this is a hot topic right now. i think what a lot of consumers and patients didn't realize is that acetaminophen is also known as tylenol over-the-counter or apap. in prescription medications it's also included. so we had a lot of people taking two medications that contained a lot of tylenol and exceeding what we call the daily dose. if you are a healthy adult. you don't want to exceed more than 4000 milligrams a day. in the elderly we recommend 2000 milligrams a day. we also found out that a lot of people were taking it too many times a day not following the directions on the box. so we really want to make sure that people understand it's important to take it as directed as per the instructions on the box. if you ever have any questions about the dosing come and talk to the pharmacist we will be more than happy to help you with that. we also want to make sure that you don't drink any alcohol while taking these products. and that you also want to avoid alcohol containing products. some cough syrups still contain alcohol and it's usually just enough that with the tylenol in the alcohol it actually causes an elevation in your liver enzymes. we see this a lot sometimes with people who have the flu. they tend to not feel well they are taking a lot of cold medicines on top of tylenol for their fever and there has been some emergency room admissions where people’s liver enzymes were elevated just from a few days of doing this. so that is the reason why it's a hot topic right now.
why have experts recommended lowering levels of acetaminophen in prescription and over-the-counter drugs?