An interesting article . . . Barb Heathcote ==============================================
Acetaminophen and Tylenol bottles currently recommend that adults take no more than 4,000 milligrams a day, or eight extra-strength pills. Doubling that amount is enough to kill, said Dr. Anne Larson of the University of Washington Medical Center. (AP Photo ) By LAURAN NEERGAARD AP Medical Writer The Associated Press WASHINGTON Dec 26, 2005 Think popping extra pain pills can't hurt? Think again: Accidental poisonings from the nation's most popular pain reliever seem to be rising, making acetaminophen the leading cause of acute liver failure. Use it correctly and acetaminophen, best known by the Tylenol brand, lives up to its reputation as one of the safest painkillers. It's taken by some 100 million people a year, and liver damage occurs in only a small fraction of users. But it's damage that can kill or require a liver transplant, damage that frustrated liver specialists insist should be avoidable. Accidental Acetaminophen Poisonings Rise Maine Program Succeeds in Reversing Teen Smoking Trends What's All The Racquet The problem comes when people don't follow dosing instructions or unwittingly take too much, not realizing acetaminophen is in hundreds of products, from the over-the-counter remedies Theraflu and Excedrin to the prescription narcotics Vicodin and Percocet. "The argument that it's the safest sort of has overruled the idea that people cannot take any amount they feel like," says Dr. William Lee of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, who laments that acetaminophen is popped like M&Ms. Acetaminophen bottles currently recommend that adults take no more than 4,000 milligrams a day, or eight extra-strength pills. Just a doubling of the maximum daily dose can be enough to kill, warns Dr. Anne Larson of the University of Washington Medical Center. Yet, "if two is good, 10 is better in some patients' minds," she says with a sigh. The Food and Drug Administration has long wrestled with the liver risk, warning two years ago that more than 56,000 emergency-room visits a year are due to acetaminophen overdoses and that 100 people die annually from unintentionally taking too much. A study published this month by Larson and Lee has agency officials weighing whether to revisit the issue. Over six years, researchers tracked 662 consecutive patients in acute liver failure who were treated at 22 transplant centers. (Acute liver failure is the most severe type, developing over days, unlike chronic liver failure that can simmer for years because of alcohol abuse or viral hepatitis.) ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> AIDS has a woman's face. Help women to protect themselves. http://us.click.yahoo.com/aB9X0B/TREMAA/xGEGAA/8zSolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> New! Sign up for local CML support group meetings in your local community at http://cml.meetup.com Apply for Commercial Real Estate loans online and submit your deal to dozens of hungry lenders in just minutes. Loan programs for all types of business and commercial real estate. Apply anytime at http://realestatezoo.com CML (Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia Support List) --------------------------------- Part Of CMLHope.Com An International Community Of CML Patients For more information: http://cmlhope.com Post Message: [email protected] Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Change To No Mail/Web: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Change To Digest: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Change To Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] List Help: [EMAIL PROTECTED] CML Group Web Site http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CML Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CML/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
