Word: acetaminophen
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Although opioids are extremely valuable painkillers, particularly for patients at the end of life, drugs like Oxycontin (oxycodone) and Vicodin (hydrocodone and acetaminophen) are unfortunately better known for being addictive. While new studies have sharpened the understanding of how opioids work, and clarified their harms, the general question of safety remains complicated. Differences in the age and health of patients, their history of substance misuse, the nature of the pain and patients' sensitivity to certain drugs mean that a miracle drug for one person may be harmful to another. (See the top 10 medical breakthroughs...
...patients age 75 or older with persistent pain. Citing the many risks of long-term NSAID use, including fatal ulcers and gastrointestinal bleeding, increased risk of heart attack and stroke and dangerous interactions with other drugs commonly prescribed to the elderly, the American Geriatrics Society suggested that seniors try acetaminophen instead. If that doesn't ease pain, older patients are advised to use opioids like codeine or morphine, which don't have the same risks. (See TIME's health and medicine covers...
...When it comes to pain and cold medicine, this may be particularly worrisome. Tylenol, NyQuil and other drugs that contain acetaminophen are among the best-selling meds on the market, with more than $2.6 billion in sales in the U.S. in 2008. But acetaminophen can also put stress on the liver. From 1990 to 1998, there were an estimated 56,000 emergency-room visits, 26,000 hospitalizations and 458 deaths related to acetaminophen overdoses, according to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). These figures include everything from attempted suicides to people who gulped down entire bottles trying to get well...
...perils of acetaminophen can be particularly acute for two groups: drinkers - whose livers may already be working overtime - and kids. Unlike doses for adults, those for children tend to be very precise, right down to the milligram, which means even a single, small overdose is something to be avoided. Even more confounding is the counterintuitive way in which the formulation of a drug for infants can differ from that for an older child: the infant's version can actually be stronger since it is often administered in tiny amounts with a medicine dropper. "We've done studies here that show...
...Certainly, there's now an abundance of evidence of brazen criminal activity. More than 80 babies in Nigeria died earlier this year from teething medicine that contained the toxic coolant diethylene glycol. In July, authorities in Bangladesh seized supplies of a poisonous acetaminophen syrup that had killed 24 children. In Argentina, several women died in 2004 after receiving injections of a falsified iron-based medicine to treat anemia. And in 2006 more than 100 people in Panama died after taking medicines made with fake glycerin. Many times, the counterfeit drugs just don't work. This leads to a large number...