Is it possible for a person to overdose on 15 aspirins and survive?

Question

Someone told me that they did this and vomitted the next morning. Wouldn't have the person deceased?

Answer 1

Taking more than 150mg/kg of aspirin can have serious and even deadly results if untreated. For a small adult, that's roughly equal to taking 20 tablets containing 325mg aspirin. How well the person will do depends greatly on how much aspirin the body has absorbed and how much is flowing through the blood.
In the case of the person you mentioned, the amount of aspirin taken did not reach the toxic level in the blood to cause death. However, due to such high dosage taken, it can be expected that such person will have the undesirable side effects such as gastrointestinal distress which may include ulcers and stomach bleeding. The reason why such person had vomiting the next morning. Tinnitus or ringing of the ears would be another possible side effect and there is generally possibility of increased bleeding if there is an existing source such as open wounds, menstruation in females, etc.

Answer 2

The LD50 (the fatal dosage for 50% of the population) for aspirin is as high as 1500 mg/kg of body weight. If a typical person weighs 50 kg, the LD50 for the individual would be (1500 mg/kg)* (50 kg) = 75000 mg, or 75 g. Now, the typical human dosage of aspirin is 325 mg. (75000 mg) / (325 mg) = 231. So in theory a 50 kg person can consume over 200 aspirin pills (if each pill is 325 mg) before it is fatal, making 15 pills far from a fatal dosage, although still not at all advisable.

Answer 3

The toxicity of various drugs is different for different people. In the same way that some people have a high tolerance for alcohol poisoning, some may have a high tolerance for aspirin poisoning.

Answer 4

I think when you take too much aspirin, you just barf. Your friend's reaction to doing such is great testimony to the fact.