To not realise just how dangerous paracetamol is?

[HarshingMyMellow]

My friend is currently in hospital after taking an accidental overdose of paracetamol.

I say 'accidental', she was taking more than she should because she had a killer toothache but not huge amounts.
I think she took around 8 doses in a day instead of 4 and the repercussions aren't pretty.

I didn't realise a basic, widely available drug was so toxic.

Personally I don't think co-codamol should be sold OTC. There are far too many people obviously addicted to it.

I don't get the opioid side effect from the drugs due to short bowel. I take it to stop the diarrhoea and my bag from overflowing. I have to sign a disclaimer in Tesco's to receive my prescription as I am prescribed up to 50x30mg a day.

I’ve just stopped taking all painkillers. I’m about a week in.

I slipped a disk in February last year and was given cocodomol and naproxen. I was on naproxen for months until they took me off it and I switched to ibuprofen.

When the pain was at its worst i’d Be taking 3 of the cocodomol with 2 of the ibuprofen every 2-3 hours, I also had to wear a trans dermal patch with something similar to morphine in them.

Eventually (in the last couple of months) I realised my pain was no longer as bad but I was still taking all of these drugs and if I skipped a dose of codeine then i’d Have shakes, restless limbs, headaches, nausea, upset stomach and I literally couldn’t fall asleep.

I dread to think how much damage I have done to my insides.

I warned myself off everything slowly and now i’m Drug free and my pain is minimal nd I wish I’d done it a few months ago.

Still can’t sleep though, haven’t slept for more than 2 hours a night since my last cocodomol dose.

At my worst I've taken the 8 cocodamol plus 8 dihydrocodine and everything else in between. Once had tramadol, cocodamol, dhc, and oramorph in hospital but that was a mix of GP giving me stuff, taking stuff at home and then hospital giving me more. When you're in severe, rolling around the bed moaning, blacking out pain you take whatever's there.

My mum OD'd on paracetomal intentionally 3 times and I've known 2 or 3 others do the same, its the one drug that terrifies me after reading an article in Sugar magazine when I was 9 or 10 about two girls who took it as a suicide pact, so much so I keep a 3 week record of when I've taken it now.

I think there is a lack of education around brand names/generic drugs. Many people don't check what the active ingredients are in their medication. It doesn't really matter what the brand name, Nurofen, Calpol, Voltarol, Flu Remedy etc is, what matters is the active ingredient, which you will find written on the sides under 'active ingredient', and inside on the leaflet too.

If you haven't checked what the active ingredient is, then you've no idea if you're over-dosing. If you check the the box on Night Remedy/some Sudafed etc and Panadol you will discover they all contain paracetamol so shouldn't be combined.

Another thing to watch out for is brands that supposedly target different types of pain, so Nurofen, for example, has various boxes aimed at headaches, period pain, migraines, cold and flu, but if you read the active ingredient, it's the same. It's pure marketing, to get you to buy more boxes, but I think it's dangerous. I can imagine someone with both a migraine and period pain taking tablets from both boxes, not realising they're doubling their dose of the same drug.

Yes Nurofen got into trouble for their misleading marketing in Australia but they are still up to it here in the UK.

Yes, it's been banned in other countries.

Best way to explain generic vs. brandname:

Absolut Vodka, Glenfiddich, Bombay Sapphire, Archers and Strongbow are all different brandnames, and slightly different additional ingredients, but the active ingredient in all of them is alcohol. And if you drank a reasonable 'dose' of all of them you'd have consumed an awful lot of alcohol, you'd be exceedingly drunk, and possibly unconscious or dead.

I am absolutely staggered that so many posters don't understand how dangerous paracetamol is in overdose

Me to...warnings are clear in packets, restrictions are placed on the sale of them...I genuinely am amazed at this.

So please, use painkiller when in pain and paracetamol when you have fever. You WILL see the difference immediately.

Not quite right, paracetamol can augment other painkillers, my GP once had me take it with Tramadol and it worked. This is why you get it combined with codeine.

I have always avoided paracetamol - which can get a bit difficult as so many remedies seem to contain it.
Mostly my go-to pain killer - only used when the pain was very severe was Anadin which contains aspirin so it does need to be taken with caution. I already take low dose aspirin as a blood thinner!
Now I see Anadin extra has aspirin/paracetamol and caffeine so have to always scrutinise the packet to check what is in it.
I have a high pain threshold so I tend to take half the suggested dosage to take the edge off (arthritus, headaches and toothache) then I can top it up if I feel I need it.

