Fwd: Health e-Tips - Miracle girl survives killer acetaminophen

[Guest guest]

Note: You can find the list of acetaminophen/paracetamol brand names [including Tylenol] athttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_paracetamol_brand_names=============== Health e-Tips 01 Feb 2010 Dear Reader, Did Eva Uhlin have any warning that the acetaminophen she was about to take would nearly kill her? That she would watch in absolute horror as large parts of her skin -- on her chest, arms, back, and her beautiful face -- would turn black and fall off? Or that it would take more than four years for her to be comfortable showing her face again? Did she know, as she swallowed the pills, that many of the people who end up with this horrifying reaction...simply don't make it? Despite the fact that a treatment for a simple fever nearly killed her -- Eva Uhlin is lucky. Toxic Epidermal Necrolysis, also known as Lyell's Syndrome, often leaves patients vulnerable to other dangerous infections. In terrible pain, unable to sleep, watching as their skin falls off, a full 40% of those who end up with Lyell's Syndrome die. And there's no way to stop it -- doctors say you simply have to let it "run its course." Dead after doing nothing more than popping a simple painkiller. One we are told, over and over, is perfectly harmless. One we at Nutrition & Healing watch carefully as research rolls in telling us it's anything but harmless, especially to your liver. But this is the first I've heard of Lyell's Syndrome -- where's that in the TV ads? Shouldn't we know about this risk? I mean, we're not talking about hospital-strength drug here. We're talking about a bottle of pills that could be found in any medicine cabinet. Yes, it's rare. But it takes hold with zero warning, frequently caused by adverse reaction to medication. When you swallow that pill, there's nothing telling you that you're more or less likely to end up rushed to the hospital, your skin falling off at the lightest touch. The bottom line is -- rare or not -- we deserve to be informed, to weigh the choice between putting up with a bothersome fever and the possibility of losing five years of our lives--or worse. If I know that a medication has the potential to cause a deadly reaction, even if that reaction is one-in-a-million, it's MY choice -- my right -- to exercise extreme caution. It's NOT Big Pharma's right to never even give me the option. Yours in good health, Christine O'Brien Sources: "Girl "Grows Back Face" After Pain Relief Pill Made It Turn Black And Fall Off," The Consumerist (www.consumerist.com) "Miraculous recovery of teenager who grew back her face after suffering 'one-in-a-million' allergic reaction to paracetamol," Mail Online (www.dailymail.co.uk) =====In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.