Word: acetaminophen
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...scrutiny was triggered by an eye-opening report by the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, where researchers tracked more than 300 cases of acute liver failure at 22 hospitals. A team led by Dr. William Lee found that 38% of these liver failures were associated with excessive acetaminophen use. In a second study, Lee tracked 307 adults suffering from severe liver injury (but not full-fledged failure) at six hospitals. Once again, acetaminophen was linked to as many as 35% of the cases, most of them preventable...
...fact that acetaminophen in large doses can damage the liver is nothing new," says Lee. "What we found surprising, however, was how unaware people were of the dangers of ingesting too much...
Tylenol's manufacturer, for its part, insists that acetaminophen is safe if used properly. "But as part of an ongoing process, we are constantly talking to the FDA about how we can improve the label," says Dr. Anthony Temple, a vice president of McNeil Consumer Healthcare...
Most people seem to assume that there's no such thing as overdosing on an over-the-counter pill; if one dose doesn't take the sting from their pain, they simply pop another. But you can't gobble acetaminophen tablets like so many M&Ms. The drug produces toxic byproducts that are funneled to the liver--which ends up working overtime to clear them out of the body. If you ingest too much acetaminophen, toxins can build up in the bloodstream and do serious damage...
People with a history of liver disease such as cirrhosis or hepatitis C should always consult their physician before taking acetaminophen-based medicines. A common mistake is to mix alcohol with acetaminophen; alcohol impairs the liver's ability to clear toxins from the blood and can easily lead to an overdose...