Tylenol 1 tolerance?

[churchpk]

Hi, I am a first time poster long time lurker.

My girlfriend has abused Tylenol 1's (TEC1) for about two years now. Tylenol 1 contains 325 mg acetaminophen, 15mg caffeine and 8 mg codeine. She takes about 30 - 35 of these per day and it has bothered me since day one and there's nothing I can do to stop her due to circumstances. She started off using it for back pain from a job we worked at together, but then after that she gained a tolerance and now, well, it's gotten out of hand in my opinion. How long can someone will taking these amounts of acetaminophen? She's been to doctor's and had liver ultrasounds just to prove to me that she thinks shes fine, and they say they have only seen small amounts of fatty deposits. She see's nothing wrong with taking them as she can continue at a high functioning level including hold her job and going to school. Sometimes she takes even 50+ per day depending on her boredom level. She says she doesn't feel high unless 30+ is consumed, and sometimes feels frightened due to shallow respiration's and slowed pulse. She has never OD'd or encountered any hospitalization problems.

Should I be worried about her dying? Is death imminent at this rate? I couldn't find much on the risks involved in abusing it at this magnitude. Advice? Thanks.

 

[nAON]

325mg acetaminophen .. She takes about 30 - 35 of these per day .. Sometimes she takes even 50+ per day

I'm surprised your GF's liver isn't more fucked up. I don't understand how anyone can get into a position of taking so much pain medication containing APAP without getting a pure codeine script.

I wouldn't worry too much about ODing on codeine, it's the APAP you should be looking at. At this rate it's pretty much inevitable she's gonna lose her liver, sooner or later. Considering that it was from drug abuse, she probably won't be able to get a transplant.

 

[jackie jones]

You really should consider Cold Water Extractions. It is a simple procedure which removes virtually all of the acetaminpohen and leaves a solution of codeine water. This will not remove the caffeine, but it will remedy the serious matter at hand.

You certainly should be concerned about your girl's health. The LD-50 of acetaminophen is 8g and any time one takes more than 3g within a 24 hour period, they are damaging their system, especially with repeated doses.

 

[Pjkt2501]

Liver toxicity is imminent, death - depends on her future actions. As other members have mentioned - CWE the T1's to remove the APAP. 50 x 8 = 400, not an overwhelming amount of codeine. 50x325=16.25g of Tylenol PER DAY. I'm surprised she isn't already dead from THAT.

 

[churchpk]

I'm surprised your GF's liver isn't more fucked up. I don't understand how anyone can get into a position of taking so much pain medication containing APAP without getting a pure codeine script.

I wouldn't worry too much about ODing on codeine, it's the APAP you should be looking at. At this rate it's pretty much inevitable she's gonna lose her liver, sooner or later. Considering that it was from drug abuse, she probably won't be able to get a transplant.

Yeah, she wishes she could have a bottle of pure codeine, but this is the closest she can get to it. She always bitches about the process of having to swallow three pills at once to speed up the 30 that follow. Realistically, if she does not stop this, any idea how many years left of life she possibly has left? She probably won't try the water extraction due to laziness. She won't see a Councellor about it, because she doesn't see it as a problem if it doesn't effect her daily life.

 

[Pjkt2501]

Anything above 10g of APAP is the "can drop you at any moment" point. She's taking in up to 16.25g every day.. she's playing russian roulette...

 

[churchpk]

Anything above 10g of APAP is the "can drop you at any moment" point. She's taking in up to 16.25g every day.. she's playing russian roulette...

That's very sad to hear for me. I will ask her how can she manage to inject such amounts of drugs, and she claims she's "invincible". This is due to previous drug usage and tolerance buildup, that she feels she can handle anything that will get her high. So if anything over 10g of APAP is extremely harmful, how has 16.25 never done anything to her remotely even close to her feeling ill? I mean, she has taken the said amounts in a day, and had drug interactions with it too such as clonazepam (4-5g worth) and alcohol.

 

[allegator]

Lucky and young. If she's too lazy to do a 1min CWE to save her life then I would kick her to the curb before you get any more involved than you are now. You could also have her switch up from APAP to aspirin or ibuprofen which would give the liver a bit of a break but would be toxic to the GI tract with a chance of massive internal hemorrhaging if she continued in this method.

 

[nAON]

That's very sad to hear for me. I will ask her how can she manage to inject such amounts of drugs, and she claims she's "invincible". This is due to previous drug usage and tolerance buildup, that she feels she can handle anything that will get her high. So if anything over 10g of APAP is extremely harmful, how has 16.25 never done anything to her remotely even close to her feeling ill? I mean, she has taken the said amounts in a day, and had drug interactions with it too such as clonazepam (4-5g worth) and alcohol.

Problem with acute liver toxicity is that there are no clear symptoms until irreversible damage has been done. By the time it starts 'affecting her daily life', that's the point at which she probably has less than 72 hours to live.

I don't know as much about chronic damage, but even if she by some miracle manages to avoid an acute OD, she can look forward to some severe cirrhosis in a few years.