The pain is killing me

November 26, 2011 10:55 AM

Even a little too much Tylenol over a few days can cause a liver failure. Paracetamol or acetaminophen, active ingredient of such over-the-counter painkillers as Tylenol, Panadol, Anacin-3 and many, many others, is considered safe - and it is, in prescribed doses. But even a single overdose can lead to liver failure despite treatment, and then only a liver transplant can avert a fatal outcome.

In light of this, according to the recommendations of the FDA some manufacturers are reducing the dosage, as discussed previously.
But now a study (abstract, pdf) published in British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology has found a higher mortality (37%) among patients with so called "staggered overdose" of paracetamol (on average 24 grams over three days) than among those who took one huge dose (28% mortality, on average 27 grams, or 54 Extra Strength Tylenols, 500 mg each).
So, everyone who felt safe because who's so crazy to take 50 Tylenols, consider an example - you have a really bad back, you pop just two extra strength pills over the limit and the pain goes away, only to return the next morning. If you repeat the pattern for the next two days, you have a high (more than 1/3) chance of dying of liver failure. Risk factors found in the study include old age and alcohol problems.

posted by hat_eater (2 comments total)

What's really scary about this to me is that we haven't known about the toxic effects of Tylenol for all that long, overall, and when I was younger I used to take the stuff like candy for pain. "Oh, it's just tylenol -- it's safer than aspirin, it doesn't matter how much I take."

At this point in my life, I basically don't take any acetaminophen unless I absolutely cannot avoid it.
posted by hippybear at 11:00 AM on November 26, 2011

I screwed up the numbers, consider the last paragraph too alarmistic. Mods already called
posted by hat_eater at 11:01 AM on November 26, 2011