Last week, government experts recommended reducing the maximum dose of Tylenol and other acetaminophen drugs, a move that local health officials applaud.
“I have been a little concerned with the rising maximum dosages over the years,” said Dr. Robert Kelly, an Oakwood family physician.
The Food and Drug Administration assembled 37 experts to recommend ways to reduce deadly overdoses with acetaminophen, which is the leading cause of liver failure in the U.S. Overdoses send 56,000 people to the emergency room annually and about 200 die each year.
Kelly said he thinks the best way to help prevent overdoses is warning labels.
“I do agree that there needs to be more warnings on the labeling,” Kelly said. “There ought to be some disclaimers or even black box warnings.”
Black box warnings are the warning labels most often found on cigarette packages.
Kelly said one of the biggest problems he sees is that people often do not tell their physician that they are taking drugs like Tylenol.
“It is unusual that patients are forthcoming about the over-the-counter products they’re taking,” Kelly said.
That information helps doctors monitor for liver toxicity so they can prescribe other painkillers if a patient is taking too much Tylenol.
“Tell us everything,” Kelly said. “I would rather hear insignificant information and be able to dismiss it than not hear information and wish that I had.”
Another issue is that cold medicines, such as Nyquil and Theraflu, combine other drugs with acetaminophen.
Kim Kaminski, a pharmacist at Riverside Pharmacy in Gainesville, said people often don’t realize that there is acetaminophen in other medications.
“Just because it doesn’t have Tylenol’s name on it doesn’t mean it isn’t there,” Kaminski said. “There (are) big doses of Tylenol in Nyquil and people really don’t think about it.”
The government panel recommended lowering the current maximum daily dose of over-the-counter acetaminophen from 4 grams, or eight pills of a medication such as Extra Strength Tylenol. They did not specify how much it should be lowered.
The panel also endorsed limiting the maximum single dose of the drug to 650 milligrams. That would be down from the 1,000-milligram dose, or two tablets of Extra Strength Tylenol.
Kelly emphasized that while taking too much Tylenol can be dangerous, it is still one of the safest painkillers on the market.
“We give it to babies,” Kelly said. “Don’t be afraid of Tylenol. It’s a wonderful medication.”
The FDA is not required to follow the advice of its panels, though it usually does. The agency gave no indication when it would act on the recommendations.
Scott Barton, also a pharmacist at Riverside Pharmacy, said while people should be warned not to take too much, they may not listen.
“You can lower it and you can warn them but it’s ultimately going to end up in the hands of the individual,” Barton said.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.