Tylenol/acetaminophen/paracetamol is both weak ass painkiller and really dangerous because the overdose line is low. Here they put it in synthetic opioid drugs, it doesn't help with pain but does make them more dangerous.
I mean this is just dumb. Like I’m sorry but this would happen with basically every medicine or drug. They aren’t made to be taken at higher doses than advised.
(Imagine you took 8 liters of beer per day for 3 days, you’d be half dead too.)
You know what else is stupid? Pain management in the US. I get that you need to be careful about addiction, but the idea that people should have to suffer pain because we're having a pain medication "reefer madness" spasm is idiocy.
The guy just kept taking them until his teeth stopped hurting. Why is the alternative that he just has to put up with being in pain?
I think what's extra dangerous about Tylenol is that it doesnt feel like it's doing anything. When it works, some minor pain goes away, or maybe your fever goes down. But there's no side effects that you really feel, so I bet people get a false sense of security with it. Like, oh it isn't giving me opioid euphoria, or knocking me out. And you can just buy as much as you want, no restrictions. It must be perfectly safe.
He's not the first one to 'kill his liver' with paracetamol/ acetominophen (tylenol). First case I recall, the person was taking tylenol nightly with a glass of wine. Here's some links on the current understanding of Liver injury and paracetamol:
Acetaminophen-Induced Hepatotoxicity: a Comprehensive Update (https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4913076/) "...in the United States, in particular, it accounts for more than 50% of overdose-related acute liver failure and approximately 20% of the liver transplant cases."
Risk Factors for Hepatotoxicity Due to Paracetamol Overdose in Adults (https://www.mdpi.com/1648-9144/57/8/752) "In the univariable analysis, significant hepatotoxicity risk factors were male gender, alcohol abuse, an ingested paracetamol dose, and a timespan from ingestion to hospital admission. The later one was the only significant risk factor in the multivariable model (adjusted odds ratio 1.08; 95% CI: 1.03–1.12)."
Paracetamol (acetaminophen) overdose and hepatotoxicity: mechanism, treatment, prevention measures, and estimates of burden of disease (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37436926/) "Where data were available, we estimate that paracetamol is involved in 6% of poisonings, 56% of severe acute liver injury and acute liver failure, and 7% of drug-induced liver injury."
It's people like this who make other people think any amount of painkillers is bad, and seem to get a sense of superiority about them for never taking any.
It's why in the UK shops won't sell more than 2 packets at a time. It's statistically reduced the amount of people killing themselves with them (intentionally or by mistake).
Everyone's discussing ODing on OTC pain meds but the bigger part of this story is why he's in so much pain for so long without being able to see a Dr and receive treatment for chronic pain.
My brother in Christ, the paracetamol box LITERALLY says to never go more than 4 grams (4000 mg) in a 24hs period on any mg pills presentation
And as far as I see, that's a general rule with everything. Even those caramels for sore throat or reflux pills, where you'd need to eat thousands in a day to overdose, say the same
How much is a "packet"?
edit: never mind, I found several conflicting answers in the other comments, no need to add even more and add to the confusion.
Isn't this why they specifically put acetaminophen in opioid+nsaid prescription painkillers, instead of ibuprofen or aspirin or naproxen? Just to discourage abuse because if you take too much it'll destroy your liver. Has always seemed a bit fucked up to me.
ITT: People who don't know the difference between acute and chronic ODs and how a smaller amount over a long period can hurt you. 325mg APAP x4 will not kill you short term.
The problem was taking it every day over a long period.
In the US, the FDA tried to limit how strong the individual capsules can be (325mg), but you can still buy it in 500mg strength. There are mandatory warnings on the label, but you can buy it in 500-tablet (at 325 or 500) bottles over the counter. It took almost 60 years before the FDA did anything, so a lot of people grew up thinking it was harmless.
My daughter's dog that is a climber got on a shelf and knocked a basket off that had a large bottle of Tylenol in it. She chewed the bottle up.
I got home and saw some pills and a demolished bottle on the ground. Vet tech friend said to induce vomiting with hydrogen peroxide.
Didn't have any of that, but I did have some minty mouthwash with peroxide and no xylitol in it. Dog willingly drank it, puked with foam, drank a bit more, puked more foam, then I dug through the mess.
No pills or any sign of the color on the pills. She's still kicking.
Hah, im a psycho so i usually rawdog everything you would have to take painkillers for. Also i prefer not to get addicted to painkillers but thankfully that is pretty rare here in europe especially compared to the us.
I had intense tummy aches for 15 days where I couldn't walk and needed to keep heat to my belly to even function, once my pain killers didn't work, I didn't push it, I just tried to handle the pain
I cried a lot in that time, it fucking sucked, but it sure was better than liver failure.
Sounds like a messaging problem, despite the idiocy (or rather, because idiocy is the default). Like, I'm not silly enough to eat 4 boxes of paracetamol a day, but I've also read maybe 3 medication leaflets in my entire life, and I've been on literally dozens of antidepressants and antianxiety meds. I basically scan over the leaflet to see what sort of dick problems I can expect 😆
It's like the Terms of Service of an iTunes update. No cunt is reading that shit. People just know "i make click i get music", and "i swallow lump of chalk i feel better".
The leaflets aren't even written for laypeople to really understand them. Besides being in a 1pt font, they're written in something bordering on legalese but with medical terms. "Contraindications"?? The fuck am I, Beatrice Pharmacist the inventor of pharmacism? I don't blame people for getting 2 sentences in and giving up.
That said, the dosage is on the front of the box, and that should be enough for even the most imbecilic person. But if you lose the box and just have loose blister packs lying around for a year, you might go off the rails a little when the tooth pain kicks in.
It's also the case that something as "basic" as paracetamol being such a widespread and easy-to-buy medication causes a strange lack of respect for its potential danger. Like "pop a pill when you have a headache" is so second nature to us. It becomes a non-threatening intervention that only becomes less threatening the older you get, because it's just... there. So you don't even feel the need to check the leaflet for side effects and such, because it's 'part of the furniture' of our lives. This is the messaging problem I alluded to. You really gotta think about the dumbest person alive, and then aim for someone twice as dumb as that.
Let's say the maximum recommended dose is the "dangerous dose." That's 4 grams. 20x4=80 grams of paracetamol/acetaminophen. That's like 160 goddamn pills
Just tell them you believe a billionaires earn their money, climate change is a hoax to sell books, and the solution to mass shootings is to sell more guns to more people.
You know, express the nonsensical opinions only a well deluded American is propagandized from birth to express with a straight face when they should be embarrassed at their belligerent ignorance.