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FDA May Ban Percocet and Vicodin
Life may get a little more painful. A federal advisory panel voted on Tuesday to ban Percocet and Vicodin, two of the world's most popular prescription painkillers, because of their harmful effects on the liver. The ingredient in question is acetaminophen--found in Tylenol, Excedrin and other over-the-counter drugs--which, in high doses, is a leading cause of liver damage. In 2005, Americans bought 28 billion doses of products containing the ingredient, and more than 400 people die and 42,000 are hospitalized every year in the U.S. from overdoses. The panel also voted to reduce the amount of acetaminophen in over-the-counter drugs and lower the recommended daily dosage. While the F.D.A. isn't required to heed its recommendations, they usually follow advisory panels' advice.
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I've been screaming about the overuse of tylenol for years!!!!!!! It was originally intended for children to avoid Reye's syndrome and then became big for people on blood thinners because of the bleed factor of aspirin/salysilate analgesics. From the beginning they knew the liver didn't metabolize the stuff so it clogs the works. For those who like the pain relief ask for Vicaprofen!!!!!!!!!!! Percocet is oxycodone and can be gotten without "cet" easily.
That is all fine and dandy. But there is one problem with the vicaprofen... Others like myself and the allergic reaction (your face swelling up the size of a basketball) to ibuprofen. Here is another bit of news just as Acetaminophen is bad on the liver after long term use, well Ibuprofen is bad for the kidneys and cause renal damage and failure. So hey why not just ban it all an let the world live in pain.
nick,
they make the pain meds without the tylenol. percocette = percodan .... darvacette = darvarn .... yada yada ..... or something like that .... i'm not in the medical field so don't hold me to the comparisons ...ask the doc for the strait opiate and add tylenol as needed ..... those of us in chronic pain need these meds ..... if i wanted to get high i'd get a 12 pack
It is tough when people are allergic to things, your Doc or DDS should be able to prescribe the narcotic without anything else. Also, salysilates only cause problems with kidneys if taken in very high doses for a long time.
So let me get this straight. In order to prevent the liver damage risk associated with abuse or overdose of acetaminophen we'll go back to the days when those of us with chronic pain bled out from taking Motrin/Aspirin based drugs. It amazes me (or maybe not) that a government panel can take such a narrow view rather than looking at the larger picture. These things do not exist in a vacumn but rather are part of larger issues. I think that there may be a different agenda here, like 'Gee, maybe we can get Vicodin/Percocet off the streets'. Definitely a problem but we can't negate the good that a drug does simply because some people abuse it.
Acetaminophen has been around how long selling?? And the FDA is deflecting blame now. Acetaminophen is the problem. BAN Tylenol and other non-prescripts that contain it. Not Prescription drugs that it's the secondary ingredient. I realize now why there is a anti-public healthcare sentiment in this country. It's not the idea of government health care. It's the idea of our government doing anything right. Want to cut governement spending, abolish the ATF, FDA, HUD, DEA, SEC and the most of the other 3 letter accronym agencies that don't seem to operate at all, let alone "for the people" that fund them. Yet another embarassing American moment.
Squiggs, the real question is how did it get past our supposed govt. protection of such things. If so much research was out there raising questions or proving points that acetaminophen is damaging to the liver, why is the FDA only now dealing with it? Follow the money of the people that sit on the panel and I'll bet you there are some docs with research being supported by a drug company.
Excellent point! Following the money is almost always the best way to out dishonest motivations. Look at the way Paxil was approved for treatment of depression. There are a lot more:
http://www.adrugrecall.com/news/fda-criticismF.html
you and rapier are right about follow the money, but in this case, I want to make clear that kids still need to take tylenol until they are 14 so no Reye's and people on blood thinners still need tylenol as well!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Bravo! Bravo! I can't tell you how many kids are running around popping these things as recreational drugs these days. I am glad to see that the Government has found a Dictionary and looked up the meaning of the words 'safe and effective'.
Let's hope that Oxycontin is next. That drug is killing off The People at an alarming rate. Again this is another 'painkiller' which has been appropriated by the Drug Dealers and is sold on the Black Market. This one is synthetic Heroine and has found a mass appeal amongst drug addicts worldwide.
If the Obama Administration is responsible for putting pressure on the FDA to look into these abuses, then kudos to them! They are on the right track. The issue here, whether anyone realizes it or not, is regulatory Reform in order to protect the The People and the Doctor-Patient relationship, which has all too often turned into the new drug addict-drug dealer paradigm that is killing off our children and harming the moral compass of our Doctors.
Excellent. I don't know why Government needs to be praised for doing their job responsibly, but I will go with it for now until they realize that accepting Bribes from Drug Companies to push their 'crack' on the unsuspecting Public must end NOW! Lives are at stake, reputations are at stake. This is indeed very good to see.
