Take 3 minutes to learn about safe use of Pain Meds

A lot of the problems caused by pain medications could be eliminated by following a few simple rules.  In the US, the FDA is trying to address some of these simple issues with an article they published this past February, A Guide to Safe Use of Pain Medicine.

Some examples of the issues they address:

• With acetaminophen:  Taking a higher dose than recommended will not provide more relief and can be dangerous.
• With opioids:  The dose of an opioid pain medication that is safe for you could be high enough to cause an overdose and death in someone else, especially children.
• A specific area of concern with OTC pain medicines is when products sold for different uses have the same active ingredient.  A cold and cough remedy may have the same active ingredient as a headache remedy or a prescription pain reliever.  To minimize the risks of an accidental overdose, consumers should avoid taking multiple medications with the same active ingredient at the same time.

The article doesn’t specifically cover every issue (for example, headache-related issues like rebound headache), but it’s worth taking a few minutes to read about pain medication for the safety of you and your family.

Thanks to Marijke Durning for the heads up.