Originally Posted by
Shimagnolo
After taking EMT training, I will never touch Tylenol, aka acetaminophen, aka paracetamol, aka APAP, again.
(APAP is abbreviation used to blur the fact it is added to some prescription drugs).
Liver damage can begin at doses just 25% above the max recommended dose!
Paracetamol toxicity is the foremost cause of acute liver failure in the Western world and accounts for most drug overdoses in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand.[53][54][55][56] According to the FDA, in the United States there were "56,000 emergency room visits, 26,000 hospitalizations, and 458 deaths per year related to acetaminophen-associated overdoses during the 1990s. Within these estimates, unintentional acetaminophen overdose accounted for nearly 25 percent of the emergency department visits, 10 percent of the hospitalizations, and 25 percent of the deaths."
Source:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paracetamol#Liver_damage
With 15 years in an emergency department, I've only seen one actual acetaminophen overdose death, although, I admit, a goodly number that could have died had we not intervened. In contrast, I've seen a few deaths from NSAIDS over the years, including ibuprophen, usually due to bleeding ulcers. NSAID overuse can lead to kidney failure, dialysis and other problems.
I see alcohol-related death at least a few times a year. ETOH is, by far, the worst legal drug we have in society (my opinion only, feel free to differ), due to its prevalence, ease of availability and potency, with side effects that can be lethal or incredibly harmful--including addiction, liver failures like cirrhosis, FLD or portal hypertension with GI bleeds, accidental or violent injury or death, over sedation with respiratory failure, cardiac dysrhythmia, withdrawal seizures and psychosis, encephalopathy and dementia, aspiration pneumonia and sepsis, divorce, homelessness and other social or financial problems.
Despite all that, I still feel that alcohol being legal, taxed and controlled is probably the best plan. We may need to do some adjusting of the laws from time to time to minimize the ills. I feel some the the producers of beverages should pony up and pay for some of the societal costs. Doctors and others who say one drink a day is OK, or even part of a healthy diet, are probably technically correct for some people, but it's difficult for many people to control themselves after getting started, and many people take too much and too often. I usually recommend stopping drinking alcohol and finding healthier ways to enjoy yourself. Like bicycling!
