Another Tylenol scare

Twenty-seven years after the still-unsolved Tylenol murders comes a fresh warning that over-the-counter painkillers can kill.

[Shawn Mari Baktuit]

it is about time that they pull tylenol off the shelves before it takes anouther life! On January 28th 2008 my 21 year old daughter passed away due too multi organ failer, liver damage, she was putt on a natiotn wide transplant list for a liver that never came. Lanae left behind two young boys because she had cronic knee pain and took tylenol to take the pain away and it took her away from us.

[Artie]

Shawn Mari Baktuit wrote:

it is about time that they pull tylenol off the shelves before it takes anouther life! On January 28th 2008 my 21 year old daughter passed away due too multi organ failer, liver damage, she was putt on a natiotn wide transplant list for a liver that never came. Lanae left behind two young boys because she had cronic knee pain and took tylenol to take the pain away and it took her away from us.

Sorry for your loss. That is a terrible thing to have to go through and live with.

[Thin The Herd]

Let's see how many black boxes we can put on meds.........after a very short time, people will see them as normal bureaucratic job-inflation, and take the warnings lightly.

I think that the appalling adult functional illiteracy rate in the US has much to do with "dangerous" drugs. Changing labels obviously won't help here.

By withdrawing Percocet, etc. all the feds will accomplish is to make life more complicated for people dealing with pain. The use of Tylenol in these meds allows for a lower dose of the opioid in them.

Now, people will have to take two or more pills to achieve the same pain relief, or increase the narcotic med. Makes granny's pill box harder to set up and follow, too.

Oh, BTW, the feds next target is opioid pain medications.

It's a mistake to penalize many millions of people for the shortcomings of a few hundred.

[Mike]

Live drug free. Learn to live with the pain. Over the counter and prescription medication is toxic.

[chicagofish]

Thin The Herd wrote:

Let's see how many black boxes we can put on meds.........after a very short time, people will see them as normal bureaucratic job-inflation, and take the warnings lightly.
I think that the appalling adult functional illiteracy rate in the US has much to do with "dangerous" drugs. Changing labels obviously won't help here.
By withdrawing Percocet, etc. all the feds will accomplish is to make life more complicated for people dealing with pain. The use of Tylenol in these meds allows for a lower dose of the opioid in them.
Now, people will have to take two or more pills to achieve the same pain relief, or increase the narcotic med. Makes granny's pill box harder to set up and follow, too.
Oh, BTW, the feds next target is opioid pain medications.
It's a mistake to penalize many millions of people for the shortcomings of a few hundred.

Agreed...it's bad enough that I feel like a criminal when I want to buy certain allergy medications. Now I have to get a prescription for extra-strength Tylenol just because some people won't take the time to read labels on OTC cold meds to see if they contain another dose of acetaminophen? A "box warning" won't do any more for painkillers than it does for cigarettes.

[chicagofish]

Mike wrote:

Live drug free. Learn to live with the pain. Over the counter and prescription medication is toxic.

And how much pain do you live with day to day? Month to month?

[Andie J]

Shawn, I am so sorry to hear of your loss. That must be devastating. I suffer from chronic pain. While I have learned to live with most of it, since I don't want to rely on pills, I had knee surgery a year ago. I was prescribed 5 mg Vicodin, 500 mg acetaminophen. It did absolutely nothing for the pain. My doctor would not prescribe anything stronger since he was restricted by DEA rules. Since when is the gov't a deciding factor in medical care? I had to go thru 10 days of torture for no logical reason. Now they want to remove some good pain meds from the market altogether. People need to be educated, not regulated. The gov't bases their rules on the lowest common denominator. They think we're all too stupid to make our own decisions.

[BillyRollins]

I think people that that stuff as a habit.

[Thin The Herd]

Mike wrote:

Live drug free. Learn to live with the pain. Over the counter and prescription medication is toxic.

Untreated pain leads to poor medical outcomes. There's good evidence for this, while the statement that otc and rx med "is toxic" is a silly generalization.

