Posted on 07/04/2006 4:49:03 PM PDT by RDTF
Healthy adults taking maximum doses of Tylenol for two weeks had abnormal liver test results in a small study, researchers found, raising concerns that even recommended amounts of the popular painkiller might lead to liver damage.
In the study, 106 participants took four grams of Tylenol _ equivalent to eight extra-strength Tylenol tablets _ each day for two weeks. Some took Tylenol alone and some took it with an opioid painkiller. Dummy pills were given to 39 others.
There were no alarming liver test results among the people who took the placebos. But nearly 40 percent of people in all the other groups had abnormal test results that would signal liver damage, according to the study that appears in Wednesday's Journal of the American Medical Association.
"I would urge the public not to exceed four grams a day. This is a drug that has a rather narrow safety window," said a study co-author, Dr. Neil Kaplowitz of the University of Southern California.
Heavy drinkers should take no more than two grams daily, Kaplowitz said.
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
Clearly, the test subjects didn't read the label directions.
I agree. No one in my family uses Tylenol, because it just does not work.
As a former ICU nurse, I have a better reason. I watched a teen (13? 14?) die a slow death over 10 days because he decided to wash down a handful of Tylenol with two beers.
The hunt was on for a new liver when he passed on.....
He wasnt in too much pain for the 1st 3 or so days.
No. It's been known. Remember Empirin Compound or APCs? Aspirin, Phenacetin, Caffeine? They took phenacetin off the market. J&J had enough clout to keep acetaminophen on the market. One of the active metabolites of acetaminophen is, IIRC...phenacetin.
Define high usage please, for those that may find themselves in similiar circumstances.
I'm glad to hear that...I mean that he wasn't in too much pain.
My Mom was just diagnosed with terminal cancer, spread mostly to her liver.
I pray every night that she will not suffer a painful death.
I am so sorry- my thoughts and prayers will be with you and your Mom..
I think that the worst pain in the situation that I describe is that the child only wanted to *scare* the parents, the girlfriend, etc.
He couldnt quite believe that what he did could actually kill him.
But it did.
Best of luck to you and your Mom, my friend! :-)
My Mom has been a real angel through this..a great attitude and beautiful sense of humor...which has really made things easier for us kids.
I only hope I can be half as gracious when my time comes!
I didn't think it is any great news that Tylenol can damage the liver.
A friend of mine was detoxing at home from his fifth a day habit, and took some Tylenol PM to sleep.
Almost killed him, and for a while he was on the liver transplant list. Fortunately he was young enough that his liver was able to recover and he was able to recover his health.
Right after the excerpt stops, the qualifying explanation begins. It seems like the drug manufacturers have to create a Tylenol scare to panic people away from the most commonly used and effective pain remedy available in the world. Google or Ask.com the large body of research and read carefully.
The sponsor of this study wants us to believe that its product, OxyContin, an opinate, is far more innocent than big bad killer acetaminophen (paracetamol, elsewhere). The pain reliever of first resort should remain acetaminophen for its well-known safety and effectiveness relative to virtully everything else.
"Another co-author, Dr. Paul Watkins of the University of North Carolina, said he's less worried than Kaplowitz, noting that acetaminophen, the active ingredient in Tylenol, has been used for 50 years and has a good safety record.
The maker of Tylenol, McNeil Consumer & Specialty Pharmaceuticals, said its own research found much lower rates of abnormal liver results. The company's studies tracked high-dose users over longer periods than did the new study.
"It doesn't lead to liver disease and it usually resolves as patients continue to take acetaminophen," said Dr. Edwin Kuffner, senior director of medical affairs at McNeil.
The researchers had been hired by the drug company Purdue Pharma LP, maker of the prescription painkiller OxyContin, to find out why abnormal liver tests were showing up in people testing a combination drug containing the acetaminophen and the opiate hydrocodone.
Purdue Pharma stopped its hydrocodone study early because of the abnormal liver tests. Researchers Watkins and Kaplowitz thought they would find the culprit in hydrocodone's interaction with acetaminophen.
"Our jaws dropped when we got the data," Watkins said. "It doesn't have anything to do with the opiate. It's good ol', garden-variety acetaminophen."
