OTC Tylenol Dosage Lowered to Prevent Liver Damage

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If you use Tylenol for PMS Relief , menstrual cramps, backaches. headaches or any other pain you need to know why Tylenol maker Johnson & Johnson such lowered the maximum recommended dosage.   You should rethink why how much you use and how often. 

Just because Tylenol is over-the-counter does not necessarily mean it’s safe.

In an effort to reduce the risk of liver damage resulting from overuse of acetaminophen — the active ingredient in Tylenol — the drug maker’s McNeil division will soon cap the product’s daily dose recommendation at 3,000 milligrams (a total of six 500-milligram pills a day) instead of the current 4,000 (eight pills a day).

 

Some experts say they also worry about overuse of other medications that consumers can purchase off pharmacy shelves without a prescription, such as the pain reliever ibuprofen, Theraflu for colds, and the antihistamine Benadryl.

“It’s important for the public to realize all drugs have side effects. It doesn’t matter if they’re prescription, over-the-counter, herbals or nutritional supplements. If they have active ingredients, they have side effects and can interfere with normal body functions,” says Brian Strom, director of the Center for Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

He says Tylenol is an “extraordinarily” safe drug at proper doses, even though its overuse is a leading cause for liver transplants in patients with acute liver failure. But, he says, “It has a narrow therapeutic ratio. The toxic dose and the therapeutic dose are very close.”

Commonly used over-the-counter medications may carry risks, say experts.

Acetaminophen (Extra Strength Tylenol). For headaches, joint and muscle pain, fever.
Overuse risks: Liver damage or failure. May cause liver problems at lower doses in alcohol users, or in those who take other drugs containing acetaminophen.

Ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin), a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID). Reduces pain and swelling related to arthritis. Relieves headache, fever, menstrual cramps.
Overuse risks: Gastrointestinal pain, bleeding. Kidney damage.

Diphenhydramine (Benadryl), antihistamine used to prevent, reduce hayfever and other allergy symptoms.
Overuse risks: Memory loss and disorientation, especially in elderly. Drowsiness, dryness.

Loratadine (Claritin), antihistimine used to relieve hayfever, other allergy symptoms.
Overuse risks: Sleepiness, fast heart rate. May lose effectiveness over time. Claritin-D includes an additional active ingredient, pseudoephedrine sulfate, which may cause insomnia or restlessness. Pseudoephedrine should not to be taken with certain medications for Parkinsons, depression, psychiatric or other emotional conditions.

Dextromethorphan, a cough suppressant, and Doxylamine succinate, an antihistamine (NyQuil Cough).
Overuse risks: Can cause drowsiness, especially when mixed with sleeping medications and alcohol. Not to be taken with certain medications for Parkinsons, depression, psychiatric or other emotional conditions.

Ranitidine (Zantac), an acid reducer, treats ulcers and gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD).
Overuse risks: May lose effectiveness over time. Long-term acid suppressor use could lead to poor absorption of some forms of calcium.

For menstrual cramps and period pain try our PMS Relief Herb Pack.  We guarantee pain relief in 30 minutes or less.  It’s also great for the irritability and moodiness that often accompany your monthly menstrual cycle.

Sources: Brian Strom, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania; Winston Parris, Duke University Medical Center; Lisa McDevitt, Tufts Medical Center; Sarah Anderson, University of Colorado School of Pharmacy; Ausim Azizi, Temple University School of Medicine.

 

 

 

For more information on OTC pain killers see my Huff post article:  Pain Relief without Pain Killers

Does the PMS Monster Wreck Your Life?

Posted by Cathy on with 3 Comments

Best Natural PMS relief - a 100% herbal alternative that works Although it may seem like men do not understand the pains of a woman’s monthly cycle, they suffer from it just as much as women do. But let’s face it — men can’t imagine the burden of a monthly period just like women could never fathom the pain of being kicked in the groin. And why would we want to?

For males throughout history, a woman menstrual cycle has been a foreign and repulsive topic. Aside from the physical symptoms that deem a woman dirty and unattractive, the real monster takes the shape of emotional instability and irritability. The primary victims are women, but we understand that it takes a toll on men as well. The monster creeps in quietly, without warning, and waits.

We may find ourselves feeling ultra sensitive, vulnerable, and demanding extra care. The PMS monster has one goal—to wreak havoc on everyone! Its steep spiral sends us into scary places where we may begin ruminating on past experiences and jumping to conclusions. The PMS monster enlists emotion, which stakes its claim over the territory and takes no prisoners. It cuts off all resources of reason and rationality and forces us to focus on our pain. Hormones can be powerful forces when out of balance.

