http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paracetamol

Just read this blog postabout an overdose on the UK equivalent of Tylenol (they call it Paracetamol).

While the story is very sad, in the comments, I tool note of the fact that there's Acetaminophen in many, many other products.

In looking over some of my med supplies, I did not find Acetaminophen in any of the stuff I stock (we tend to use aspirin and occasionally sodium naproxin) but I do know that it's in many cold remedies.

Well, I reckon there's better ways to commit suicide than destroying your liver, but it fits the 14 year old mentality.

Acetaminophen (aka Paracetamol, Tylenol) is dose sensitive, in that the body can only fully metabolize a limited dose at one time. When someone overdoses, the body partially metabolizes it into a hepatoxin (liver poison). It does much the same as eating a toadstool or other similarly poisonous fungus.

I still prefer to use Acetaminophen over aspirin or other Nsaid based products for pain relief. In the right dose it is much safer, especially taken on a regular basis. Ibuprofren is a better anti-inflammatory and fever reducer, and aspirin has it's cardio benefits, but there are inherent risks with those that seem a bit more common than any from Tylenol, at least from my experience.

It is nonetheless prudent to know what is in the OTC meds you take, lest you end up overdosing yourself unwittingly.

I think the current recommended adult dose for Tylenol is 1/4 the LD 50/50 for acetaminophen, IIRC. That is a pretty good margin.

My first EMS instructor told us that "if aspirin were introduced today, it would be a prescription-only medication".

Aspirin is in a lot of other over the counter products as well. I once had a bad experience with some back pain medication mixed with herbal ginseng pills. Both were high dose and both aspirin and ginseng are blood thinners. My nose started to bleed and run like water. Took me hours to stop it...lesson learned the hard way. I'll never take herbal stuff for granted as harmless again.

Actually, it might not even get through FDA tests at all if introduced today. I work for a metabolomics researcher, which is the study of what happens chemically at the cellular level in various circumstances (e.g. while a cancer cell is dying). He said that while they have a theory about how aspirin works (at the cell level), no one knows for sure.

We also had an interesting talk the other day about caffeine and nicotine. Both are alkyloids, used by the plants to ward off disease and insects. So, we are getting high off smoking and ingesting insect repellant and anti-fungals.

"Well, I reckon there's better ways to commit suicide than destroying your liver, but it fits the 14 year old mentality."
when I was working at King's College Hospital in London we had a person in there final year of med school try to commit suicide this way, notice TRY. He did not die and was alive a year later but had no functional liver etc... and was bed ridden in the hospital.

There are trade off for all medications, if it can kill you it probable is no good.

cheers

Probably any OTC med can kill if overdosed. The tylenol lethal dose is about 10 grams (20 extra-strength tablets) and it causes centrilobular necrosis of the liver.

Do you remember the recent story of the cross-country runner in high school that died of salicylate poisoning from rubbing sports cream on her body? She probably had also taken salicylates from other sources (aspirin) and didn't realize the additive effect.

I was surprised to read once that a significant percentage--more than half in that particular survey--of unintentional overdoses were from combination drugs of Vicodin and Percocet which also contain acetominophen. People in chronic pain often develop resistance to the narcotics, so they increase the dosage, not realizing or not being that concerned that they're also upping the acetominophen dosage, too. I guess we're all brainwashed with TV ads that make us think that acetominophen is so safe.

I don't know the exact number, but tens of thousands ER visits are attributed to acetominophen overdoses each year.

Another advantage is that there's a 'antidote' to Acethaminophen: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acetylcysteine


Tylenol is the prefered pain-killer over Aspirin, if used according to the instructions/doctor and WITHOUT ALCOHOL!

This is called EVOLUTION. Plants produce what they do to survive.
cheers