Acetaminophen is more popular than aspirin or ibuprofen. Each week, one in five U.S. adults uses it for pain or fever, a 2002 survey found."
No, the risk of liver damage from Tylenol has been know for some time.
Take every thing in moderation. Everything.
And watch out for your stomach...I was on a theraputic dose for Naproxen for plantar fasctitis and arthritis, and ended up with a very troubled tummy.
NSAIDs can be tricky.
Learning alternatives for pain besides pain reliever pills is a good thing when possible.
Especially if you yank it down behind a pint of 151
I sucked down Tylenol daily for years. Two to four grams.
Fortunately, my liver tests out fine.
I helped a friend thru Hospice last fall because of liver and bone cancer. Was somewhat painful (but not too bad thanks to morphine). The morphine helped A LOT! Do not be afraid to do what the nurses recommend as to the morphine use. It ended up very peaceful towards the end. No pain and he died quietly and comfortably.
I feel you pain and you have my blessings during this horribly difficult time.
My absolute best to you. Hang in there.
RA
Freepmail me if you need to! ok?
I'm glad your daughter pulled through. It's amazing to me how many people are clueless about the danger of acetaminophen. I always see people on FR railing about the huge danger that would be posed by making the morning-after pill non-prescription, claiming that if it weren't for "politics" such a "dangerous" drug would never be allowed to be sold without a prescription. But there have been NO deaths caused by the morning-after pill (which is proposed to be sold only by pharmacists from behind the counter) and no serious side effects that weren't caused primarily by other underlying health problems, while acetaminophen is the leading cause of acute liver failure requiring transplant in the US and has killed quite a number of people (and yet any little kid can buy it off the shelf, no questions asked).
Personally, I'm no fan of the nanny-state, and don't think prescriptions should be required for anything but highly addictive narcotics, certain antibiotics that are really likely to cause dangerously resistant strains to develop, and drugs with extreme potential for serious abuse and few legitimate uses (like the "date rape" drug Rohypnol) -- in other words, drugs which are very likely to end up causing serious harm to someone OTHER than the person buying them. But there's no reason to put things like acetaminophen out on the shelf where minors and illiterate or mentally impaired adults can buy it without anyone mentioning to them that they really need to be careful about dosage and need to check if other medications they're taking also contain acetaminophen. It's not a significant infringement on my freedom to have to ask the pharmacist to hand me something I want (heck, I have to do that at the deli when I want a pound of potato salad!). But there still hasn't been a peep from any legislative or regulatory body about putting acetaminophen behind the counter; just a proposal for a more prominent warning on the labels.
I hear ya! I have Arthritis and I know how easy it is to take too many advil.
Be careful and you will be ok!
My best to you as well!
RA
I took Tylenol to deal with muscle pain for about 10 days last year. I started peeing blood. Even though the Tylenol was working for the muscle aches, I quit taking it. Aspirin and Ibuprofen from now on for me. Although, I hear that Ibuprofen causes liver damage as well.
Of course, the popularity of acetaminophen was generated by an aspirin scare designed to panic people away from that previous holder of the "most commonly used and effective pain remedy available in the world" title. An association between aspirin use in children and the extremely rare Reyes Syndrome (but no causation finding, and plenty of Reyes Syndrome cases occur without aspirin use) was used to bring aspirin use for children to a grinding halt, with people being encouraged to give acetaminophen infants and toddlers, who would have been infinitely safer taking a baby aspirin. Peddlers of branded acetaminophen products milked the scare for all it was worth, touting their products as "safe" in ads aimed at adult usage.
And the definition of "children" got stretched further than the Brady Bunchers ever stretched it in their "children killed by guns" claims. As a 24-year-old college student at the height of the Reyes-aspirin hysteria, I was informed by my college's health clinic that they couldn't give me an aspirin because they didn't stock aspirin anymore "because of the risk of Reyes Syndrome". The facts that 1) Reyes Syndrome was exceedingly rare to begin with, 2) over 90% of cases were in people under age 15 (and most in much younger children) and about 10% of those in children who hadn't taken aspirin, and 3) it ONLY occurs in conjunction with a symptomatic viral infection such as flu or chicken pox, were all irrelevant. College students with sprained ankles or menstrual cramps had to protected from aspirin, so they were showered with acetaminophen instead.
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