They aren't going after these drugs because of the opiate content. The danger comes from the Tylenol in these drugs. The stuff is murder on your liver.
bkitties, thanks for pointing this out to to Magicman. This is the most confusing aspect of this release. Half the people think it was a recommended recall because of the opiate content and abuse, rather than the what it was truly being recalled for which is the AP/AP effects on the liver from abuse and non-abuse situations. Nothing in the decision has to do with the opiate, rather the combination. In Europe they do not combine much, but giving people say 5mg straight Hyrdrocodone will not help the abusers. The two issues need to be separate, and up till now both are getting confused by the media and those who digest it.
good morning magicman, .... the only part of your post i dissagree with is the oxycontin part ... i'm a 48 year old married father with seven blown discs in my back. I live on oxycontin just so i can have some meaningful existance, removing the drugs because they are harmful to the body is understandable, to remove an effective med because it's being abused is another. If someone is using oxy to get high will just start abusing the next med if it's gone. People abuse alcohol, food, even sniffing spray paint and thinners. I hurt my back over ten years ago and my plethera of doctors have tried just about every med out there, oxy works the best when taken as directed. I'm not saying I have been taking oxy for ten years straight, my doctor switches my meds every couple months to try to avoid the monkey on my back. the sad part is, we only hear the negatives in the media not the benefits those of us in chronic pain recieve.
sorry for rambling ...... have a great (pain free) day
Phred
Please don't target Oxycontin. This drug is a godsend to people with advanced cancer. Pain management is hard enough without having useful medications targeted because of the irresponsible actions of others. I
Oxycontin was never intended as a maintenance pain killer, rather for the final stages of cancer patients, used in an effort to "snow" them through their final hours. It is now prescribed so freely as a pain killer for ANY pain - and the abuse extends to some of the drs. who prescribe them.
I agree, DCBookNurse. Any drug can be and is abused, even Tums. The value of really effective painkillers for people with advanced or chronic pain can't be underestimated.
Acetominophen is a nasty drug. People who OD on it in a suicide attempt usually get their wish. Unlike aspirin, which just tends to make your blood go acidic and can cause bleeding and so on, acetominophen damages your liver to the point it can't function, so instead of a rather quick exit, get something slow and lingering over several days while your liver fails. Taking too much acetominophen over a long period will cause liver damage, too; it just takes a while to build up and start making itself known.
Amen !!!
how long before they finally post my message??? by the time they do they issue is moot.
This is absolutely nuts. Tylenol (acetaminophen)should have been more controlled for years, I have always warned my family/friends of this since reading an informative article from Great Britain at least twenty years ago. This protective action was never taken because???!!!
Now the only pain reliever that I can use is under attack because of over doses? I can only use hydrocodone in times of serious pain due to other meds needed to keep me up and going. I don't overdose/I don't use the drug when not needed but I do use it and will at times be unable to get around without it.
Magicman-I suspect that the over use of the statin drugs is doing more damage than the opiates but no one uses those drugs to alter their mood so that problem will go on and on. Oh the Puritan streak in our heritage.
my apologies for the last post, i hadn't seen the note about review
Yikes.
Overdose?
If people can't read, or reason that the instructions are written to prevent overdosing, then this will help thin the herd due to self-inflicted cancellations.
Those who over-dose 'cause they reason that more will give them more relief are not among our nation's finest.
We'll probably be better off without these ignorant self-medicators.
Their costs inflicted on the "health care" system will decline as they pass to their reward.
Personal health is a responsibility... to do no harm. Pay attention.
The FDA is the blind leading the blind. No offence to the blind. They only do what the drug companies tell them to do, and the drug co.'s only care about money, not people! When a drug kills thousands of people, the drug co.'s argue how it saved one. Check Bayer, I think they have killed more through bad drugs than any other drug co. Grow your own pain killer!
Here goes the baby with the bathwater. Why not simply remove the acetaminophen and replace it with aspirin. I can't take Tylenol yet when I need pain meds even the hepatologist writes the RX for Vicodin. Surely there is a way to fix this by simply replacing the toxic ingredient (not the narcotic; the codeine is not the culprit.). Migraine med - Fiornal is aspirin based and you have to ask for Fioricet to get the acetaminophen based version. This is some stupid logic. The persuasive ads for Tylenol, moyivated by profit are what have caused a rise in use and exacerbated a toxicity problem they have known about for years. The overdoses can be attributed to several things - Vicodin lasts for about 2 hrs and wear off - the pain returns. You take more. The tolerance increases. You don't wait four hours; you take two....It didn't just start causing liver damage last week - it just became the go to drug for doctors and hospitals. It is not a great pain reliever and it can destroy your liver.
so why do they not just ban acetominophen?
No mention of the deadly combination of alcohol and acetominophen? J & J must have known this was coming since their current ads for Tylenol offer soft verbal warnings. It is a safe drug if it is not double-dosed or over used. When I need a fever reducer, I switch every 4-6 hours between aspirin and Tylenol for fear of too much acetominophen in my system. By the way, how will Congress function without Percocet and Vicodin?
Vin,
everything has its pro's and con's .... pro being good and con being bad ..... does that make congress the opposite of progress????
congress will just cop from rush
Every channel I turn on talks about Michael Jackson addicted to demerol and oxycontin. Thts why everyone that doesn't live in chronic pain thinks oxycontin is the problem. I live in pain, I take it the way it's directed.
Here is a poor analogy .... my truck can kill as well, if you get behind the wheel and jam the throttle it's a killing machine. We don't ban trucks, we try to ban the fools..... playing with oxycontin makes you a fool as well
Great... another failure of the FDA... anyone surprised?
Truly! FDA figured small doses would not clog the liver to failure, they didn't count on it being used in everything and every time someone has a pain or ache. We take a pill for everything and still scream it's not enough and then they are too expensive and we continue to scream they aren't safe. We are health greedy like bankers are money hungry! LOL
Thank you.
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