Painkillers can damage your liver...?

Question

Its advertised on any medication bottle, over-the-counter or narcotic, that taking more acephetamine than recommended can cause serious liver damage. This is not only mentioned its usually STRESSED by pharmacists & doctors....u get the drift. So my question is how does it affect the liver & in what cases does this actually happen? Im genuinally concerned with understanding this but i've researched what i could thru browsing the web and i haven't found anything that comes even remotely close 2shining some light on this matter. Any takers 2taking on this mystery challenge? Or any1 currently knowledged on the topic? All info is appreciated, thanks in advance

Answer 1

NSAIDS like ibuprofen or Aleve and prescription meds like Celebrex stop the production of prostaglandins which are used by the liver, in normal breakdown of everyday blood products and waste. If you are going to be using these drugs long term then a liver function test (ALT & ALF) should be done at the start of traetment and after the first few months of therapy.
Tylenol on the other hand is nephrotoxic after only 2-3 grams of the drug per day, that means that if you take a Lortab or Vicodin or and Extrastrength Tylenol x2 more than 3 times a day which is pretty normal you could be overdosing your liver on tylenol. What the Tylenol people don't tell you is that a tylenol overdose is the worst overdose scenario in the emergency room. It could lead to a transplant or death and the antidote is a drug called acetylcysteine which you must drink and it smells like concentrated skunk urine. gross!
This is why doctors are so concerned about your liver and pain medications, now some good news, Narcotics have no organ side effects other than making you stop breathing if you overdose but there is an instant antidote for that called Narcan and it is stocked by every ER in North America.

Answer 2

Acetaminophen overdose is the number one cause of acute liver failure. It is metabolized in your liver. The enzyme which metabolizes it is very limited. If you take more than 4 grams a day, or a certain amount chronically, the enzyme will be overwhelmed and won't be able to metabolize all of the acetaminophen. You will be left with a toxic metabolite. That toxic substance will attack your liver and your liver gets destroyed.
N-Acetylcysteine is the cure for acetaminophen overdose.

Answer 3

This has been a great concern for me also as i live with chronic pain and i have to take pain meds (Lortab) which has 500mg of tylenol in it. What i do is take a natural supplement called Milk Thistle (you can get it at just about any store) which helps normal liver function. I just had liver enzynes test done and they all came back normal. I really believe that the Milk Thistle has been saving my liver. Thank God, bc i have to have a total hip replacement in about 4 weeks............................

Answer 4

not sure of exact physiology behind it, but the liver is the main body's detoxifier. So, any synthetic chemical must be processed thru the liver. Any thing synthetic can be harmful to the body, since the body does not recognize it, or the actual drug may cause harm thru metabolism.

Answer 5

it happens when you over dose, and it can hurt your kidneys too, stop using 2 instead of to, thats ignorant, im really not sure how it damages things but i figure they arent lying, so dont ever overdose.