Feel Better Don't Die

When my Aunt Pearlie first started having back pains she began to self medicate like all of us, certainly I'm guilty of playing physician with myself. Every day there's a report of something that we thought was safe that has resulted in deaths. Most startlingly to me is how numbers are cited as though their deaths are unimportant or somehow not something that should concern us. So is the case with Tylenol whose makers want you to know that: "There's nothing generic about TYLENOL." Which begs the question what's the difference between TYLENOL and Acetaminophen?

What's more confusing is that inspite of the reports and the confusing information it's what TYLENOL says on their website that conflicts with our concerns to not die: "It’s important for people to know that it’s not the recommended dosage of acetaminophen that poses the risk. Rather, it’s when people take more than the recommended dose either intentionally, often because they think it will work better — which is not the case — or unintentionally, often because they don’t realize that several products they are taking at the same time (both prescription and OTC) each contain acetaminophen." Edwin K. Kuffner, MD.

If we didn't self medicate imagine how much longer the waiting times would be in our doctor's offices, emergency rooms and hospitals. To see the progress of the TYLENOL tv ads from 1988 with Susan Sullivan tellings us how hospitals used TYLENOL more than any other pain relievers, to how to use it often, to the current Feel better.

To "Don't Die" if you take ANY over the counter medication to the daily maximum and you have to do it for another day - DON'T! The time for playing is over you might not die but why take the risk. Spend the time go stand in line where ever it may be. Feel better and live!