive for a company's bottom line, but it is overkill just the same.

One concerns me however is eliminating Darvocet and Percocet, and now patients will be asking for Oxy or something just as strong. And if they don't get that, guess where they will be getting their drugs? You guessed it. On the streets. So while we are trying to reduce real pharmaceuticals, we are creating a monster by forcing otherwise law abiding citizens to purchase drugs on the black market.

This goes under the heading of cutting off your nose to spite your face. I sincerely hope these MD's on the FDA will re-consider their position, otherwise this could turn out to be uglier than what it is.

[andylance1]

It has been known for years that Tylenol/Acetaminophen was killing hundreds of people every year. Most of the OTC cold medicine is loaded with Tylenol. Hospitals perpetuated the myth for decades that only Tylenol was safe. When taken with booze it is deadly.

There are some good herbal Chinese pain killing combinations out there, but the FDA will not allow anyone to tell you what they are good for. They want to "protect" you. Isn't that a farce?

Our wonderful government is also protecting us from marijuana.

[httpwwwnews]

I take 1/4 of a loricet in the evening because of chronic pain from a severely ripped ankle and other foot injuries incurred on the job. The small dose of pain killer allows me to sleep and continue being a productive member of society by working. There are hundreds of people like me who do not abuse tylenol or hydrocodone, but use it as a tool to live with chronic pain. If they take this medicine off the market, they darned well better have a comparable subsitute tested and ready, or they will have a lot of people turning to the government to support them because of inability to do their normal jobs.

[clarkalex]

So, for my chronic back pain do I get to smoke weed instead? It's a hell of a lot safer than acetaminophen, tylenol 3 and vicadin that I use to control it (and no, I do not combine them all or take more than the recommended doses.) I'd like to be able to keep my pain under control and not be labeled a criminal.

[ibsteve2u]

Re: "I take Percocet and Lortab and get a monthly prescription for chronic pain and migraines. What exactly will people who rely on the pain killers to function and get out of bed without pain do?"

Unless these doctors and other "experts" know that the pharmaceutical industry has replacement pain medications readily available, you have to wonder if your pain and suffering has been determined to be secondary to the elimination of the payouts the insurance industry must make due to Acetaminophen-related deaths and the treatment of liver damage.

I would like to think that these doctors are pure and unaffected by external influence...but Washington seems to have a really bad effect upon people, particularly after that last Administration spent eight years infecting the Federal bureaucracy with people who agreed with the ideology that government's purpose was not to see to the well-being of the American people, but rather to advance corporate interests.

While it is - hopefully - likely that replacement medications exist, it is also all too likely that the insurance industry now has more pull with the FDA than "Big Pharma" does.

Particularly since former Rep. Billy Tauzin, R-La. (that is "R" like in Republican), who was once chairman of the House committee that regulates the pharmaceutical industry, is now President and CEO of the drug industry's top lobbying group, PhRMA.

Having that sort of representation when the Democrats are in power is kind of like having that cockroach in those pest control commercials selling pizza for you.

[ToolMangler1]

It's not 'just' the Tylenol. There are many out there that will do the same damage to your liver (and other thingys)