“People often don’t know what products acetaminophen is in,” said Dr. Lewis S. Nelson, a medical toxicologist from New York University who was the panel’s acting chairman. “It isn’t that hard to go above the four-gram dose. If you took a couple acetaminophen for a headache until you got to the maximum dose, and then maybe later you take Tylenol PM and some Nyquil for a cold. And your back hurts, so you take Vicodin — by now you’ve probably gotten to a seven-gram dose.”
I am glad NYT put out an article to mitigate the hype/scare of last week's panel decision, but Dr. Nelson, who I work with, has a point here.
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He does, but I've got to agree with NYT - I don't really understand what all the worry is about. As I understand from reading the article you linked to, the worst that could happen is drug-induced hepatitis, which most people recover from once they stop taking the drugs. Wouldn't be fun, of course, but isn't a risk of illness and slight risk of death with overdose sort of expected with most prescription drugs? No one can be sure that a patient is using any drug as directed, so the dosages and risks just have to be clear, just like with Xanax or oxy or anything. Right?
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