Even at Regular Dose, Tylenol Causes Liver Damage, Tests Suggest

[Upbeat]

adults taking maximum doses of Tylenol for two weeks had abnormal liver test results in a small study,r esearchers found, raising concerns that even recommended amounts of the popular painkiller might lead to liver damage.

In the study, 106 participants took four grams of Tylenol - equivalent to eight extra-strength Tylenol tablets - each day for two weeks. Some took Tylenol alone and some took it with an opioid painkiller. Dummy pills were given to 39 others.There were no alarming liver test results among the people who took the placebos. But nearly 40% of people in all the other groups had abnormal test results that would signal liver damage, according to the study that appears in today's Journal of the American Medical Association.

                                                         Ron

[Alady1620]

I wonder what is worse for the liver...

a mild prescription pain killer or a few tylenol.

I'd really like an answer to this bc I take Tylenol daily.  The doctor said I could have up to 6 a day.  Sometimes I use Advil but I have noticed I am bruising really easy so I have been avoiding it except on shot days.

[Dale_Ray]

Hey Ron:

I have found in reading research papers that the subject of Tylenol is about like Alcohol. Some research papers are sponsored by Advil(joking a little here) or another competing drug company.

From all I have read (not a great deal) Tylenol is still your best bet and if you don't exceed 3000mg per day of the Acetophemen (spelling ?)the liver can handle it. However IMHO when I get these treatments behind me I am just going to enjoy my headaches without drugs.

Thanks for sharing the article I always run them off file them in no particular order and then can't find them for reference. Riba or laziness on my part. Thanks again, Dale

[Upbeat]

If it were me I would avoid Tylenol as much as I could.  This is the kinda info that needs to be researched.  Who knows maybe people who have hep-c + booze + Tylenol + iron have a higher rate of liver damage than people with just hep-c. It could be part of the reason different people have different outcomes to the same virus and lets not forget the genes.

                                                          Ron

[Alady1620]

Would you please come and discuss this with my doctor?  The fact that I used IV drugs a couple of times 15 years ago makes him unwilling to prescribe any other kind of pain reliever.  This is really frustrating.  Maybe I should go to my PCP?

[doglover28]

That's scary!!!!

[niceguy2007]

the same goes for antibiotics.

[cuteus]

how many of us take maximum doses daily?
In a presentation, Dr Bernstein stated that Tylenol was safer to take than ibuprofen, the latter was responsible for more cases of fulminant hepatitis than acetaminophen was.
It did not matter to me, I still take ibuprofen because it is the most effective of the two. That is the reason we take pain meds. why take any of them if it is not working?

[52TELE]

What happened to those guys , you know , the ones we hired to watch out for stuff like this , "The Food and Drug Admistration"

[beamishboy]

so all things being equal:what would be everyone's preferred pain med?? i have asked repeatedly for pain med scxript w/out tylenol,ibuprofen to no avail..But i'm more than willing to hound mty PCP for a real  feelGOOD pill...What's your favorite poison?
on another matter,i have had swollen&sore gland in my neck for 3 days,and today my entire neck/shoulders region is cramped&sore as h3ll.....i may have overdosed on the neupogen last week & i see my doc tomorrow,but i would appreciate any personal experience about this 'pain in the neck'-

[Dale_Ray]

Remember the world's biggest lie "we are the government and we are here to help you".

[Alady1620]

I have no favorite poison.  I just want something for my pain that won't cause me liver damage.  With all the conflicting information, it is hard to know what that is.

[Kalio1]

I take vicoprophen and was told it is processed by the kidneys.
I don't take very much, never over 3 tabs/day which is 600mg of ibuprophen. It works well controlling my neuropathy and pain from a damaged sciatic nerve I have post surgery. It has helped trememdously with the pains of tx. Tx seems to exacerbate my existing joint/back issues, I honestly do not think I would have made it this far on tx without it. I prefer ibuprophen over tyenol as I think it works better on my existing pain issues.
How's tricks? Hope you are hanging in there and not having too difficult of a time with sides.

[Stvski80085]

I only take tylenol for the fever shortly after the shot.  I have other pain meds for my back that work wonders on the aches and pains of treatment.  I agree with kalio on the fact that treatment aggrivates my back pain to a much higher level for a day or two after the shot.  I have spoke with doctors in my family and they say that tylenol and ib are both hard on your liver.  But in moderation it is nothing the body can't handle.  Ib also is known for causing stomach problems because it tends to eat at the lining in the stomach.  Which ever you choose I would only use it when you have too and don't just take it for the sake of taking it if you don't really have pain.  I had major stomach problems that my doctor was sure it was from the ib in vicoprophen when I had back sugery the first time.  He said he is finding that a lot of people are on stomach medications after using ibprophen for an extended period.  Ibprophen has a lot more problems it causes then tylenol.
I hope everyone is doing well out there.  Almost time for another dance with the devil.

Take care,

Steve

[Kalio1]

I just wanted to add that I find it is necessary to always consume the pills with food. I do not take them on an empty stomach, ever. I might just have an iron stomach but I have not had any issues with stomach problems from them, but it is a common problem. Consuming food with them might be beneficial.
Nausea fron INF/riba, now tht's another story. Even though I take it with food, it still makes me nauseous.

