How to Identify Different Types of Tylenol

McNeil Pharmaceuticals manufactures Tylenol products. The main active ingredient in Tylenol products is acetaminophen. McNeil Pharmaceuticals produces 40 different Tylenol products for the U.S. market. Identifying these products without their original packaging or container can be somewhat difficult. However, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration requires that all solid forms of pills, tablets and capsules sold in the United States be imprinted with letters or makings that will identify the medication. There is no way, without a chemical laboratory, to precisely identify a liquid medication.

Things You'll Need

• Product to be identified
• Magnifying glass
• Paper and pencil
• Physicians' Desk Reference
• Local pharmacist

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Instructions

• 1

  Use the magnifying glass to read the product markings on the Tylenol product you want to identify. Write these markings down, as many products might contain similar markings. These markings can be letters, numbers, product names, or symbols.

• 2

  Access the Internet and go to a website that has a pill identification wizard, such as drugs.com or rxList.com.

• 3

  Enter the required information into the pill identification wizard. Most of these pill identification wizards have you enter the color of the pill, any identifying marks, and whether it is a tablet, caplet, or capsule. The pill identification wizard thens give you a series of pictures that correspond to the information you entered. Scroll through these pictures to find the medication you are looking for.

• 4

  Consult a current copy of the "Physicians' Desk Reference" if you are unable to identify the medication on the Internet. The PDR contains pictures of all solid forms of medications marketed in the United States. These pictures are arranged according to color and manufacturer. The picture will also refer you to the information page of the book that gives an in-depth description of the medication, including all mandated FDA markings.

• 5

  Visit a local pharmacist if you still can't identify the Tylenol product. The pharmacist is trained to identify medications, and if he does not recognize it he will be able to do an extensive search to identify it.