Now investigators have found reason to believe that the pop icon did not know what he was taking. The pills tested positive for fentanyl, a drug that can be up to times as powerful as morphine. So, on the surface, the pills looked to be standard painkillers for moderate to severe pain. He might have been a casualty of a counterfeit pill scheme that authorities say is sweeping the nation and exacerbating the opioid-addiction crisis.
Fentanyl, when properly prescribed by a doctor, is a drug approved for managing severe chronic pain. As the use of heroin has boomed, so, too, has illegal manufacturing of fentanyl, which is 25 to 50 times as strong. This illegal fentanyl is often mixed with other drugs, then sold in highly potent forms, such as pills.
Authorities believe the illegally manufactured fentanyl is being produced in China, then sold to drug traffickers in the United States, Canada and Mexico. A kilogram of fentanyl powder costs a drug trafficker only a few thousand dollars. Using pill presses which are easily purchased online , they can turn that one kilogram of fentanyl into more than , pills. The scheme is similar to a crisis, when fentanyl was appearing in heroin and killing unsuspecting users.
That outbreak tapered off when the Mexican laboratory where the fentanyl-laced heroin was being manufactured was shut down. Now, the ability to pump fentanyl into pills — which are far more attractive to more casual drug users — has led to a crisis far more dangerous.
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Some foods have been shown to help your body fight inflammation, while others may worsen inflammation. A cough is a symptom of many different medical conditions, some of which are serious. Therapeutic doses of acetaminophen have negligible effects on the cardiovascular or respiratory systems; however, toxic doses may cause circulatory failure and rapid, shallow breathing.
Pharmacokinetics The behavior of the individual components is described below: Hydrocodone: Following a 10 mg oral dose of hydrocodone administered to five adult male subjects, the mean peak concentration was Maximum serum levels were achieved at 1. Hydrocodone exhibits a complex pattern of metabolism including O-demethylation, Ndemethylation and 6-keto reduction to the corresponding 6-a- and 6-b-hydroxy-metabolites.
Acetaminophen: Acetaminophen is rapidly absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract and is distributed throughout most body tissues.
The plasma half-life is 1. Elimination of acetaminophen is principally by liver metabolism conjugation and subsequent renal excretion of metabolites. Patients known to be hypersensitive to other opioids may exhibit cross-sensitivity to hydrocodone. WARNINGS Respiratory Depression: At high doses or in sensitive patients, hydrocodone may produce dose-related respiratory depression by acting directly on the brain stem respiratory center.
Hydrocodone also affects the center that controls respiratory rhythm, and may produce irregular and periodic breathing. Head Injury and Increased Intracranial Pressure: The respiratory depressant effects of narcotics and their capacity to elevate cerebrospinal fluid pressure may be markedly exaggerated in the presence of head injury, other intracranial lesions or a preexisting increase in intracranial pressure.
Furthermore, narcotics produce adverse reactions which may obscure the clinical course of patients with head injuries. Acute Abdominal Conditions: The administration of narcotics may obscure the diagnosis or clinical course of patients with acute abdominal conditions. The usual precautions should be observed and the possibility of respiratory depression should be kept in mind.
Cough Reflex: Hydrocodone suppresses the cough reflex; as with all narcotics, caution should be exercised when hydrocodone bitartrate and acetaminophen tablets are used postoperatively and in patients with pulmonary disease. Alcohol and other CNS depressants may produce an additive CNS depression, when taken with this combination product, and should be avoided. Hydrocodone may be habit-forming. Patients should take the drug only for as long as it is prescribed, in the amounts prescribed, and no more frequently than prescribed.
Drug Interactions Patients receiving other narcotic analgesics, antihistamines, antipsychotics, antianxiety agents, or other CNS depressants including alcohol concomitantly with hydrocodone bitartrate and acetaminophen tablets may exhibit an additive CNS depression.
When combined therapy is contemplated, the dose of one or both agents should be reduced. The use of MAO inhibitors or tricyclic antidepressants with hydrocodone preparations may increase the effect of either the antidepressant or hydrocodone.
Drug and Laboratory Test Interactions Acetaminophen may produce false-positive test results for urinary 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid. Carcinogenesis, Mutagenesis, Impairment of Fertility No adequate studies have been conducted in animals to determine whether hydrocodone or acetaminophen have a potential for carcinogenesis, mutagenesis, or impairment of fertility.
Pregnancy Category C: There are no adequate and well-controlled studies in pregnant women. Hydrocodone bitartrate and acetaminophen tablets should be used during pregnancy only if the potential benefit justifies the potential risk to the fetus. Nonteratogenic Effects: Babies born to mothers who have been taking opioids regularly prior to delivery will be physically dependent. The withdrawal signs include irritability and excessive crying, tremors, hyperactive reflexes, increased respiratory rate, increased stools, sneezing, yawning, vomiting, and fever.
The intensity of the syndrome does not always correlate with the duration of maternal opioid use or dose. There is no consensus on the best method of managing withdrawal.
Labor and Delivery As with all narcotics, administration of hydrocodone bitartrate and acetaminophen tablets to the mother shortly before delivery may result in some degree of respiratory depression in the newborn, especially if higher doses are used.
Nursing Mothers Acetaminophen is excreted in breast milk in small amounts, but the significance of its effects on nursing infants is not known. It is not known whether hydrocodone is excreted in human milk. Because many drugs are excreted in human milk and because of the potential for serious adverse reactions in nursing infants from hydrocodone and acetaminophen, a decision should be made whether to discontinue nursing or to discontinue the drug, taking into account the importance of the drug to the mother.
Pediatric Use Safety and effectiveness in pediatric patients have not been established. Geriatric Use Clinical studies of hydrocodone bitartrate and acetaminophen tablets did not include sufficient numbers of subjects aged 65 and over to determine whether they respond differently from younger subjects.
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