Vicodin & Percocet May Be Eliminated If The FDA Panel Gets Its Way!

I must have a very high tolerance for prescription drugs because Vicodin did nothing to ease the pain from a wisdom tooth extraction that I had.But,apparently,Vicodin has some powerful pain relieving ingredients that combine acetaminophen with other narcotics.

Acetaminophen can cause liver damage & that fact has the FDA(Food and Drug Administration) panel so worried that they want to reduce the amount of acetaminophen in over-the-counter drugs,such as Tylenol.And they want to ban prescription drugs like Vicodin altogether.

Here's more on the FDA panel's recommendations from Freep.com:

"Government experts called for sweeping safety restrictions today on the most widely used painkiller, including reducing the maximum dose of Tylenol and eliminating prescription drugs such as Vicodin and Percocet.

The Food and Drug Administration assembled 37 experts to recommend ways to reduce deadly overdoses with acetaminophen, which is the leading cause of liver failure in the U.S. and sends 56,000 people to the emergency room annually. About 200 die each year.

“We’re here because there are inadvertent overdoses with this drug that are fatal and this is the one opportunity we have to do something that will have a big impact,” said Dr. Judith Kramer of Duke University Medical Center.

But over-the-counter cold medicines — such as Nyquil and Theraflu — that combine other drugs with acetaminophen can stay on the market, the panel said, rejecting a proposal to take them off store shelves.

The FDA is not required to follow the advice of its panels, though it usually does. The agency gave no indication when it would act on the recommendations.

In a series of votes today, the panel recommended 21-16 to lower the maximum dose of over-the-counter acetaminophen from 4 grams, or eight pills of a medication such as Extra Strength Tylenol. They did not specify how much it should be lowered.

The panel also endorsed limiting the maximum single dose of the drug to 650 milligrams. That would be down from the 1,000-milligram dose, or two tablets of Extra Strength Tylenol.

A majority of panelists also said the 1,000-milligram dose should only be available by prescription.

The industry group that represents Johnson & Johnson, Wyeth and other companies defended the current dosing that appears on over-the-counter products."(END OF EXCERPT)Read the rest here.

A Woman Gets 5 Years For Zapping A Cheerleading Coach With A Stun Gun!

I think that getting 5 yrs for using a stun gun on a cheerleading coach is about as ridiculous as the crime itself.Why so much time for a woman who did less damage to her victim than Chris Brown did to his?

LeShawn Cathlene Fisher is the Oklahoma woman who did something really stupid for her friend.Julie Ann Bell's daughter didn't make the cheerleading team.For that reason,Ms. Bell wanted to get revenge on the cheerleading coach.So,Ms. Fisher zapped the cheerleading coach in the neck for her friend.

Here's more from NEWSOK:

" A stun-gun-using assailant wept Wednesday as she was sentenced to five years in prison for an attack last year on a high school cheerleading sponsor.

"It was not a fair ruling,” a handcuffed, tearful LeShawn Cathlene Fisher said as sheriff’s deputies took her to jail. "I love my children, my family, my friends. I don’t deserve this.”

Fisher, 37, of Choctaw will have to serve five more years on probation after her release.

She was fined $1,000.

Fisher shocked the cheerleading sponsor in the neck outside Putnam City North High School on April 18, 2008, as they sat in the victim’s car. Prosecutors alleged a cheerleader’s mother, Julie Ann Bell, was behind the attack on sponsor Bethany Lorenz. Fisher and Bell are friends.

Jurors at a trial last week acquitted Bell.

Oklahoma County District Judge Ray Elliott chose Fisher’s punishment, rejecting her attorney’s request for only probation. He said he was appalled Fisher lied at Bell’s trial.

Fisher testified at the trial she acted on her own and Bell was not involved. "I don’t want someone else to pay for what I did,” she said at trial. "I didn’t think about it. It just happened. It was such an impulsive thing.”

The judge Wednesday said he was not naive and that Fisher had "one last chance” to explain her reasons for the attack. Fisher replied that she loves children and felt the sponsor was not treating girls fairly.

She again did not implicate Bell.

"I’m not buying it,” Elliott said."(END OF EXCERPT)Read the rest here.

I Had No Idea That Joe & Katherine Jackson Were Separated!

I had no idea that Michael Jackson's parents were separated.But,apparently,they have been living apart since the 80's.Joe Jackson reportedly lives in Las Vegas & Katherine Jackson lives in Encino,CA.They have always appeared in public together,so it came as a shock to me.

Here's more on that from the NY Daily News:

"It was unclear if Jackson's father, whom the singer accused of abusing him as a child, might help raise the three children.

Katherine Jackson and Joe Jackson separated in the 1980s. He lives in Las Vegas but spends time at the family house.

Both of the superstar's parents signed papers requesting that Katherine Jackson be put in charge of his money, claiming he died "intestate," without a will."(END OF EXCERPT)Read the story in its entirety here.