A good resource for people looking for more information than a drug insert provides is: This site gives the FDA medwatch reports on serious post marketing events for many drugs.

www.patientsville.com

Drug inserts are often incomplete, and sometimes old, and are from when the drug was first marketed. Information about things that come to light AFTER the insert is FDA approved and the drug is approved, do not show up on them often. And many doctors are totally unaware of post-marketing warnings.

Even some studies have been shown to be fraud, as in the case Dr. Reuben from California:
http://lawmedconsultant.com/677/bipo...ud-while-manic

CDC just caught a doctor making fraudulent papers on vaccines and autism.

Merck concealed the toxic potential of Vioxx from doctors in one of the biggest fraud cases ever, with over 100,000 heart attacks blamed on it!

There are drugs with huge side effect profiles... that many people react to. Neurontin and Lyrica are two examples. In fact Pfizer was found guilty of representing Neurontin to doctors for conditions without FDA approval (in effect they experimented on patients, and convinced the doctors to do it!) Pfizer had to pay over 650 MILLION dollars in fines for that one.

The atypical antipsychotics have generated over a billion dollars in fines for over promotion, from Lilly, and other companies for Risperdal, Zyprexa, and Seroquel.
So when drug companies do this ....the internet remains a good resource to shed light on their hanky panky.

So one has to be very careful where one "searches" for answers.
Nowadays, one cannot always believe a drug insert!

A very good book to read about this is Bitter Pills, by Stephen Fried.

Another eye opener is
The Truth about the Drug Companies, by Marcia Angell, MD... who is the previous editor in chief of the New England Journal of Medicine. This book will really shock you!

edit-- this new post from our PD forum reveals some of the nasty things going on with ghostwriting of papers...yes, drug companies steal names of Legit doctors and put them on papers to impress other doctors without permission:

http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/thread137816.html

If you Google "ghostwritten medical papers" there will be more, much more.

Acetaminophen (Tylenol, Paracetamol, APAP) Toxicity
 

A couple of posts in this thread have mentioned the inherent risks in high dose and/or long term acetaminophen (or medications containing acetaminophen) therapies, and rightly so. It's rough on the liver, and anyone who takes a lot of acetaminophen should probably have a discussion with their doctor(s) about prudent periodic liver function blood tests.

Unfortunately, some folks like smae (and myself) don't have a lot of choice. I don't tolerate NSAIDs (Non-Steroid Anti-Inflammatory Drugs) well.

In my own case, I include NAC (N-Acetyl Cisteine/N-Acetylcysteine/N-acetyl-L-cysteine) in my daily supplement regime. NAC is an OTC supplement which, among other things, is administered intravenously as the first-line antidote for Tylenol overdose.

For more information:
Wiki: Acetylcysteine
Google: NAC tylenol

N.B. There is no proof/study that I'm aware of at this time that suggests that NAC taken prophylactically will prevent/reduce liver damage from acetaminophen. OTOH, taken as directed, and with knowledge/consent of one's doctor, it shouldn't be harmful either - It couldn't hoit! NAC has some other potential benefits as well.

There is an archived Usenet newsgroup discussion (sci.med,sci.med.pharmacy) from 1995 on this subject between two physicians (Steve Harris, M.D. & Jonathan R. Fox, M.D.)
http://yarchive.net/med/tylenol.html

Reviewing the above Google search, there may also be some similar potential prophylactic benefit from the supplement S-Adenosyl methionine (SAM, SAMe, SAM-e) but I'm not personally familiar with that one (yet).

Doc

I used SAMe for about 10 yrs. It was helpful for my arthritis, but really did nothing for my PN.

It was quite energizing too, especially at first.

I settled in at 600mg a day. (some weeks I took 400, but eventually I'd get a pain relapse so 600mg was my normal).

I stopped taking it last year, when I added a new supplement which was expensive. I haven't noticed much relapse since then.

I rebuilt my right knee for those 10 yrs and avoided a knee replacement.

I have severe osteoarthritis in my spine, but it seems to pale in comparison to other pain issues and kept in check with other things in my regimen.

I'll be looking at SAMe more for the acetaminophen-countering effect (I never exceed my prescribed dose, and get periodic blood tests) but any additional benefits won't be dismissed/ignored. If it's too expensive, I'll have to stick with the NAC, which I've been taking for years with no side effects whatsoever, and my liver tests are all well within normal. XX

Doc