McNeil Consumer Healthcare is implementing a voluntary recall of infant and children’s liquid products due to manufacturing deficiencies which may affect quality, purity or potency….
The products include certain liquid infant’s and children’s Tylenol®, Motrin®, Zyrtec®, and Benadryl® products. For a complete list of recalled products, please see the recall notice.
In particular, I’d be concerned about the combo of more than the expected amount of active ingredient with Tylenol (nee acetaminophen). Tylenol has a relatively narrow gap between the dose that works and the dose that permanently destroys livers.
Nicely done Johnson and Johnson.
How narrow? That link you provided has another link to acetaminophen overdose, and that says you shouldn’t take more that 4000 mg a day, and gives 7000mg as the overdose point. That’s a lot, considering extra-strength Tylenol is 500mg.
I know about the link between acetaminophen and alcohol and liver damage, but not everyone drinks. (I do, and use aspirin exclusively and sparingly.)
“Did you actually just page me to find out how much Tylenol to give to Mrs. Lensner?”
“I was worried that it could exacerbate the patient’s–“
“It’s Regular-Strength Tylenol. Here’s what you do. Get her to open her mouth, take and handful, and throw it at her. Whatever sticks, that’s the correct dosage!”
Fuuuuck, I just gave some of that recalled Motrin to my baby last night.
@ 3, I had given some of the recalled Tylenol to my kids over the last couple of months. No adverse reactions that I know of, but we’ve pitched it out and gotten some generic stuff. I wouldn’t sweat it because it sounds like one of those CYA sort of recalls.
I never take Tylenol. In fact I don’t take anything from drug companies unless I really need it because there is no safe alternative. Aspirin is usually the safer alternative.
Not that anyone has particularly recommended this, but since we are talking about kids medicine and aspirin, I should point out that kids should not be given aspirin, particularly for illnesses that typically cause a fever, because of the risk of Reye’s syndrome.
Note that the CDC recommends not giving aspirin to anyone up to age 19 for a fever-causing illness, so young college-age adults probably should stay away from aspirin as well.
@1: The point is that the overdose level (7g) is less than twice the maximum “safe” dose (4g). (And really, who ever takes only one Extra-Strength Tylenol®?) Most OTC medications only cause permanent harm at many times the recommended dose. But as NSAIDs cause gastric bleeding (and worse) it may still be the safest alternative.