Possible Tylenol Induced Hepatitis

[sasebosadie]

I was just released from a Japanese hospital after 24 days after being diagnosed with accute non viral hepatitis (cause unknown).  They ran autoimmune tests, viral tests, and a test on all the medication I had been taking except I didn't tell about the tylenol until days later.  I didn't know better until my American doctor started asking me questions. All tests came back negative. Is there a way now to test if Tylenol was the cause of my liver damage?  And is bed rest the only way to get your AST, and ALT back to normal?  I was on 70 mg of Prednislone and gradually weened off before I left the hospital and now I am on bed rest till my ALT & AST get into the normal range.  We don't have an American doctor here that specializes in this and the Japanese doctors are great, but things get lost in translation. Any help would be great.  As I have been told I am very lucky my ALT And AST were just shy of 3000 and I am now down to ALT 124 and AST 70, just by staying in bed or in a chair.  I just would like more info on how this will also permantely affect my life too.

Thank you

[snook_man]

The medication they rx at the hostpital for tylenol induced hepatic failure, is NAC.. It is a supplement sold over the counter in many drug stores. It is recommended to take around 600mg a day.

[sasebosadie]

I was taking 4 500mg tylenol 3x a day for about a week, and on occasion I would drink two to 3 glasses of wine at home with dinner.  I was also on other medications but those were all ruled out by the doctors.

[nanniegea]

That's a good question, I too have taken loads of tylenol for pain from a car accident. I have just been diagnosed with hepc and cirrohis, not sure of all the numbers yet but have been wondering if all that tylenol didn't speed up the damage. I would get a script of 60 tylenol 3's(codeine) and because I had to work would eat them like candy. I'm sure that it didn't help matters. I am about to start my treatment next week and I'm scared to death of all the side effects that I'm hearing about. I wish you all the best in dealing with this and if you find out any info regarding the tylenol, please post and let us know. Good luck.....nannieg

[Christie2004]

How much Tylenol were you taking and for how long?  Did you drink alcohol while taking it?