FDA orders limiting pain reliever in Vicodin

[The Straight Story]

FDA orders limiting pain reliever in Vicodin

WASHINGTON — 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 says it will cap the amount of acetaminophen in the drugs at 325 milligrams per capsule.

Acetaminophen is a ubiquitous pain reliever found in Tylenol, Nyquil and thousands of other medicines used to treat headaches, muscle aches and sore throats. But regulators say acetaminophen is dangerous at the larger doses found in prescription combination drugs that combine it with other drugs like oxycodone.

Acetaminophen is the leading cause of liver failure in the U.S. and sends 56,000 people to the emergency room annually. About 200 die each year. The FDA estimates 120 of those deaths are linked to prescription drugs with acetaminophen.


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41057171/

[Duer 157099]

1. Good! Acetaminophen is one of the easiest drugs to OD on

and by OD I mean damage the liver.

It's disgusting how many OTC and Rx drugs have this ingredient. Need some cough medicine? Here, have some acetaminophen with that! What, you need more of the actual cough medicine but not the pain reliever? Too bad for you!

It's critical to read those tiny little labels carefully.

[still_one]

9. There are a lot of OTC medicines that can cause problems, including non-steroid anti-inflamatories

READ THE LABEL!!!

[wtmusic]

2. Holy crap

Isn't ibuprofen also bad for your liver?

Looks like it's back to straight opiates for me :evilgrin:

[still_one]

10. not only the liver but also the kidney's. Use common sense /nt

[wtmusic]

13. When I was a golfer I used to see other players gobble them for back pain

4-10 at a time. Yikes.

[still_one]

16. In general analgesics should not be taken for long periods, unless directed by your doctor for

certain conditions, i.e. an aspirin regime for cardio-vascular health, and some other conditions

[enlightenment]

3. Maybe if people could go to the doctor and be treated for their

pain, they wouldn't dose themselves with so much acetaminophen. When you hurt you want relief - when you can't afford to go to the doctor, the 'pain relief' aisle in the supermarket is going to be the stop you make instead.

Those who can afford a doctor visit will now end up with prescriptions for drugs that do little to nothing to relieve their pain. Yay.

[Jamastiene]

8. + 999 trillion n/t

[charlie]

11. In these instances

people are being given appropriate pain relief. It's just that the opiates they're prescribed are mixed with Tylenol to keep them from using the stuff for kicks. Take enough Vicodin and the acetominophen will land you in the emergency room. Or the grave.

This reduction is a good thing. They should remove it altogether or find a safer "taint" for the drugs.

[eShirl]

14. +1

"find a safer "taint" for the drugs."

I wonder how safe small amounts of ipecac might be

[mike_c]

4. this is excellent news....

I have specifically requested Norco instead of Vicodin for several years now because it has less acetaminophen. Acetaminophen is scary stuff.

[hobbit709]

5. The only reason it was in there in the first place

was because they were trying to stop abuse of the opiates.

[MilesColtrane]

12. Bingo

Doctors and dentists used to prescribe Percodan, an oxycodone/aspirin pain reliever.

I was given these after wisdom tooth surgery years ago, and they work very well.

That was over thirty years ago though. I haven't seen them since.

[Mariana]

17. By making sure that anyone who does abuse them

risks severe liver damage? Tremendous.

[no limit]

6. Great!

[slackmaster]

7. This should have been done decades ago

K&R

:kick:

[Bluenorthwest]

15. I have chronic pain issues and I stopped acetaminophen

after getting hearing damage from large doses. Doctors and dentists ordered it and had no idea of the damage they were doing. They tended to prescibe tons of it to avoid writing for controlled substances, which the government has been in a snit about.

[tblue37]

18. Thank goodness! nt