[Mike]

chicagofish wrote:

<quoted text>
And how much pain do you live with day to day? Month to month?

I was injured in Afghan in 2003 and am medically retired with a 70 percent disability. So I am familiar with pain. Have a nice day.

[Wasabi]

This rambling editorial just inflates the confusion evident in a lot of these posts. What in the world does it mean to say the "cure may be worse than the symptoms." Does the Trib honestly believe it's better for so many thousand people to die each year than for pain patients to have to take two different pills?
Even more ridiculously, the Trib says "the vast majority of patients follow directions and are grateful for the relief." Oh, so until the MAJORITY of patients are dying from a med, we should keep selling it? Are you freaking serious?
The oxycodone and hydrocodone in these meds will still be available by prescription. The acetaminophen will still be available OTC and will be in most people's bathroom cabinets. If stopping the sale of the combined med saves 100 lives a year in this country, is it not worth it? 10 lives? For a minuscule inconvenience?

[Cathy]

People need to take medication seriously, anytime they put a pill in their mouth. I don't care if it's Tylenol, Claritin, Ambien, or whatever - it should be taken with respect and consideration and only when it's really needed. That's just common sense. It falls under "if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is." A magic pill that takes the pain away probably has a negative side!

[is the caller there]

If memory serves me correctly, former Seattle Seahawks safety Ken Easley had to retire because he took too many tylenol to aleviate pain from an ankle injury. I think he ha some kidney issues. Also it actually occcurred when he signed with the Phoenix, now Arizona Cardinals, whom he never played a down for. Correct me if I'm wrong.
So there might be something to this Tylenol thing-I know it upsets my stomach somestimes

[is the caller there]

excuse me, caused some kidney issues

[Winona]

If only people read the already-thorough directions and warning labels on medications, we wouldn't be having this discussion.

I'm currently pregnant, which means I can only take Tylenol for any pain that I may have. I try to take it as little as possible, now more than ever, but only because of the pregnancy and not because of the FDA trying to regulate common sense.

This reminds me of the whole Seldane scare some time ago - that was the best thing for my allergies, and it was taken off the market because of a potentially deadly interaction with one antibiotic - why couldn't they just not prescribe the two to the same person?

[Andie J]

Winona wrote:

If only people read the already-thorough directions and warning labels on medications, we wouldn't be having this discussion.
I'm currently pregnant, which means I can only take Tylenol for any pain that I may have. I try to take it as little as possible, now more than ever, but only because of the pregnancy and not because of the FDA trying to regulate common sense.
This reminds me of the whole Seldane scare some time ago - that was the best thing for my allergies, and it was taken off the market because of a potentially deadly interaction with one antibiotic - why couldn't they just not prescribe the two to the same person?

You're very smart in your recognition that even something as seemingly benign as Tylenol can cause damage to your or your baby. The reason that the gov't wants to restrict our access to these drugs is that they think we're too stupid to read the labels. Some people do shop different doctors to get different drugs. They usually know exactly what they're doing and are willing to take the risks for the high. Big picture- we shouldn't be penalized for the actions of an ignorant few.

[sarahmas]

Warnings on the boxes isn't going to make a bit of difference. People are stupid and headstrong and they will keep doing exactly what they were doing all along.

Pulling Vicodin and Percocet from the market is downright wrong. They are available OVER THE COUNTER in Europe! When used correctly they are effective and safe. This reaction is total overkill and completely infuriating.

[Thundermug]

Pain is no fun. Tylenol is my only recourse for bum knees, sore shoulders, arthritic feet & hands, achy back ...

[Andie J]

Thundermug wrote:

Pain is no fun. Tylenol is my only recourse for bum knees, sore shoulders, arthritic feet & hands, achy back ...

My doc prescribes naprosyn for my back & knees. It works well.

[Thundermug]

Andie J wrote:

<quoted text>
My doc prescribes naprosyn for my back & knees. It works well.

Thanks. I think this is the aspirin/ibuprofen family, which I must avoid due to my Crohn's Disease.