Thought everyone knew how dangerous paracetamol is an overdose of those completely wipes out your liver and you die in a horrendous way. My friends mum died from a paracetamol overdose she left it too long before she went to the hospital it was too late by the time she got there she ended up dying at home covered in her own blood and vomit.

I wish people read the packets, the amount of people who do not know about lemsip!
Unfortunately its never worked for me on its own, even mixed with my good painkiller.

it's not just about reading the packet, people read so many warnings these days you end up ignoring them, because it's usually manufacturers covering up their arse.

Some people genuinely don't realise that the warnings are real on this occasion, and not everybody thinks straight when they are in pain either.

I really wish people, including medical staff, could stop telling parents to give calpol for no reason: kid a bit hot, a bit tired, not sleeping, a bit restless, before the jabs.. Most times the child would have been better off with nothing. If your child is not in pain why do you want to poison them?

I had to visit A&E a few years ago with a bad ankle injury I initially thought was a break. The triage nurse I saw diagnosed it as a sprain and told me to take Paracetamol every 4 hours interspersed with Ibuprofen halfway though each time period. The drugs do not interact, apparently. It was a very effective way of dealing with the pain.

I've always been cautious even where others have told me I'd be fine. I wait 6 hours between each dose religiously.

But granted you have to keep careful track of doses. Most people would be a able to.

In America it's called Acetaminophen and its the number 1 OTC drug killer.
This American Life did a whole show about it
www.thisamericanlife.org/505/use-only-as-directed

I remember taking 2 extra paracetamo then I should of for raging toothache!
Luckily I was just told not to take anymore for a 24 hour period.
And I did do the write it down but for some reason with the pain I just thought I still could take two.
I can not take ibuprofen as I have tummy problems and I begged for more meds from gp but as was breastfeeding there wasn't really anything else they were prepared to give me.
It is easy to do EVEN if you do know the dangers when your in so much pain.

My idiot husband takes lemsip when he has a cold, I see the empty packets piling up, I try to warn him, buy lemons, honey, whisky but does he listen, luckily he is a fat bugger so I presume he is safe from an overdose. Paracetamol gives me the willies after seeing someone die slowly after overdosing.

luckily he is a fat bugger so I presume he is safe from an overdose.
being fat takes an extra strain on the liver. so being fat doesn't help.

hope be has life insurance only half joking

I'm currently on prescription medication and I can take quite a bit?

Up to x3 Diclofenic in 24 hours and up to x8 Dihyrocodiene (with paracetamol) in 24 hours.

Seems a lot and I'm trying to manage without maximum dose

I hope your friend is okay OP. It's quite scary how few people on this thread seen aware of the dangers of ODing on paracetamol.

If you are taking any drug you should not exceed the max dose on the packet, it's really not rocket science. I can't believe how many people think they know better than medical professionals. Any kind of medication has the potential to be dangerous and it's important to stick to the recommended dose, unfortunately paracetamol is one where exceeding the dose can very quickly become dangerous.

Things like Lemsip can be dangerous because people assume they can take both Lemsip and paracetamol, I actually watched someone training to be a nurse start drinking a Lemsip only 5 minutes after taking paracetamol, (obviously made sure she didn't drink it).

Overdosing on paracetamol for tooth pain is very very common, sadly painkillers often don't work with toothaches and this leads to people taking more and more. What your friend did is not unusual and what's important is that now you realise the dangers. There's absolutely no need to avoid paracetemol, you just have to stick to the dose and of course you can alternate every 2 hrs with ibuprofen if needed. If you are very small or elderly you will want to reduce the max dose, so check with a pharmacist or your gp.

Very sadly I lost a friend to a paracetamol OF, he took his own life but it didn't work immediately and he lay there in his room for several days before he was found alive (just) and then later died. It was really really horrific, he suffered so much.

That's scary as I suffer with back pain and sciatica and I eat the paracetamol for the pain even tho there is no pain relief from them but it's the only thing the dr tells me to take

@lonelyatchristmas when you say you eat them, do you mean you take more than the recommended dose? If so then you need to see a different doctor, and ask them to help you manage the pain. There might be physiotherapy interventions, or other medications you can try. If it's bad enough that you take more paracetamol than you're supposed to, then you need to tell them. I'm sure they'd rather find some effective pain relief than cope with a paracetamol over-dose.

I don’t think calpol should be allowed to be sold branded. It should just be called children’s paracetamol. In an ugly grey packet and not quite as sweet, just sweet enough for kids to take without fuss.
People seem to think it is a cure all for kids.