What You Must Know Before You Take Fioricet

Fioricet is supplied in hard-gelatin capsule form for oral administration.

Each capsule contains the following active ingredients:

Butalbital, USP……………………50 mg
Acetaminophen, USP…………….300 mg
Caffeine, USP……………………..40 mg

Inactive Ingredients: sodium lauryl sulfate, talc, microcrystalline cellulose, stearic acid, FD&C red # 40, titanium dioxide, FD&C blue # 1,FD&C yellow # 6, gelatin.

Fioricet is used to treat tension headaches that are caused by muscle contractions. Fioricet may also be used for purposes not listed in this medication guide.

You should not use Fioricet if you have porphyria, or if you have recently used alcohol, sedatives, tranquilizers, or other narcotic medications.

Do not use Fioricet if you have taken an MAO inhibitor in the past 14 days. A dangerous drug interaction could occur. MAO inhibitors include isocarboxazid, linezolid, phenelzine, rasagiline, selegiline, and tranylcypromine.

Do not take more Fioricet than is recommended. An overdose of acetaminophen can damage your liver or cause death. Call your doctor at once if you have nausea, pain in your upper stomach, itching, loss of appetite, dark urine, clay-colored stools, or jaundice (yellowing of your skin or eyes).

In rare cases, acetaminophen may cause a severe skin reaction. Stop taking this medicine and call your doctor right away if you have skin redness or a rash that spreads and causes blistering and peeling.

Before taking this medicine

Do not use Fioricet if you have taken an MAO inhibitor in the past 14 days. A dangerous drug interaction could occur. MAO inhibitors include isocarboxazid, linezolid, phenelzine, rasagiline, selegiline, and tranylcypromine.

You should not use Fioricet if you are allergic to acetaminophen, butalbital, or caffeine, if you have porphyria, or if you have recently used alcohol, sedatives, tranquilizers, or other narcotic medications.

To make sure Fioricet is safe for you, tell your doctor if you have:

• liver disease, cirrhosis, a history of alcoholism or drug addiction, or if you drink more than 3 alcoholic beverages per day;
• kidney disease;
• asthma, sleep apnea, or other breathing disorder;
• stomach ulcer or bleeding;
• a history of skin rash caused by any medication;
• a history of mental illness or suicidal thoughts; or
• if you use medicine to prevent blood clots.

Butalbital may be habit forming. Never share this medicine with another person, especially someone with a history of drug abuse or addiction. Keep the medication in a place where others cannot get to it.

FDA pregnancy category C. It is not known whether Fioricet will harm an unborn baby. Tell your doctor if you are pregnant or plan to become pregnant while using this medication.

General

Butalbital, acetaminophen, and caffeine tablets should be prescribed with caution in certain special-risk patients, such as the elderly or debilitated, and those with severe impairment of renal or hepatic function, or acute abdominal conditions.

Laboratory Tests

In patients with severe hepatic or renal disease, effects of therapy should be monitored with serial liver and/or renal function tests.

Carcinogenesis, Mutagenesis, Impairment of Fertility

No adequate studies have been conducted in animals to determine whether acetaminophen or butalbital have a potential for carcinogenesis, mutagenesis or impairment of fertility.

Pregnancy

Teratogenic Effects

Pregnancy Category C: Animal reproduction studies have not been conducted with this combination product. It is also not known whether butalbital, acetaminophen, and caffeine can cause fetal harm when administered to a pregnant woman or can affect reproduction capacity. This product should be given to a pregnant woman only when clearly needed.

Nonteratogenic Effects

Withdrawal seizures were reported in a two-day-old male infant whose mother had taken a butalbital-containing drug during the last two months of pregnancy. Butalbital was found in the infant’s serum. The infant was given phenobarbital 5 mg/kg, which was tapered without further seizure or other withdrawal symptoms.

Nursing Mothers

Caffeine, barbiturates, and acetaminophen are excreted in breast milk in small amounts, but the significance of their effects on nursing infants is not known. Because of potential for serious adverse reactions in nursing infants from butalbital, acetaminophen, and caffeine, 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 below the age of 12 have not been established.

Is Fioricet Effective for Muscle Pain?

Fioricet contains a combination of acetaminophen, butalbital, and caffeine Acetaminophen is a pain reliever and fever reducer. Butalbital is in a group of drugs called barbiturates. It relaxes muscle contractions involved in a tension headache. Caffeine is a stimulant that relaxes blood vessels to improve blood flow.

If the pain was caused by contusion Fioricet will reduce the pain but it will not take it away. I’m not a doctor and I cannot prescribe a treatment but according to my long experience at the gym if I get injured I’ll seek professional help. I might use pain relief ointment to cope with the pain until a see a specialist.

If the pain was caused by DOMS  (muscle soreness after a work out),  there isn’t too much to be done. Some people use aspirin(I’ve tried) but I haven’t seen much results. Remember, muscle soreness is a natural process caused by inflammation of the muscle fibers.

The inflammation on the other hand is caused by microtears of the muscle fibers during strenuous activities. In bodybuilding it’s an indicator of well done job. Some say that the reason for the soreness is the amount of lactic acid accumulated but any physiology book explains the real reason.

If you use Fioricet, it might reduce pain but it won’t make you pain free. To me it’ll be pointless. You just have to wait for a few days.