Uses of Tylenol PM
The makers of Tylenol market a popular sleeping aid called Tylenol PM, officially for use with insomnia, headaches, aches and pain, restlessness or a combination of these symptoms. It also helps cure allergies and abnormal muscle movements. Tylenol PM helps you get to sleep within approximately 30 minutes to 1 hour and prevents allergic reactions and hay fever symptoms. It's considered safe, but the DEA reports 50,000 E.R. visits and 500 deaths every year linked to acetaminophen. Tylenol PM is also used in production of "cheese" heroin and has been linked to liver damage.
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Ingredients
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Tylenol PM has two main ingredients: acetaminophen, which reduces fever, aches, and pains, and diphenhydramine, an antihistamine that prevents watery, itchy eyes, excess mucus production, sneezing, runny nose, allergy symptoms and hay fever. The brand name for diphenhydramine is Benadryl.
Acetaminophen Uses
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Acetaminophen is used to treat mild to moderate pain from headaches, cold, flu and muscle pain, and to reduce fevers. Acetaminophen irritates the stomach less than aspirin. Unlike aspirin, acetaminophen won't reduce the pain, swelling or stiffness accompanying arthritis. Thus Tylenol PM acts as a fever and pain reducer, but doesn't affect arthritis pain.
Diphenhydramine Uses
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Diphenhydramine blocks production of the natural chemical histamine in the body. It's routinely used to counteract allergic reactions such as hives, rashes, itching, runny nose, watery eyes, and common cold symptoms. Diphenhydramine is also used to suppress coughs, treat motion sickness, induce drowsiness and treat mild cases of Parkinson's disease. Diphenhydramine may help stop acute Tardive dyskinesia, involuntary muscle spasms that especially affect the face, mouth and upper torso. Ingesting a large dose of any antipsychotic drug or taking antipsychotics over a long period of time can cause Tardive dyskinesia. Diphenhydramine also helps to stop nonspecific abnormal movements of the body. In an emergency, Tylenol PM may be used to partially combat abnormal muscle movements and spasms if pure diphenhydramine or Benadryl aren't accessible.
Cheese Heroin
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Cheese heroin, according to the Everything Addiction, costs as little as $2 on the street. It's manufactured through a combination of sleeping aids, including Tylenol PM, and black tar heroin. The DEA refers to cheese heroin as "starter heroin" because of the low amount of actual heroin in it. Each time someone ingests cheese heroin increases their tolerance level, so that users must acquire ever larger amounts of heroin to get "high."
Abuse
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People who believe that over-the-counter sleep aids such as Tylenol PM are absolutely safe to take often fail to pay close attention to the label. It's common to assume that companies wouldn't market anything obviously harmful to the public. Many people abuse Tylenol PM out of ignorance, feeling that they need more than the recommended dose to get to sleep. Young adults also commonly overdose on Tylenol PM to acquire a feeling of a drunken stupor, a downer or numbness followed by euphoria. They may also drink it until they pass out. Yet needed medical intervention is hard to access because Tylenol PM is considered a safe drug.
Cautions
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Prolonged use of acetaminophen causes permanent and possibly fatal liver damage. Remember to use over-the-counter drugs exactly as directed. They can be fatal when used incorrectly.
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- Photo Credit "Cold or Cough Syrup Medicine - Adult Dose 4t," istockphoto.com
