How many Tylenol does it take to hurt your liver irreparably?

Question

When it comes to drugs, people tend to point to acetaminophen (Tylenol) as the most destructive to the liver. Is it really more destructive than other substances? How much would an adult have to take in order to cause irreparable damage to his or her liver?

Obviously, this is body mass specific, so please specify the limit and the weight of the person with that limit.

The bottle usually says to take two tablets, which I believe are 500 mg each. This, however, is probably safe for a 100 lb granny.

Just to clarify: what is the healthy dose for an average young person?

Answer 1

Although I cannot give a specific, technical answer to your question, I can give you general guidelines.

While like with most medicines there is some dependence of dosing based on weight, for Tylenol it is not a major factor and so weight is rarely taken into account when determining dosage. Generally, many hospitals try not to give more than 4 g of Tylenol in a 24 hr period. Sometimes they do go beyond this and for a period of days otherwise healthy, young individuals can take 6 or 7 g without series liver problems, but beyond that things start to get damaged. These signs of liver trouble are usually subtle though and frequently there are no indications of toxicity except for a rise in various enzymes used to measure liver health.

Now as far as "irreparable" liver damage is concerned, well generally the problem with Tylenol ingestion, as far as I know, is not so much irreparable liver damage, as the liver is a rather stout organ and can handle its share of abuse, but instead acute liver failure which can result in death. It doesn't really matter, though, because I cannot recall the toxic dosages for either occurrence and so can't answer either question. (Sorry!) As I stated above, however, while your body based on health and size can probably take a fair some of pills, most hospitals rarely go above 4 g/day for any patient if they can help it.

Answer 2

Like most things human, there's a large degree of variability. You must also consider the difference between acute toxicity, as with an intentional overdose, vs. chronic toxicity, which is not at all well understood. Even the standard 15 mg per kilogram of body mass (in a person with a normal body mass index) may be toxic over a long period of time. Short-term, for children with a fever, many doctors will suggest an initial dose of 20 or 25 mg/kg to get to a therapeutic blood level reasonably quickly with good safety. In the case of the suicidal overdose, acute toxicity doesn't seem to be a problem below 150 mg/kg, and that's being pretty cautious. Take one tablet for every kg of body weight, hide out for a few hours, and if it stays down you can pretty well count on death or a liver transplant, whichever comes first.
Tylenol may be the safest medication ever made, but it's so ubiquitous and people use it so stupidly that it's a leading reason for liver failure.
By the way, Tylenol, and also the NSAID's like ibuprofen, exhibit a plateau effect, so you'll get no more pain relief from a whole handful than from taking just a couple.

Answer 3

4gm per day is the limit, but take into account that we are all individuals, and while this is considered the safe limit it may not be so in all individuals. For instance , a person that is taking other drugs that adversely affect the liver, or a person who is severly debilitated by chronic illness, an alcoholic, drug addict, those who are taking large doses of analgesics for chronic pain, and those who are not educated as to the drugs they take and their own personal risk factors for inhaling or ingesting,etc hidden or apparent sources of liver toxins and thus compounding adverse effects to the liver.

Answer 4

At 14, your canines replaced into nearing the suited of her organic lifespan. think ofyou've got given her the milk thistle and watched her throw it up. How a lot use might want to that were? How lengthy does it take for a liver to regenerate? i imagine you probably did the right ingredient. i might want to have finished a similar. There comes a level the position we would want to say adequate is adequate, and stay with the decision. Your canines replaced into luckier than maximum, she replaced into 14 and had her own vet. So do not beat your self up. undergo in options the 14 satisfied years and bypass on.

Answer 5

Generally, 4000mg per 24 hours for acute use or 2000mg per 24 hours with chronic use. Other sources say 3200mg per 24 hours. There are many other hepatotoxic drugs, but acetaminophen is available without prescription and is so commonly used that its hepatotoxicity is well known. Combining it with other hepatotoxic substances (e.g. alcohol) increases the risk of liver damage.

Answer 6

The max dose of Tylenol is 4g per day (4000mg)

Stay under that and she should be fine. Tylenol is one of the safest drugs for elderly people. It's not really body mass specific because it doesn't distribute into the fat. However I wouldn't start on a dose of 4 grams per day on a person who is obviously frail.

Answer 7

4 with alcohol on an empty stomach

Answer 8

everybody's different. don't take any drugs, if possible.