To think paracetamol overdose is just too easy sometimes

[Soubriquet]

Asked Dh to pick me up some decongestants today as I have a terrible head cold

He gave me some paracetamol before he went out in the mean time

He brought home some sudafed and luckily handed me the box instead of the pills themselves with a drink

Just as I was about to open the box, I quickly spotted one of the added ingredients was paracetamol which meant I couldn't take the pills until now which is 4 hours after my initial dose of paracetamol

Dh didn't notice it at all

Now I know common sense would say to read the box carefully to make sure you know exactly what was in it but hands up honestly who does that? I do because I'm paranoid but I know many who don't.

So AIBU to think that paracetamol overdose is too easy sometimes with it being added to a lot of medications

Yes most people who are feeling poorly and sniffly but basically able to cope "probably" have a cold rather than flu, but that's not the same as saying "if you'd get up to pick up a fifty pound note off the doorstep then it's not flu"
You are right.

I mentioned the "test" just as that is what our GP has always told us but obviously the situation isn't as simple as that.

I don't know why but it really does bug me when people have the slightest little sniffle and they call it the flu.

It's your responsibility to check. Having your stomach pumped out after taking too much paracetamol (accidentally) is not at all fun.

I remember as a child watching 'That's Life' when a lady did exactly what you said OP and did die. I now write down a time line to make sure I only have when the timings are correct, especially if I'm doing double dosing.

Take 30 or more and you will end up having your stomach pumped out in hospital and have your blood checked daily for 3 days , and when you are sick it is brown. That's danger level but that is not accidental either though.

Yes it's annoying people saying they have flu when it's just a cold but there are mild versions of flu! I've known patients to have a positiv 'flu' result from the lab and they could certainly have got out of bed for £20, and most of these patients also had cancer! Flu is not always someone knocking on deaths door

arrrrghhwinehelpswithteens that's interesting, like PersianCatLady I was on it for over 10 years and still take it regulary now.
never had any tests or told about it by any gp or doctor and i see them frequently.
Think it does take more than the odd few tablets to do harm.
My friend never takes tablets and had a an op on her teeth and was taking 10 a day before i told her

persiancat and kali they just generally review it every 6 -8 weeks or so, and do a liver function test every 6 months or so. Mind I'm currently on 8 dihydrocodeine/paracetamol with added tramadol so it's not a low dose and that may be why (mixture of issues).

That said, our GP practice is damned good; they have a very good record for keeping an eye on their patients and there is a waiting list to register there.

I was always told that the accidental o/ds, due to taking too many over a period of a few days were the most dangerous, as the drug has built up in the system and had time to affect the organs, rather than the all at once. But having had two friends o/d, one on paracetamol and the other on sleeping pills, although theirs were not accidental, I'm super-careful of my tablets.

So because taking as little as an entire box of tablets in one go might be dangerous to slightly-built people, paracetamol is mega-dangerous and catches people out?

I struggle to believe there are many people out there that are that ignorant, but i seems i have got this wrong

It doesn't have to be in one go Yummy. It can be over the course of a couple of days, taking the maximum dose of Lemsip and the maximum dose of Panasol or whatever.

And yes, a lot of people don't understand that something so run of the mill that you can pick up for pennies in the newsagent needs to be treated with caution. Lots of people assume that you'll always be fine taking double the maximum dose, precisely because they know from experience that their mum/workmate/whoever always takes a double dose and is apparently fine.

I'm amazed that HateSummer has only seen one paracetamol overdose. I'm a medical doctor (as opposed to a surgeon, so all the suspected overdoses come to me or A&E) and I've seen loads! Sometimes, they haven't made the treatment line for the antidote treatment, but a lot did, and I've had to refer people for liver transplant as a result.

Surely it's common sense to check what you are taking? Type of drug, dose, route and timing?
yabu for not taking responsibility for your own health. Do you check what you give your dc?

I'm a GP now but I used to work in A&E and saw many paracetamol overdoses. What I noticed was that the blood levels seemed to vary hugely from person to person, despite them taking similar quantities. Clearly different people metabolise it very differently.

Please don't think that paracetamol is difficult to OD on, it certainly isn't. It's a very dangerous drug, and if it were to be invented now it would be a "prescription only" medicine. That's why you can only buy small quantities at a time from non-chemists, and why it's blister-packed (to reduce the risk of spontaneous swallowing of handfuls of pills)

arrrrghhwinehelpswithteens i've been taking tramadol, paracetamol and codeine for 10 years no sorts of tests like thAt.
(Which is how i managed to take two doses in a short amount of time when i was ill )
I think the problem is that people think paracetamol is nothing and that it's harmless.

Medical MNers, what's the lowest number of pills that a patient has overdosed on?

I'm guessing it's well into double figures?

For God's sake, the medical professionals have explained over and over again that it's not just about taking lots of pills in one go, but you can OD by taking a slight overdose on repeated days. How much clearer can they be??!

yummy, a dose of 75mg per kg of body weight taken within one hour would require evaluation in hospital as it could, if untreated, result in liver damage. Depending on a person's weight that could be as little as 8 tablets taken together. So no, not well into double figures at all.

Shovetheholly, I'm asking what's the lowest number of tablets that has resulted in an overdose? How much clearer could that be?

I didn't say in one go, I didn't say in one day, I simply asked for a number.

Are you simple?

Thanks knitts, what I'm interested in though, is how often a slightly built person actually takes 8 paracetamol in a single go

Surely anybody knows you shouldn't take eight in one go?

that's easy to do.
take 2 for headache in the morning, take a medicated drink mid morning (=2 tablets ewuivalent) another 2 tabs at lunch followed by another medicated drink...

I buy Boots own decongestants (fairly irregularly) and every time I go to the counter and ask, they automatically pick up the box of the one that includes paracetamol. Every time. I then have to ask them for the one without.

8 tablets.....within an hour...

Yummy, normally people with codeine addictions do that and it's more common than you might think.

Codeine is only available over the counter containing paracetamol

So addicts sometimes overdose?

The answer to the "number of tablets" question is going to depend on other factors, though, isn't it? A generally safe adult dose is not going to be safe for a tiny baby. Equally, there are studies that suggest that overdose is possible in adults in some rare cases at therapeutic levels, which I guess means ODing has happened within the limits on the packet. Alcohol & alcoholism is a factor here.

This is an eye-opening case report about something vital that got lost in translation with a British family on holiday in Spain, leading to a child accidentally overdosing on paracetamol. Sometimes 'just reading the packet' isn't as easy as it sounds! www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3157131/