Chronic Pain Today

Coping with chronic pain while you are at work is a necessity. Without some changes in the workplace, you risk getting worse pain than you have originally or injuring a different area that currently isn’t in pain. Some of the injuries that you can get in the work place are neck, back, shoulder, and wrist pain. Others include eyestrain, stiffness, headaches, carpal tunnel syndrome, and repetitive strain injury. Some of these come simply by doing basic office things like typing for long periods of time or staring at a computer monitor eight hours a day, but there are things that you can do to help lessen your chances of increasing your chronic pain.

Adjust your chair
Office chairs need to be adjusted so that you have the correct height for you and the right placement of some lumbar support. This will help you lessen your chance of back pain and injury.

Adjust your monitor
Computer monitors should be at the correct height and distance from you, sitting too close to, or too far from, the screen can give you eyestrain. If it is at the wrong angle to where you are sitting you will get neck and shoulder pain. Keep a close eye on where your office equipment is in relation to your chair.

Glare guard your monitor
Computer monitor glare can cause eyestrain and injury. By putting a simple monitor glare guard on your equipment you can decrease your chances of eyestrain and headaches.

Adjust your keyboard
Where your keyboard is in relation to your chair and desk can make a difference. If it is too high or too low you risk wrist pain and a higher chance of carpal tunnel syndrome and repetitive strain injury.

Take a mouse break
Make sure that you take your hand off your mouse every so often. Keeping your hand curled around a mouse can lead to wrist and shoulder pain. Make sure that you stretch out your hands every so often to lessen your chances.

Take a total break
Every hour or two, try to get up from your chair and stretch. Look around, get moving, and think about something else. This little break to rest and relax can help keep you mentally alert and will reset your body off of office mode. The exercise can be eye exercises so that you reduce your chance of headaches and eyestrain, or it can be simple stretching so that your body doesn’t become stiff and strained.

ETHEX Corporation Voluntarily Recalls a Single Lot of Morphine Sulfate 60 mg Extended Release Tablets Due to the Potential for Oversized Tablets

Contact:
Ann McBride
1-800-321-1705

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE — St. Louis, MO – June 9, 2008 – ETHEX Corporation announced today that it has voluntarily recalled a single lot of morphine sulfate 60 mg extended release tablets (Lot No. 91762) due to a report of a tablet with twice the appropriate thickness. Oversized tablets may contain as much as two times the labeled level of active morphine sulfate. The lot was distributed by ETHEX Corporation under an “ETHEX” label between April 16th and April 27th of 2008. No other dosage strength, nor any other lot of the 60 mg strength is affected by this recall.

The voluntary single-lot recall is due to a report that a tablet with as much as double the appropriate thickness was identified and the possibility therefore that there may be other similar oversized tablets that may have been commercially released in the affected lot. Such tablets may contain as much as twice the labeled level of active morphine ingredient. The product is a white oval tablet with “60″ on one side, and “E” on the reverse.

No report of unexpected side effects or injury has been received. However, opioids such as morphine have life-threatening consequences if overdosed. Those consequences can include respiratory depression (difficulty or lack of breathing), and low blood pressure. Many patients for whom this product is prescribed are likely to be highly debilitated with reduced strength or energy as a result of illness. As such, they may be less likely to be able to determine that a tablet is overweight or oversized than an unimpaired individual.

Any customer inquiries related to this action should be addressed to ETHEX Customer Service at 1-800-321-1705, or fax to ETHEX Customer Service at 314-646-3751 or sent via email to: customer-service@ethex.com with representatives available Monday through Friday, 8 am to 5 pm CST.

ETHEX Corporation previously initiated the recall notification to wholesalers and retailers who have received any inventory of the recalled lot of this product with instructions for returning the recalled product and, if they have not already done so, they are urged to contact the number above regarding procedures for returning the recalled product. If consumers have any questions about the recall, they should call the number above, their physician, their pharmacist or other health care provider.

This recall is being conducted with the knowledge of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Any adverse reactions experienced with the use of this product, and/or quality problems may also be reported to the FDA’s MedWatch Program by phone at 1-800-FDA-1088, by Fax at 1-800-FDA-0178, by mail at MedWatch, FDA, 5600 Fishers Lane, Rockville, MD 20852-9787, or on the MedWatch website at www.fda.gov/medwatch.