Drug Safety Information: Acetaminophen

A very common drug that I am guessing every caregiver comes into contact with on at least a bi-weekly basis is the good old acetaminophen pill - aka Tylenol, Excedrin, etc... so, here's some things you may not have thought about concerning this medication.

IMPORTANT DRUG SAFETY INFORMATION

GENERIC NAME: acetaminophen
(a set a mee' noe fen)

BRAND NAMES: Acephen®, Allerest®, Anacin®, Axocet®, Bupap®, Capital® and Codeine, Duradrin®, Endocet®, Excedrin®, FeverAll®, Genapap®, Genebs®, Goody's®, Liquiprin® Drops, Midol®, Midrin®, Ornex®, Pamprin®, Percogesic®, Phrenilin®, Premsyn PMS®, Roxicet®, Sedapap®, Sinarest®, Sine-Off®, Sinutab®, Sominex®, Tylenol®, Tylox®, Ultracet®, Vanquish®, Wygesic®
SIDE EFFECTS:

While low in most side effects, there is at least one serious side effect that should be kept in mind, and that is liver damage due to large doses, chronic use or concomitant use with alcohol or other drugs that also damage the liver.

HEALTH CONCERNS:

Acetaminophen is excreted in breast milk in small quantities. However, acetaminophen use by the nursing mother appears to be safe.

Acetaminophen relieves pain by elevating the pain threshold, that is, by requiring a greater amount of pain to develop before it is felt by a person. I listed this note under health concerns because of the concerns I have in keeping careful track of any pains that my parents might experience.

INTERACTIONS:

The potential for acetaminophen to harm the liver is increased when it is combined with alcohol or drugs that also harm the liver.

Drugs that increase the action of liver enzymes that metabolize acetaminophen (e.g. carbamazepine, isoniazid, rifampin) may decrease the action of acetaminophen.

WHAT THE CAREGIVER NEEDS TO KNOW:

Before having any laboratory test done you should tell your doctor and the laboratory personnel that you, or your care recipient, are taking acetaminophen.

Acetaminophen relieves pain in mild arthritis but if the pain is not due to inflammation, acetaminophen is as effective as aspirin.

IMPORTANT WARNING: From SafeMedication.com -

[Posted 01/12/2007] The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) article describing three deaths in U.S. infants aged less than 12 months associated with cough and cold medications. These medications were determined by medical examiners or coroners to be the underlying cause of death. The cases described in this report underscore the need for clinicians to use caution when prescribing and caregivers to use caution when administering cough and cold medications to children aged less than 2 years. For more information visit the FDA website at: http://www.fda.gov/medwatch/safety/2007/safety07.htm#coughcold and http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5601a1.htm.

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SOURCES: (one or more of the following web sites may have been consulted in the research for this drug)
U.S. Food and Drug Administration
MedlinePlus
MedicineNet.com
SafeMedication.com
Wikipedia.org