And Backyard Swimming Pools Kill More Children Then Licensed Handguns
It turns out that "the painkiller more hospitals prescribe then any other" may cause more liver failure then any other. It's not over indulgence in spiritious beverages as previously thought.
Tylenol, Paracetamol or just plain generic acetaminophen may be accurately described as the first designer drug. A pharmacists mistake at a hospital in Germany lead to the discovery that acetanilide was a marvelous painkiller. However it proved to be toxic and so in 1893 acetaminophen was synthesized to give the same painkilling punch with less lethal side effects. Arriving prior to the Pure Food and Drugs Act of 1906, the drug escaped clinical testing. Tylenol does reduce the signs of fever and offers mild non-habit forming pain relief, however if it were released today it may not pass FDA approval for human consumption. If it did, it would certainly not be over the counter as is the case with other drugs where liver toxicity is a concern and constant monitoring during treatment is a must.
Even with it's potential lethality, since it doesn't get you high, I doubt the DEA will do anything to stop its production or restrict its sale. They're too busy pushing around the cold medicine industry.
Tylenol, Paracetamol or just plain generic acetaminophen may be accurately described as the first designer drug. A pharmacists mistake at a hospital in Germany lead to the discovery that acetanilide was a marvelous painkiller. However it proved to be toxic and so in 1893 acetaminophen was synthesized to give the same painkilling punch with less lethal side effects. Arriving prior to the Pure Food and Drugs Act of 1906, the drug escaped clinical testing. Tylenol does reduce the signs of fever and offers mild non-habit forming pain relief, however if it were released today it may not pass FDA approval for human consumption. If it did, it would certainly not be over the counter as is the case with other drugs where liver toxicity is a concern and constant monitoring during treatment is a must.
Even with it's potential lethality, since it doesn't get you high, I doubt the DEA will do anything to stop its production or restrict its sale. They're too busy pushing around the cold medicine industry.
posted by Dean ASC at 10:49 AM
5 Comments:
You are so right! Tylenol has always made me feel horrible. Even just a couple and I need a nap and have brain fog.
I have RA and I'd rather risk internal bleeding and take daily Ibuprophen. Also, one study related frequent use of Advil/Motrin with lower rates of colon cancer. I get frequent liver checks and I'm all clear.
I once had a lawyer professor who made the greatest point: how does the FDA come to decide what should require an RX and what doesn't? For example, Listerine with alcohol is addictive and they still sell it for anyone to purchase.
Origami, Remicade has been shown to have a nice response in patients. Have you considered it?
From what I understand the FDA will ask the manufacturer if it's still under patent and whether or not they'd like to charge more for each pill. Then, like Claritin, when the patent runs out and there's pressure from the HMO industry to bring costs down they make it over the counter. Same drug as it was 10, 15, 20... years earlier why is it suddenly safe to make OTC now?
OTC versus Rx has nothing to do with safety and everything to do with money/politics.
I was reading an article about some guy who was working for a marketing firm. They paid him to make up diseases that the Pharmo's could make pills to cure.
I really like the commercials that are for the pills that get rid of fat. There's one in particular that has an animation of a giant capsule that opens up and a "spray" shoots out onto the belly as it deflates.
If I had less edukayshun, I'd assume that the pill was a horsepill filled with lypo-nonobots. That would be sweet... and costly. Maybe I could make those and sell them at exorbitant prices for those lazy people who want to lose excess fat without controlling their gluttonous appetites and inability to discipline themselves to exercise.
(I do have sympathy for people who have no time to exercise because they work three jobs to put a roof over their families though, they could get them at a reduced price.)
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