too much tylenol, should I go to the doctor?

[TheSims3Guru]

hello, i've been taking extra strength tylenol since christmas eve for a lymph node, they have 500 mg in each pill and i usually take 3 at a time every four hours while i'm awake, i have been doing this for about 3 weeks now and i've gone through probably 175 pills, thats 87,500 mg in 3 weeks averaging 4200 mg a day, but it seems some days i have around 7-8000mg consumption, i just took my last 3 about 12 hours ago, i'm afraid that i've damaged my kidneys and liver, is there any symptoms that i will feel? right now i do not feel hungry at all and i haven't ate anything all day, i dont know if its because i'm nervous or something, should i be worried about any damage? is there a tolerance that i could've built up by taking it for so long? or should i be worried about taking it for 3 weeks straight, i weigh about 180, i rarely drink and i dont do drugs

 

[SuperDude C]

Hi, Kirkh . . . obvious signs of kidney problems are changes to urination (less or more in volume and/or frequency as well as color), and liver would likely show up in yellowing of the skin or whites of eyes, or changes to bowel movements such as very pale or white stools.

Admittedly, you should not be taking this much at a time or that close together. My husband takes higher than the prescribed dosage but this is by doctor supervision and he is tested every few months for levels.

I would call your doctor or a clinic and tell them what you have been taking and for how long. Christmas Eve is not really that far back and longer term use at those doses presents more possibility for permanent damage, but chronic over-dose is possible.

If you check into it now and if there should be any damage, it is still likely early enough to reverse it.

Best of luck to you!

Lindaru

 

[funky fresh man]

There is a recall of Tylenol going on right now, and you might have taken a large quanity
of that recalled batch of Tylenol. Check the recall online, check the batch number on
your Tylenol boxes, and if you are not sure, take the box to a local pharmacy and ask a pharmacist.

 

[Guillermo L]

Any medicine that goes through the approval process of the FDA has to have research and result submitted on "renal fuction" (how the kidneys can handle or extrete it from the body), or damage it might cause if it is not. The liver issues you mention applies to alcohol users, and all over the counter pain killers -incuding Ibuprofen and Aspirin- carry mandated warnings labels. Renal function is the No. 1 contraidication priority of any medicine.

 

[L☮st]

tylenol is extensively metabolized within the liver and does hit it pretty hard with even taking the max amount recommended for occasional usage which is at 4000mgs per day. but that "safe" amount goes down to only between 2000-3000mgs when used on a chronic daily basis. BUT it can also hit the kidneys in a very big way as well. everything that goes into our bodies still has to be filtered thru the kidneys and tylenol just IS as hard on the kidneys in certain ways as it is for the liver too. and when you combine different OTCs over time the kidneys will show it before the liver will in most cases depending, its called analgesic nephropathy which is basically kidney failure from too much OTC meds. its more of a chronic type of condition but it DOES occur more often than one would think. part of the bigger problem with the kidneys is they simply cannot repair themselves like the liver can either. once that cell death occurs in any kidney, its done. while the liver 'can' regenerate some parts of itself but ONLY if there is not too much overall cell death. but there too you can reach that point of no return. it is always best to make certain you just KNOW any med you are going to take and what it contains, and never ever go beyond that 'safe" limit without your docs close moniitoring and more importantly approval.

there are just wayy too many meds out there right now that have tylenol in them. thats why it is important to simply read all labels and also add up any tylenol into that 'total intake' safe limit too. that recommended "safe" limit in reality may not even be YOUR particular safe limit since certain people just are much more sensitive to certain types of meds too. so the less you really have to take the better. that limit by the way is actually 'set" by a certain chemical that is just very much needed in order to even metabolize tylenol at all. there IS only a very certain level of this chemical within anyones liver. when it gets used up based upon that safe limit(estimate), anymore tylenol taken in will not be able to metabolize safely and cell death occurs within the liver. when used on a daily chronic basis, that particular chemical just gets so depleted it simply cannot readily replenish itself like it just does with more occasional usage so that is why that "safe" limit actually goes down for chronic users.

to the original poster here? i do hope you have at least seen your primary doc by now and had your liver and kidney labs fully checked out? considering just how much and for how long you have been taking that much tylenol, it just seriously needs to be done now. you just need to make sure that everything is okay in there. this would check overall functions. if anything IS being impacted it can in some cases reverse itself with time and NO more tylenol for at least a while just to see if numbers go down and stabilize? believe me i have a liver and kidney disease myself along with having a son who had to have a liver transplant at only age 13. i have to get all my liver and kidney labs checked every six months along with an ultrasound on the affected organs once a year. his labs are every two months now. if you have any questions about the labs, just let me know, K? good luck i do hope everything checks out okay. and your doc seriously needs to be doing something else for what i am assuming is actual pain? all you mentioned was you were taking it for a 'lymph node' but did not really specify if this was for what if any real pain? so i am only assuming? just even taking the three pills at a time then dosing the same again just hours later would be way too much to the point of an almost overdosing type of situation. you just really HAVE to follow the labeled directions with any med since it can have some very serious ramifications if not always followed. the guidelines for any dosing are usually set that way for very good reasons. but do let us know how you are doing kirk, FB