Proper Use

Drug information provided by: Merative, Micromedex®

Take this medicine with food or a full glass (8 ounces) of water to lessen the chance of stomach upset.

Unless otherwise directed by your doctor:

  • Do not take more of this medicine than directed on the package label. Taking too much acetaminophen may cause liver damage or lead to other medical problems because of an overdose. Also, taking too much aspirin can cause stomach problems or lead to other medical problems because of an overdose.
  • Children up to 12 years of age should not take this medicine more often than five times a day
  • Check with your doctor before taking one of these combination medicines to treat severe or chronic inflammation or arthritis (rheumatism). These combination medicines may not relieve the severe pain, redness, swelling, or stiffness caused by these conditions unless very large amounts are taken for a long time. It is best not to take acetaminophen and salicylate combination medicines in large amounts for a long time unless you are under a doctor's care.
  • If a combination medicine containing aspirin has a strong vinegar-like odor, do not use it. This odor means the medicine is breaking down. If you have any questions about this, check with your pharmacist.

Dosing

The dose medicines in this class will be different for different patients. Follow your doctor's orders or the directions on the label. The following information includes only the average doses of these medicines. If your dose is different, do not change it unless your doctor tells you to do so.

The amount of medicine that you take depends on the strength of the medicine. Also, the number of doses you take each day, the time allowed between doses, and the length of time you take the medicine depend on the medical problem for which you are using the medicine.

  • For oral (capsules or tablets [including caplets]) dosage forms:
    • For pain, fever, or mild arthritis symptoms:
      • Adults and teenagers—The usual dose is 1 or 2 capsules or tablets every three, four, or six hours, depending on the strength of the product. Do not take any of these combination medicines for more than ten days, unless otherwise directed by your doctor
      • Children—Use and dose must be determined by your doctor.
    • For migraine headaches:
      • Adults and teenagers—The usual dose is 2 tablets (250 mg acetaminophen, and 250 mg of aspirin, and 65 mg of caffeine in combination) every six hours as necessary for relief from migraine headaches. Do not take for relief of migraine headache for more than two days, unless otherwise directed by your doctor
      • Children—Use and dose must be determined by your doctor.
  • For oral (powder) dosage form:
    • For pain, fever, or mild arthritis symptom:
      • Adults and teenagers—This medicine is very strong. Each packet of powder contains 260 mg of acetaminophen and 520 mg of aspirin (a total of 780 mg of both medicines). The usual dose is one packet of powder every four to six hours. Do not take this medicine for more than ten days, unless otherwise directed by your doctor.
      • Children—The oral powder dosage form is too strong to use in children 12 years of age or younger.

Storage

Keep out of the reach of children.

Store the medicine in a closed container at room temperature, away from heat, moisture, and direct light. Keep from freezing.

Do not keep outdated medicine or medicine no longer needed.

From Mayo Clinic to your inbox

Sign up for free and stay up to date on research advancements, health tips, current health topics, and expertise on managing health. Click here for an email preview.

To provide you with the most relevant and helpful information, and understand which information is beneficial, we may combine your email and website usage information with other information we have about you. If you are a Mayo Clinic patient, this could include protected health information. If we combine this information with your protected health information, we will treat all of that information as protected health information and will only use or disclose that information as set forth in our notice of privacy practices. You may opt-out of email communications at any time by clicking on the unsubscribe link in the e-mail.