Men, are just as effected by the monster. The most loving, carrying man now can’t do anything right. Men may wonder why the women in their lives are crying at the sight of something joyful, or are raging in response to a simple question. The truth is that we are possessed by the PMS monster, hormones gone wild. Once it takes over, no man is safe, not even the most caring, patient male will be free from the unpredictable behavior set off by the wretched monster that possesses his beloved. She may rant and rave for a day or a night, men never seem to get use to this unpredictable behavior that defies all logic.

Men may even succumb to the saying: "Never trust anything that bleeds for days straight and lives to tell about it."

However, there is hope! Along with the burden mother nature has placed on us, she has also provided us with natural solutions that can combat the reign of terror set off by Pre-menstrual Syndrome and the companion symptoms such as insomnia, fatigue, anxiety, depression, headache, edema and abdominal pain. Mother Nature’s herbal agents, dang gui peony root, bupleurum and cyperus root are just a few of the warriors that can be recruited to restore the natural balance to women, men, and relationships. Women will experience less pain, mood lifts and energy, and men will experience less confusion and frustration.

Mother Nature’s wonder drugs (a.k.a. herbs) have been used in Chinese Medicine for generations and can help restore a woman’s natural balance.   These herbs have the power to calm and sooth the PMS monster.  We packaged it in convenient stay fresh PACkets to keep the herbs fresh and therefore more potent than anything you can find in capsules.  The blend of specific herbs gives PMS Relief Herb Pac a real punch when it comes to knocking out the PMS monster.  What do you have to loose, the PMS monster?  We guarantee it!

Holy Hormones – Evidence Shows How Menstrual Cramps Effect Women’s Brains

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Often, menstrual pain and cramps are not taken seriously. But here at Pack Herbs we take them very seriously, as do a group of researchers at the University of Taipei.  These researchers from Taiwan have made international news.  Using highly specialized brain scanners the researchers found the anatomy of the female brain changed as a result of painful menstrual cramps.  If fact, even if women did not have cramps at the time of the brain scans, yet had experienced moderate to severe cramps on a regular basis for years, scans still showed their brains gray matter had abnormalities.  Yes, abnormalities!  This is the first documented evidence of it’s type. This research proves the monthly misery of menstrual cramps have serious lasting side effects, similar to the effects of people who deal with chronic pain issues. This research is published in the Sept. 2010 issue of PAIN.

“A long-term bombardment by peripheral pain can elicit plastic changes in the central brain as a reactive adaptation,” Hsieh explained. “It can also be a crucial mechanism that perpetuates the ‘chronification’ of pain” — that is, a mechanism that can turn pain into a lingering affliction, says  Dr. Jen-Chuen Hsieh, a professor of neuroscience at the Institute of Brain Science at National Yang-Ming University in Taipei, Taiwan, and lead researcher.  Previously, the researches found PET brain scans also showed differences in brain activity.

Menstrual cramps, or pain in the lower abdomen occur when the uterus contracts during menstruation.  Cramps are one of the most common gynecological disorder in women of childbearing age. As a woman who has been through some pretty painful menstrual cramps in my life, I found Chinese herbs can eliminate monthly suffering and I wanted to share it with others. This is the reason I gave birth to PMS Relief Herb Pack.  (Not a traditional birth, but a birthing of sorts.)

Whether you experience the moodiness, cramps, backaches, bloating, breast tenderness or all of the above, PMS Relief will work for you.  It’s packed with 14 herbs (a dried powder extraction) which has been used through-out Asia for centuries.  Based on Traditional Chinese Medicine, our herbal blend of Chinese herbs (not Western herbs) is nothing like what’s been on the American market before.  One packet mixed in water is all you need to start feeling the immediate relief.   Most women use a packet the day before their cycle starts and then a packet or two on their worst cramping days. Did I mention it’s all natural herbs, nothing artificial added and it taste good too.   

Do your brain and your body a favor and give PMS Relief a try.  There is really no reason to suffer any longer. Chinese herbs have the longest continual use history of any medicine on earth. What are you waiting for, an abnormal brain to develop?

Connect to a Australian study:  549 women had documented results on the severity of PMS using Chinese herbs. By restoring the imbalance in the reproductive system, Chinese herbal medicine can prevent monthly menstrual cramps, depression, PMS, and abdominal pain.

Read the abstract here: http://www.painjournalonline.com/article/S0304-3959(10)00329-5/abstract