The BAD news about acetaminophen (Tylenol and others)

Subject: The BAD news about acetaminophen (Tylenol and others)
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HSI eAlert Dear Reader, It's like something out of a horror movie.  A terrible reaction that you can get from taking acetaminophen. It's a side effect that's about as bad as it gets.  And you won't believe how the FDA decided to handle this crisis.  In just four little words...  ----------------------------------------------------------------------  Acting rash  ----------------------------------------------------------------------  At the end of November the FDA issued a "guidance for industry," about what it calls a "rare but serious skin reaction" that can come from taking acetaminophen.  And it can happen the very first time you take the drug, or suddenly even if you've taken it many times before.  The "skin reaction" it's talking about has several names, and each one is worse than the next.  First there's "acute generalized exanthematous pustulosis." That looks like a form of psoriasis, with a pus-filled red rash that can appear on the upper part of your body and even on your face.  Then there's Stevens-Johnson Syndrome (or SJS).  SJS is a condition so devastating that it's hard to even read about, let alone take a chance on getting.  It usually begins with flu-like symptoms, followed by a painful purplish rash that can spread to your eyes and ears. After that come the blisters and actual detachment of the upper layer of the skin!  SJS is like a burn from the inside out. And for that reason, people are often treated in hospital burn units.  But then there's the mother lode of acetaminophen side effects. It's something called "toxic epidermal necrolysis," or TENs.  When those skin lesions cover over 30 percent of your body it's called TENs. It can cause extensive peeling of the skin that's so bad your body can look like you've been put in a giant pot of boiling water. And not everyone who gets TENs survives.  Now as I told you, the FDA finally got around to asking drug makers to warn us about these potential "reactions" by putting a notice on products that contain acetaminophen.  And here's how those horrific, gruesome conditions got packed into three bullet points: ·       Skin reddening ·       Blisters ·       Rash Give me a break! That could be describing a mild case of sunburn or some hand blisters from raking leaves in the yard. Not the detachment of your top layer of skin!  I guess a real warning would have interfered too much with acetaminophen sales.  But the icing on the cake is that drug makers don't even have to add that weak-kneed, watered-down "warning" to over-the-counter meds if they don't want to.  That's because the FDA only made a "request." The agency said they "planned to encourage" manufacturers of OTC drugs with acetaminophen to put it on the box next to all the other warnings.  But if they don't...well...they don't.  When the FDA first told us about this last year, it said it wasn't trying to "worry us" but just wanted us to be aware of these symptoms so we can "react quickly" to these "potentially fatal" side effects.  But when you're talking about acetaminophen, it looks like the best way to "react" is to never take a drug containing it in the first place.  To Your Good Health,  Jenny Thompson