Dangerous levels of paracetamol

[nowdubnvr6]

you obviously didnt search very well sir. The max dose is 4gram per day you can find that within like a half second on many search engines. Goodjob

 

[cassandragemini]

does anyone know or have a rough idea of the percentage of paracetamol (acetaminophen) that is present in the solution after filtering? ive been filtering betweeen 6 and 20 500mg paracetamol/10mg codeine pills through a pillow case daily for the last week or so (to help with heroin withdrawls, works quite well actually) and am worried i might be overdoing it a bit. easing withdrawls is one thing but id rather deal with them than dialysis or liver failure any day of the week.

 

[Lolie]

Will I die at 4000 mg of Paracetamol ?

Lowest recorded fatal dose I can find is 6000mg, but it's not quite that simple.

While a lot of people take 4000mg per day for literally years, hepatotoxicity can occur when only marginally more than the therapeutic dose is taken over a period of time or when the therapeutic dose is taken by someone with impaired liver function (it's not the ideal drug to take for a hangover for this reason). It's a drug which can cause damage on both an acute and a chronic basis.

 

[phatass]

in one time 2 grams over 24 hours 4 grams... of course you won't die if you take a bit more but its very unhealthy

 

[rickolasnice]

The recommended adult single dose of paracetamol is two standard 500 mg tablets. Research shows that the common threshold for liver damage to occur from a single paracetamol overdose is 15 gms (30 tablets) although standard hospital guidelines allow an extra safety margin and assume liver damage could occur at a single overdose of 24 standard tablets or 150 mg/kg body weight, whichever is the smaller.

The overdose threshold may be lowered in a person taking certain prescription medicines, or a person who is an alcoholic or is seriously undernourished. If the overdose is spread over a period of time the threshold may be higher, as the initial paracetamol dose is effectively metabolised. (The recommended maximum dose in a 24 hour period is 4g or 8 tablets).

There are often no symptoms in the first 24 hours following overdose, although there may be mild nausea and vomiting. In a large overdose liver function deteriorates leading to jaundice, confusion, and loss of consciousness. Death is rare but when it occurs it is due to liver failure.

But please don't take that much paracetamol.

 

[dokomo]

Both make heavy demands on your liver, so it's hammering your liver twice if you drink a lot of alcohol then for your hangover, swallow high doses of paracetamol. Generally speaking, I was told by a doctor that 7,000 to 8,000 mg would be considered an overdose and require hospital treatment, but as Axxaer and theseeker are saying, there may be no immediate symptoms of overdose so it's easy to initially think you are OK with a big dose, and when you are heading towards these high doses you have to remember that one person's tolerance will not be the same as the next person, so you are taking quite big risks.

I want to touch on this as well, the most dangerous time to take acetaminophen is in the 1-2 days after drinking. Many people don't realize this.

And echoing the other poster, failure from APAP overdose generally does not show up for 24-48 hours after the overdose, but an overdose can only be effectively treated in the first 24 hours. So an abundance of caution is always advised when dosing acetaminophen.