PSA: Tylenol (aka acetaminophen or paracetamol) is quite dangerous

[browngirl]

The liver-destroying overdose is only about twice the effective dose recommended daily maximum dose (redbird, thank you for the correction), which is way too close for comfort. siderea posted an excellent explanation, including a partial list of OTC and prescription medications containing acetaminophen, inspired by an NPR report which nancylebov wrote about.

Comments

[drglam]

The disadvantage is that aspirin, ibuprofen, and naproxen are all in the same family; if someone can't use one of them, they quite likely can't use all of them.

That said, it has amazed me for decades that acetaminophen isn't, if not prescription only, plastered with very large warning labels, and prohibited from multi-ingrediant formulations.

It's also mighty damn toxic when consumed with excessive alcohol, which can be as little as one drink with Tylenol.

[bikergeek.livejournal.com]

I think, given the legal climate in the U.S., the makers of acetaminophen don't want to admit how dangerous the stuff is. (And, to be sure, millions of people take it every year without problems.)

NyQuil contains acetaminophen + EtOH, which seems to me like a particularly bad idea. NyQuil contains so much ethanol that people have been known to try to get drunk off of it, with some success. (Was a thing for high school kids back in my day.)