Medical experts reiterated warnings against the unsupervised use of acetaminophen. This after latest studies showed that patients who repeatedly took the maximum recommended daily dose of acetaminophen developed abnormalities in blood tests that can be a signal for liver damage.
Researchers noted the potential for liver toxicity in patients treated for pain with a combination of the opioid hydrocodone plus acetaminophen.
But they did not recommend the total stop of taking the drug. Acetaminophen like Fioricet has been in the market for years and is widely used mostly by people for headaches and migraine. Fioricet is sold online through DrugstoreTM.com at discounted prices and has been popular because it is proven safe.
Millions of people take acetaminophen for pain relief. Some of these people can't take aspirin because of its gastrointestinal effects, or can't take nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). Use of Celebrex, one of a newer class of NSAIDs called cox-2 inhibitors, is also controversial because of cardiovascular problems linked to two recalled cox-2s, Vioxx and Bextra.
However, because recommended doses of acetaminophen have not been previously recognized to cause liver enzyme elevations, physicians may have embarked on costly liver evaluations unnecessarily. At the same time, treatment with other drugs suspected to cause liver problems, such as lipid-lowering medicines, may have been stopped unnecessarily.
What the researcher wanted to bring across is that consumers must pay close attention to the dose and duration of acetaminophen. In particular, they should pay attention to "hidden" acetaminophen in other drug products.
They reminded users that there are a lot of combination drugs that include acetaminophen that people aren't aware, and this might cause some problems.