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Another Tylenol Crisis

Just a friendly warning for those who didn't think this really happens, or those who don't hear much about it in the news anymore.

The last few days my son Frankie has spent quite a bit of time at Valley Med (hospital)
with a friend whose liver is failing. This is only a 20 yr. old kid!

The reason his liver is failing, Tylenol. I know this kid drinks, I'm not sure what kind of drugs he's done, but he's young. You would think his liver should be able to handle just about
anything. This is why I switched from keeping Tylenol to keeping aspirin behind the bar years ago.

Just because they keep it quieter now, doesn't mean the problem has gone away. According to the statistics, there are over 70,000 cases of liver failure a year due to Tylenol, or acetaminophen overdose. The maximum dosage for an adult is 8 extra strength pills in a 24 hr. period, but liver failure can happened at half that dosage. This is where it becomes so dangerous for people who drink alcohol. For adults who drink 2 or more drinks a day, the dosage is 4 extra strength pills in a 24hr. period. People often take Tylenol with alcohol, or with other drugs (Vicodin, Nyquil, etc) that already have a strong dose of acetaminophen in them. What really surprised me in my search for information, is that there are more cases from suicide attempts than from accidental overdose. After reading about that, I of course asked my son if that was his friends case. He said no, but that was the first question the doctors had, so it must be pretty prevalent.

Acetaminophen is the leading cause of liver failure even if you've never had a drink. It is also responsible for many kidney failure cases.

What's scary about this stuff is 12 to 24 hrs. after an overdose, your sick as a dog, vomiting, etc.
One guy thought he just had the flu, so he started taking more medicine with acetaminophen. From 24 to 48 hrs. you actually feel better. Then at 72 hrs. after ingestion, the liver blood tests abnormalities start to show up. I must say, if I got that sick 3 days after I took Tylenol, that would be my last thought. I would be thinking maybe food poisoning from the nite before.

Accidental overdoses in children make up less than 10% of acetametophin toxitity. Most of those are not caused by little ones getting into a bottle of Tylenol, but by adults who do not calculate the proper dosage. In small ones, dosage should be by weight vs. age.


If you drink and/or take certain drugs (Check with your doctor) STAY AWAY
FROM TYLENOL. I know there are times when doctors cannot give aspirin, but I personally am surprised acetemetaphen is used so freely.

Disclaimer: I am not a doctor or any kind of health care professional. Just a concerned citizen, who now prays for my son's friend not to die.

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Don't Drink The Water?

What have they been pounding into our heads for years now? "Your body needs at least 8- 8oz glasses of water a day to work properly". I have to say I was a little shocked the other nite when on the "Evening News with Katie Couric" they announced "Recent research shows this just is not true". I have to laugh out loud at this one. Here we are fighting about whether "bottled" water is better than tap, what the plastic from the water bottles is doing to the environment, and now they're saying we don't need it anyway! Well, that's not exactly true, but we don't need as much as they have been telling us we need. If your urine is dark, drink more. If your urine is clear, you're drinking too much. It's that easy.

What's funny is one of the doctors I have been getting a newsletter from for quite awhile, has been preaching this now shocking news about water for a few years. While regular medicine calls him a quack regarding many issues, this is another one he can now rack up on his "I was right" side. For me as a lifelong dieter, I will continue to drink water along with all the other liquids I consume because I drink it to flush my body, not to hydrate it.

Feel free to leave your comments concerning how you feel about this news. I put it up there on the scale with "Mammograms Don't Save Lives", altho I thought that was a really stupid piece of journalism.

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A Little More About Drugs On the Take

I just received this little gem in my inbox this AM. If you've noticed you don't hear so much about drugs coming in from Canada anymore, you might want to read this.

From: Jenny Thompson at http://www.hsibaltimore.com

I got the lowdown from a 2006 NPR broadcast in which health policy correspondent Julie Rovner explained that U.S. customs started cracking down on drugs crossing the border just as the sign-up period began for the Medicare prescription drug plan. The speculation: If low-priced drugs from Canada weren't available, people would have no choice but to sign up for the Medicare plan (which, by the way, is designed to be a big beautiful gift to the drug industry). Then in October 2006 – just before the midterm elections – customs eased up on restrictions. The speculation: Perhaps voters who lived near the Canadian border would feel more positive about incumbents up for reelection if they could once again purchase Canadian drugs more freely. See how it works? Whenever you hear "safety concerns," just insert "political concerns," and it all makes perfect sense.

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