[returntosender]

Some acetaminophen - also known as paracetetamol - information on toxicity: "Paracetamol has a narrow therapeutic index – the therapeutic dose is close to the toxic dose. Additionally, paracetamol is contained in many preparations (both over-the-counter and prescription only medications). This means that, despite being one of the safest analgesics available at recommended doses, there is a large potential for overdose and toxicity.

Single doses above 10 grams, chronic doses over 6 grams per day, or chronic doses over 4 grams per day in patients with conditions which may increase susceptibility to paracetamol toxicity (alcoholism, isoniazid use, prolonged fasting), can potentially cause major hepatotoxicity (damage to the liver). Without timely treatment, paracetamol overdose can lead to liver failure and death within days.

The toxic dose of paracetamol is highly variable. In adults, single doses above 12 grams or 150 mg/kg have a reasonable likelihood of causing toxicity.[7] In adults, single doses of more than 25 grams have a high risk of lethality. Toxicity can also occur when multiple smaller doses within 24 hours exceeds these levels, or even with chronic ingestion of smaller doses."

My comments:

Since extra strength tylenol contains 500mg, you would potentially have to injest somewhere between twenty and thirty of these babies to possibly have a toxic effect.  Depends upon time of day and other factors.  Whereas, if you take 50 of these you will certainly die.  Back in my druggie days when I was doing percocets, I routinely took 10 to 20 a day and on some days maybe 30!  Aye carumba! I also used to chew on bar glasses.  

I survived this but both my doctor and I think that my liver damage, which has not really progressed since I stopped percocets some years ago, is more likely to be related to the pills and not the hepatitis.  I still take Tylenol but never go above 2 grams and have not had any trouble.  It is not anti-inflamatory so I only use for fevers and pain in general. I also swore by it for anxiety as well. I always thought that it was crazy for me to think that it worked but I read recently about a study that proposed a Tylenol connection with COX3 inhibitors and an increase in seratonin levels. Bye bye anxiety - go figure!  

I use Advil for inflamation (inflammation) but try to keep this low because of stomach problems. It amazes me that they are still finding out things about how these drugs operate YEARS AND YEARS after they are introduced!  I am happy to report that today I have had no drugs of any type except for a coffee and soft pretzel.  If you eat more than 10 soft pretzels with water they can get stuck in your throat and kill you so I am careful. LOL

[Kalio1]

LOL.. " I also used to chew on bar glasses"
ah, the wonders of youth.


thanks for the laughs, loved the pretzel thing.

[susan400]

For me, right now, I'm going to continue staying on my daily Tylenol for awhile. Eventually, I'll stop it.  But, with stopping Interferon, Ribavirin, Procrit and Neupogen 2 weeks ago as well as cutting back on my Ultram to 1/2 a pill (25mg) daily from the 2 pills I was taking while on treatment; I'm barely able to deal with these post treatment side effects and I still need some help.  I only take 3 Extra strength Tylenol a day and alcohol is no longer an issue-I quit that 11 years ago. I've been off of iron(in multi-vit.) for years.  Coming off the Ultram(a non-narcotic prescription pain me) is as difficult as coming off of a narcotic when your body gets used to taking it every day.  In about 3-4 weeks, I'll cut out the 1/2 an Ultram.  After that process has completed then, and only then, will I stop the Tylenol.  I have to do what I have to do to cope.  I am unable to take all NSAIDS and aspirin, those all of those are out, too. My liver is already damaged to a stage 3 and I've never gotten a clearance from the HEP-C in 10 years of treating with 8 different treatments so, I don't think my little bit of Tylenol makes that much difference in the whole scheme of things.

Susan

[Upbeat]

All these studys on liver damage using Tylenol are people without hep-c.  Who can say how it affects people and their livers with hep-c.  

                                                           Ron

[beamishboy]

well i take NAC daily,maybe that will counteract the effects of Percocet(5/250) that i am presently prescibed.....i would still rather use a pain med w/out the tylenol-thanks for the imput&info

[OnAPrettyPoison]

You are a library!  How are you doing?  Got PCR results in?  Never been on pain meds for more than a week - don't even take Tylenol.  Bottle I bought when starting treatment still not open!  46 weeks down, 2 to go! ;o)

[Forseegood]

well old boy, I take glutathione in my goat Protein powder, "Goatien" (it's not dairy based) and I take 1 gram of NAC a day, have been for years and years, we must be reading the same things...duhhhh...have a great day!!!!

[GrandOak]

Tylenol is the only one which addresses the flu sx's.  My doc, who was involved in the early HCV tx days, says that small dosages are OK and in fact recommends it for the very fact that it does relieve the sx's of the tx.

I guess one has to decide whether the pain and agony of tx is worth enduring for the very small risk that taking a low dose of Tylenol might have upon the liver.

Also, one needs to weigh the worthiness of the study to acertain it's validity.  There is so much mis-information, if not outright lies, out there these days thanks to the WWW that one needs to be a bit more informed to determine the validity of what they are reading.  One should also weigh the make-up of the study, to extrapolate a study's findings to a population of millions based upon a sampling of a few dozen is ludicrous.

I for one think that if an OTC causes bodily damage at regular dosages that the FDA would have pulled it from the market long ago.