I think it is hard to say. We will see about 6months pass as the
recommendation is considered. Some think it will be accepted.
I wonder what will happen to those people who use Vicodin or Tylenol with Codeine, for short term purposes following dental procedures or surgery. There are far more people doing THAT than using for chronic pain! If doctors get up in arms about this move by the FDA, enough, it may stall for this reason alone.
Vicodin has been the top diverted drug for many years on the black market. I think this move is to get it away from that venue.
If the FDA really wanted to control acetaminophen as they claim, then OTC Cold products would not have been exempted from the ban like they were.
I do think acetaminophen 500mg will be removed from OTC status. That would leave 325mg tablets only. And the children's versions will most likely be changed as well.
Vicoprofen has never been a big seller. Some orthopedic doctors use it but even then it is not popular. Chronic use of NSAIDs brings risk of GI bleeds, and heart attacks. The heart effects are rather new, but still doctors don't like to use NSAIDs chronically in some patients with cardiac complications.
The bleeding is also big...a silent bleed can occur with no warning. My neighbor had one a few years ago on Naprosyn and almost died. The doctors had to tie off an artery in her duodenum because they could not stop her bleeding. She had no warning. The numbers are staggering for this family of drugs for pain/inflammation:
http://www.mypharmacydata.com/arthri...-and-downsides
Quote:
“If deaths from gastrointestinal toxic effects of NSAIDs were tabulated separately in the National Vital Statistics reports, these effects would constitute the 15th most common cause of death in the United States. Yet these toxic effects remain largely a ’silent epidemic,’ with many physicians and most patients unaware of the magnitude of the problem. 70 Furthermore, the mortality statistics do not include deaths ascribed to the use of over-the-counter NSAIDs “7l
—Michael M. Wolfe et al., The New England Journal of Medicine, 1999
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The moves by the FDA are paralleling the work being done in the Legislature now. It is hard to say if hydrocodone and other acetaminophen combo opiates will be taken off the market or only more strictly controlled...say RX for short term use only, smaller quantities allowed per fill, for emergency use.
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All truths are easy to understand once they are discovered; the point is to discover them.-- Galileo Galilei
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Weezie looking at petunias 8.25.2017
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