does tylenol kill your liver?

Question

its for a project

Answer 1

if you take too much of it, yes, it sure does...the links below should be helpful for your project

Answer 2

Over-the-counter (OTC) drugs are a significant source of morbidity and mortality in the United States. Although the shelves of every major drug store and grocery store are heavily stocked with these common medications—and they are used millions of times every day—few people are aware of the dangers posed by common OTC medications, especially acetaminophen andnonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) such as ibuprofen and naproxen. Acetaminophen and NSAIDs commonly cause serious liver and gastrointestinal side effects, yet most people have no idea how dangerous they can be.

Part of this ignorance is because these strong medications are available without prescriptions, and heavy television and magazine advertising has perhaps given the impression that cold medicines, pain killers, antihistamines, and other ubiquitous drugs are safe. In fact, OTC medications as a category are responsible for more than 150,000 hospitalizations every year, according to the Food and Drug Administration, and almost 1000 OTC medications have been linked to liver toxicity, which causes about 2000 deaths annually in the United States (Ford MD et al 2001).

A Harris Interactive consumer poll revealed some discouraging information about OTC use (Harris Interactive 2002):

51 percent of responding patients read the label when using an OTC for the first time.
Only 34 percent read the label for the active ingredients.
Only 19 percent read the label for usage instructions.
Only 10 percent read the label for possible adverse effects or usage warnings.
Only 34 percent who took an OTC medication for headache pain relief could correctly identify the active ingredient, which easily leads to widespread duplication of ingredients in different products

Answer 3

When I taught adolescents in treatment, several attempted suicide by taking huge quantities of Tylenol. The one who took the most almost didn't survive, but by a miracle of God, she did. They all had permanent liver damage but survived. They were to told to take a certain medication every day for the rest of their life that kept the liver functioning as properly as possible. Here's a website for you to read about Tylenol and the effects on the liver: (Note the side effects and drug interaction parts, as Tylenol combined with alcohol/drugs can be lethal.)

http://www.medicinenet.com/acetaminophen/article.htm

Answer 4

Any drug taken by mouth must first be metabolized by the liver. Any drug can therefore damage or "kill" the liver if used in excess, particularly if used in a short amount of time. In the event of overdose, activated charcoal can counteract the tylenol while still in the stomach, to prevent further damage.

Answer 5

YES! Acetaminophen can be extremely toxic to the liver. Liver failure is a common complication after an overdose. Taking more than the recommended dosage can also cause damage. It can be especially a problem for people that already have liver problems such as people that abuse alcohol, Hepatitis, or even Mono.

Answer 6

Only if you overdose on it. Taking 2 tablets 3 - 4x/day for a short period of time is not going to kill you. Even taking occasionally for years is OK. Your body can cope with it as long as you have no pre-existing liver problems

There's hoax e-mail going around saying it will kill off your liver and stays in the body for 5 years! Ridiculous!

Answer 7

acetaminophen kills your liver which is in Tylenol, but you'd have to take a lot of it to really show serious affects.

Answer 8

medicines past by your liver for processing and as I know they work your liver out... unless you are taking medicine for your liver.

so i guess tylenol worn out the liver

Answer 9

If you eat 532 of them it's not good for your liver

Answer 10

If you take it for long periods of time. Also there are other meds that effect your liver like cholesteral meds.

Answer 11

yeah, acetaminophen is really bad for it in high doses. This is why taking Vicodin recreationally is dangerous. If you want to learn more about it, look it up on wikipedia or www.erowid.org
erowid being an online encyclopedia on drugs