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Question

i need to know what will happen if someone overdoses on painkillers

uhhh it was either ibruprofin or sumthing like that

Answer 1

Depends on the painkiller. Different medications have different properties and reactions in the body. Which one are you referring to? It would be better if you were more specific.


In general:
An overdose of aspirin can cause bleeding problems and kidney damage. Overdosing on NSAIDs, like ibuprofen, may also damage the kidneys. Acetaminophen (Tylenol) is metabolized in the liver and can cause liver failure in overdose. Narcotics can cause respiratory suppression in high doses so that you basically stop breathing and die. I'm not even considering pain relievers in other classes, like tramadol, or combination medications.

EDIT: See link about ibuprofen overdose below.

Answer 2

It depends upon the extent of the overdose, but it can kill a person if enough is taken. Taking too many painkillers can cause damage to some of the organs in the body as well.

Answer 3

Overdosage with OTC painkillers is responsible for a large number of emergency hospital admissions and deaths. Of the OTC painkillers, paracetamol is the leading cause of death and disability," said Dr Glyn Volans, Director, Medical Toxicology Unit, Guy's & St Thomas' Hospital Trust. "However, the risk of a medicine being used in an overdose reflects availability as much as the drugs' properties."

Adults tend to deliberately overdose. "There are rare exceptions when patients have misunderstood the dose or taken several products containing paracetamol leading to an accumulation of the drug," Dr Volans commented. "In children, however, most cases are accidental."

"During the 1950s and 1960s, asprin poisoning was frequent and often serious," said Dr Volans. Asprin overdoses can cause a number of side-effects including brain and kidney damage. "Improved treatments can be credited to studies that identified why asprin is toxic. Furthermore, childhood safety improved after the introduction of less attractive tablets, public education and the restrictions following the recognition that aspirin is associated with Reye's syndrome - a potentially fatal condition affecting the liver and brain - in children. Asprin overdose in adults is now less frequent than in the past. But it remains potentially fatal and doctors do not always recognise the need for active treatment."

"The problems of liver toxicity following paracetamol overdose came as something of a surprise in the mid '60s. But the challenge was well met by studies," Dr Volans added. "Thus, we now have well-established antidotes. Nevertheless, paracetamol overdose is still responsible for a significant number of deaths among adults."

Ibuprofen is exceptionally safe in overdose. "There are so few deaths associated with ingestion of ibuprofen even when taken with other drugs that it is difficult to establish what patients die from. Although the symptoms of ibuprofen overdose seem to be similar to an overdose from aspirin, symptoms are so infrequent that confounding factors in the rare deaths are more likely to be the cause," Dr Volans added.

Between 65 and 75 per cent of adults and between 75 and 85 per cent of children do not develop any symptoms after overdosing on ibuprofen. The majority of the few patients who develop symptoms show mild, self-limiting reactions.

In any csse, the number of people who die each year after overdosing on OTC paracetamol - between 100 and 150 in the UK, for example - is dwarfed by the number of emergency admissions, currently some 20,000 annually. "This places a huge burden on Accident and Emergency services and wastes health care resources." Dr Volans pointed out.

"Review of measures to improve paracetamol safety, including restricting OTC availability and improved product information is long overdue," Dr Volans added. For example in the UK paracetamol is available on general sale. One possibility would be to limit paracetamol to pharmacy only sale and reduce the maximum pack size.

New OTC painkillers are being launched in several countries. Dr Volans believes the onus is on drug companies to ensure they monitor the frequency and severity of adverse events including the outcome of overdoses. "The companies can no longer rely on doctors' help. They have to realise that switching a product to OTC status is a major responsibility." he said.

Answer 4

The best case scenario is just falling asleep. With that can come aspirating one's own vomit. There can be brain damage, coma, and quite possibly death if they slow their heart rate down enough.

Answer 5

get them to an emergency room asap,will and can damage liver kidneys

Answer 6

lver damage...or ...fepending on how much is taken....

if you OD on anything you should go to the emergency room

Answer 7

They could die! I hope that you are not looking for that as an answer.

Answer 8

Look at this page: http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=overdose+on+painkillers&sp=1&fr2=sp-top&search=overdoses+on+painkillers&ei=UTF-8&fr=ks-ans&ico-yahoo-search-value=http%3A%2F%2Frds.yahoo.com%2F_ylt%3DAu80EMS8tuECK9pAjCjxOKQazKIX%2FSIG%3D111gjvvgj%2F%2A-http%3A%2F%2Fsearch.yahoo.com%2Fsearch&ico-wikipedia-search-value=http%3A%2F%2Frds.yahoo.com%2F_ylt%3DAjVtDXsFYL8E9gx3L6mQpvYazKIX%2FSIG%3D11ia1qo58%2F%2A%2Ahttp%253a%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FSpecial%253aSearch&ei=UTF-8&SpellState=n-3626914396_q-MZS0yXvN86502P1PDF6q4gAAAA%40%40 Hope this give you some good info--best luck!

Answer 9

serious liver damage.

vomiting, and if ridiculous amounts...then death.