FDA Report Urges Tougher Acetaminophen Warning

Re: because people are stupid!

Robert of IA has taken the Darwinian approach to health care. Unfortunately he's not going to be able to pay for the economic consequences of his stance. Meanwhile the government is being drained by paying for said "stupidity" and is attempting to mitigate and regulate towards an improved situation. Robert, people do all sorts of stupid things, like smoking, driving drunk etc. Are you suggesting a shoulder shrug and a bitter anti-government attitude will improve the situation? I shiver to think of what your's, or worse your children's teeth, would look like if your government hadn't stuck its nose into fluoridating your water......

BIEL

Bioelectronics Corp. [BIEL]

http://biomedreports.com/articles/most-popular/1763-biel-breakout-otcbiel.html

@ Robert of IA ("People are NOT Stupid")

I am a professional (college and graduate school) and can assure you, Robert, that more labeling is not the only remedy. I read every label for any medication, and, while acetaminphen labels do mention risks of liver disease for overuse, nothing on the label even speaks to the increased risks for even marginal overreach on the dosing. I am one who, after much research of the media commonly available to the public, believed acetaminophen was much safer than the NSAIDs. Much to my chagrin, out comes this study, and we give this stuff to our six-month old. I don't know when you last used one, but those eye droppers in the children's pain reliever bottle are not the most accurate delivery systems.

I am sure you are one of the "get the government out my way" types, but I would caustion you to have a bit more humility. Your decisions are only as good as the information you receive. I doubt you, or anyone else whose job is not in academia, have enough time to filter through the cacauphony of dueling studies to get all the information.

Then again, perhaps you get all your information from Fox News. I hear they REALLY know how to report the unvarnished truth over there...

because people are stupid!!

this, like so many other issues the government sticks their nose into, is a matter of education not legislation. this isn't something the government needs to regulate any more than they do. If people would read the labels already on there, there wouldn't be any problems.

Acetaminophen

Finally! While they are at it they may want to stop combining this lethal medication with highly addictive opiates that are known to be abused. It is criminal that they combine acetaminophen with almost every known opiate that is regularly abused. I also think they need to start considering why they keep some meds under lock and key yet deadly meds like tylenol are at the discretion of the public? They need to also finally ban prescription ads- not only because I am sick of hearing about 4 hour erections but also because doctors should be the ones prescribing, not patients!

Kidney Damage

The FDA seems to be ignoring the fact that NSAIDs also cause kidney failure,kidney stones and other kidney problems in mid to long-term use. I took a lot of NSAIDs during the 9 month period it took doctors to treat and diagnose my uterine cancer. During that time I developed kidney stones, which was attributed to the NSAIDs. From the National Kidney and Urologic Diseases Information Clearinghouse: Analgesic use has been associated with two different forms of kidney damage: acute renal failure and a type of chronic kidney disease called analgesic nephropathy. http://kidney.niddk.nih.gov/kudiseases/pubs/analgesicnephropathy/

NSAIDS

This is the 1st time I have ever heard aspirin called an NSAID. I currently take an 81mg aspirin and a 10mg piroxicam daily. I have tried doing without the piroxicam but within 3 days my elbow starts acting up again.

how will lowering the dose help?

I can understand putting larger warnings on the packaging because it sounds like the problem is people not reading the instructions at all, but I don't see how lowering the recommended dose is going to help that. I mean if the bottle says only take 4 in a day instead of 6 are the people who didn't pay attention before suddenly going to follow the guidelines? I really wouldn't be surprised if it just lead to fewer people taking the guidelines seriously.

I would also like to point out that over the counter pain killers have a place in medicine. Yes it is bad to take them instead of going to a doctor when you need to, but you don't need to go to the doctor for everything. Sometimes treating symptoms does aid healing by allowing people to sleep or eat when it would otherwise be very difficult because of pain.

Good!

People have no idea how hazardous these things can really be. Even when used properly, they kill thousands of people every year. Never mind the people that suffer damage from taking it in conjunction with alcohol. Then there's the idea that numbing pain doesn't necessarily deal with the issue, and doesn't truly allow people to heal. I haven't taken an NSAID in years, and now my body is functioning so much better overall.

What James is talking about is more indicative of an overall failure of our "health-care" industry. It doesn't mean that people should not know about the dangers of NSAIDS and their role in health.

I just saw a good video on this...

A kid recently died of an Acetaminophen overdose: http://www.healthiertalk.com/when-over-counter-turns-lethal