8 ms·

First, many people are ... let's politely call it arithmetically challenged. They won't understand how to compute the amount and then obtain the correct dose. A

by tgv 11mo ago

First, many people are ... let's politely call it arithmetically challenged. They won't understand how to compute the amount and then obtain the correct dose. A chart or a table might have more success than a formula, no matter how simple the formula. Then again, the dangers of paracetamol overdose aren't high (and I would think it's less for children than for adults). It's typically only needed for a few days. Perhaps that's where the stress should go: stop as soon as you can.

MattJ100 11mo ago
Depends what you call "high", but the risks are far higher than most other drugs relative to availability. "Paracetamol toxicity is one of the most common causes of poisoning worldwide." -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paracetamol_poisoning#Epidemiology https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paracetamol_poisoning#Epidemio...
- RobotToaster 11mo ago
  I was once told by a doctor that if aspirin or paracetamol were invented today they probably wouldn't be approved, let alone sold over the counter.
uniqueuid 11mo ago
Paracetamol is the most common cause of liver failure in the US. Its toxicity threshold is somewhere around 4g/day for an adult. I remember that my wife once bought an over the counter cold drug in Italy that had > 1g per pill. So we should be aware that it's very easy to overdose this particular drug. More info: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK441917/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK441917/
- wasabi991011 11mo ago
  > Its toxicity threshold is somewhere around 4g/day for an adult. I was surprised it was that low, but I think you misread/misremembered. From your link: > Toxicity is likely to develop in adults at: >12 g over a 24 hours, or 7.5 to 10 g in a single dose, or Doses 350mg/kg The 4g/day is the dosage threshold, but it seems they set it to 1/3 of the toxicity threshold.
  - connicpu 11mo ago
    Right, the 4g/day number is the amount that should be safe for any relatively healthy adult (minus whatever is making them take the medicine). I should hope it isn't too close to the number where you can cause permanent damage.
    - add-sub-mul-div 11mo ago
      It's become fashionable to fearmonger about it lately, but I agree, it's safe to assume the makers wouldn't tolerate the liability that would come with a single extra dose above the given instructions causing that kind of harm.
  - LorenPechtel 11mo ago
    Yeah, toxic at 2.5x therapeutic level. Crazy in an OTC.
- throwaway173738 11mo ago
  Yeah I’ve noticed that a lot of cold/flu remedies that have potential for drug abuse have huge amounts of acetaminophen adddes such that if you took both the flu medication and some tylenol, or you took multiple medications you’d be risking killing your liver. I worry that this is intentional.
- epcoa 11mo ago
  > Paracetamol is the most common cause of liver failure in the US. This is also a bit misleading, it’s the most common cause of acute liver failure which is overall quite rare in developed countries. The most common need for transplants are still by far progressive chronic liver diseases leading to cirrhosis.
lotsofpulp 11mo ago
A simple google search resolves this issue: https://www.tylenol.com/safety-dosing/dosage-for-children-infants https://www.tylenol.com/safety-dosing/dosage-for-children-in... If people aren’t capable of finding this information, or even calculating it, it’s an education system/societal problem.
- dmd 11mo ago
  Oh, then let’s just fix that then! Simple!
- matheusmoreira 11mo ago
  Depending on location doctors will frequently come into contact with people who are illiterate, as in unable to write down their own names on a piece of paper. They still need care and it cannot wait until society has been fixed.
- Mistletoe 11mo ago
  What you are implying would work great in a world that had prioritized education. We don’t live in that world in America for sure unfortunately. > The statement is a popular anecdote from the 1980s, illustrating a widespread misunderstanding where many consumers thought that a 1/4 pound burger was larger than a 1/3 pound burger because the number "4" is larger than "3". This led to the failure of a new third-pound burger campaign by the fast-food chain A&W.

by tgv 11mo ago

MattJ100 11mo ago

Depends what you call "high", but the risks are far higher than most other drugs relative to availability. "Paracetamol toxicity is one of the most common causes of poisoning worldwide." -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paracetamol_poisoning#Epidemiology https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paracetamol_poisoning#Epidemio...

RobotToaster 11mo ago
I was once told by a doctor that if aspirin or paracetamol were invented today they probably wouldn't be approved, let alone sold over the counter.

uniqueuid 11mo ago

Paracetamol is the most common cause of liver failure in the US. Its toxicity threshold is somewhere around 4g/day for an adult. I remember that my wife once bought an over the counter cold drug in Italy that had > 1g per pill. So we should be aware that it's very easy to overdose this particular drug. More info: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK441917/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK441917/

wasabi991011 11mo ago
> Its toxicity threshold is somewhere around 4g/day for an adult. I was surprised it was that low, but I think you misread/misremembered. From your link: > Toxicity is likely to develop in adults at: >12 g over a 24 hours, or 7.5 to 10 g in a single dose, or Doses 350mg/kg The 4g/day is the dosage threshold, but it seems they set it to 1/3 of the toxicity threshold.
- connicpu 11mo ago
  Right, the 4g/day number is the amount that should be safe for any relatively healthy adult (minus whatever is making them take the medicine). I should hope it isn't too close to the number where you can cause permanent damage.
  - add-sub-mul-div 11mo ago
    It's become fashionable to fearmonger about it lately, but I agree, it's safe to assume the makers wouldn't tolerate the liability that would come with a single extra dose above the given instructions causing that kind of harm.
- LorenPechtel 11mo ago
  Yeah, toxic at 2.5x therapeutic level. Crazy in an OTC.
throwaway173738 11mo ago
Yeah I’ve noticed that a lot of cold/flu remedies that have potential for drug abuse have huge amounts of acetaminophen adddes such that if you took both the flu medication and some tylenol, or you took multiple medications you’d be risking killing your liver. I worry that this is intentional.
epcoa 11mo ago
> Paracetamol is the most common cause of liver failure in the US. This is also a bit misleading, it’s the most common cause of acute liver failure which is overall quite rare in developed countries. The most common need for transplants are still by far progressive chronic liver diseases leading to cirrhosis.

lotsofpulp 11mo ago

A simple google search resolves this issue: https://www.tylenol.com/safety-dosing/dosage-for-children-infants https://www.tylenol.com/safety-dosing/dosage-for-children-in... If people aren’t capable of finding this information, or even calculating it, it’s an education system/societal problem.

dmd 11mo ago
Oh, then let’s just fix that then! Simple!
matheusmoreira 11mo ago
Depending on location doctors will frequently come into contact with people who are illiterate, as in unable to write down their own names on a piece of paper. They still need care and it cannot wait until society has been fixed.
Mistletoe 11mo ago
What you are implying would work great in a world that had prioritized education. We don’t live in that world in America for sure unfortunately. > The statement is a popular anecdote from the 1980s, illustrating a widespread misunderstanding where many consumers thought that a 1/4 pound burger was larger than a 1/3 pound burger because the number "4" is larger than "3". This led to the failure of a new third-pound burger campaign by the fast-food chain A&W.