5 ms·
He's probably referring to paracetamol's narrow therapeutic index[1]. 1 paracetamol may relieve your headache, 10 will do lasting damage to your liver, or even
by morsch 4y ago
He's probably referring to paracetamol's narrow therapeutic index[1]. 1 paracetamol may relieve your headache, 10 will do lasting damage to your liver, or even be fatal[2]. It's kind of nuts. Of course, Ibuprofen is not without (GI) issues, but I don't think it kills as many people as paracetamol does.
[1] The therapeutic index (TI; also referred to as therapeutic ratio) is a quantitative measurement of the relative safety of a drug. It is a comparison of the amount of a therapeutic agent that causes the therapeutic effect to the amount that causes toxicity. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Therapeutic_index https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Therapeutic_index
[2] 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. Paracetamol overdose results in more calls to poison control centers in the US than overdose of any other pharmacological substance https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paracetamol https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paracetamol
- paulpauper 4y agoParacetamol toxicity is the foremost cause of acute liver failure in the Western world, yup people are shocked when they learn it is good ol' Tylenol that is killing people or making them deathly ill, not those evil steroids or opioids hyped by the media. That is not to say those are not dangerous, but paracetamol is way easier to accidentally overdose. Taking to much of an oral steroid at once will not cause liver failure. Neither will too much codeine.
- jeffparsons 4y agoOkay, I need to revisit my position. Now I'm shocked that _both_ paracetamol and ibuprofen are available "off the shelf" (without talking to anyone). I wonder if people in general are or were always as blasé about the risks of easily obtainable medicines as the people around me seem to be today. Could trust in government regulations to protect us from harm have the side effect of eroding personal responsibility? Or could the era of click-through EULAs and warnings on everything etc. be training people to not bother reading any instructions/warnings? ("This product contains water, which is known to the state of California to cause cancer and birth defects.") I'm rambling. Maybe I don't have a coherent point. But something bugs me about it.
- drKarl 4y agoI'm based in Ireland, and while you can buy paracetamol on the supermarket, you're only allowed by law tú purchase one product of paracetamol at a time. Of course you can enter the shop again and buy another one immediately after or go to another shop, but you can't buy 2 paracetamol products on the same purchase.