I've been killing my liver/kidneys...

... and not from my beer. From my pain meds.

I'm sitting here, sweating and unable to sleep, so I decided to look up some info about my meds to see if they were habit forming or anything.

The medicine I am taking (fioricet) contains some barbituates, caffiene, and acetaminophen... 325mg/tablet of the latter. My prescription indicates that I should take 1 or 2 tablets every 4 hours. Since I've been in a lot of pain, I've been taking 2 tablets at a time.

No problem with that, really. That puts me at a daily dose of acetaminophen of approximately 3900 mg, and 4000mg/day is considered the max "safe" dosage.

The problem comes from that fact that I was told that I could take tylenol every four hours as well, 2 hours offset from the fioricet. Each tylenol tablet (extra strength) contains 500mg of acetaminophen. So... just from the tylenol alone, I was taking 6000 mg/day. 50% more than what is considered safe.

Now, add it all up.... 9900mg of acetaminophen per day for the last 7 days.

So I freaked a little and started looking up info on acetaminophen overdoses and found that my insomnia and sweating for the last two days is propbably a direct cause of the amount of this drug that I have been taking. And, though I can't feel anything wrong, I've been beating the hell out of my liver with this crap.


-walker

So I can't remember if you ever said, what is the treatment for your thing? Did they have to do surgury?

the treatment is to basically wait for my body to heal itself. no surgery or anything. there is (or was) about 10 to 15 ml of blood pooled up behind my eyes, and it will eventually work its way to the back of my head and drain down my neck to be re-absorbed by my body.

they just gave me some pills and said, "you'll feel like hell for the next 2 to 4 weeks, but then you'll be all better."

So when DO you get to imbibe again? How long must you stay booze-free?

as soon as I am off the barbituates, I should be ok to ave a beer, but I am supposed to avoid binge drinking for several months. that should be easy since i don't binge drink anyway... i just want to be able to have a beer with my dinner.

Walker-san said:

... and not from my beer. From my pain meds.

I'm sitting here, sweating and unable to sleep, so I decided to look up some info about my meds to see if they were habit forming or anything.

The medicine I am taking (fioricet) contains some barbituates, caffiene, and acetaminophen... 325mg/tablet of the latter. My prescription indicates that I should take 1 or 2 tablets every 4 hours. Since I've been in a lot of pain, I've been taking 2 tablets at a time.

No problem with that, really. That puts me at a daily dose of acetaminophen of approximately 3900 mg, and 4000mg/day is considered the max "safe" dosage.

The problem comes from that fact that I was told that I could take tylenol every four hours as well, 2 hours offset from the fioricet. Each tylenol tablet (extra strength) contains 500mg of acetaminophen. So... just from the tylenol alone, I was taking 6000 mg/day. 50% more than what is considered safe.

Now, add it all up.... 9900mg of acetaminophen per day for the last 7 days.

So I freaked a little and started looking up info on acetaminophen overdoses and found that my insomnia and sweating for the last two days is propbably a direct cause of the amount of this drug that I have been taking. And, though I can't feel anything wrong, I've been beating the hell out of my liver with this crap. -walker

Click to expand...

You don't have all those mgs in your system all at once. You sweat some out, pee some out, dump some out...Check with your doctor or pharmacist and ask them what the "half-life" of those drugs are.

In case you don't know, here's how it works as an example: If a drug has a half-life of 50% with a value of 1 then on day 1 you have 1; take another on day 2 then that's 1 plus .5 from day 1; day 3 will be 3 then .5 for day 2 and .25 for day 1, etc. Get it?

And stop worrying...that'll raise your blood pressure with all that stress.

Something I learned somewhere was "Worrying is like paying interest on a debt you don't own." Quit it! There's no need to worry.

And get better...I'm a heart attack survivor...Feb '97.

Walker hope you're feeling better soon. Have you considered getting a second opinion on everything just to be safe? I know several people who have done this and have been pretty surprised. Doctors certainly aren't pefect and they always seem to go overboard on the meds. I know one guy who was diagnosed with cancer and was scheduled to start chemo. He got a second opinion and, no kidding, he just had a simple cold. Seems most people are more willing to get a second opinion on their car than they are for themselves. Whatever you do, get well.

homebrewer_99 said:

You don't have all those mgs in your system all at once. You sweat some out, pee some out, dump some out...

Click to expand...

I understand that, but you can't argue with the fact they every source you find will say to not ingest more that 4000mg a day and I was ingesting 9900mg.

Anyway, I'm not worried about it. I'm heavier than the average bear and I've been training/conditioning my liver for a while now.

Plus... if *I* worried about it, who the hell would calm my wife down.

-walker

Maybe switch out the acetaminophen and use ibuprophen or aspirin. Since they have a different pain relief path from either acetaminophen or barbituates, the switch would be better than more of the same. I'd certainly check with your doctor first. I've read a few articles on the Mayo Clinic site implying that the effects of acetaminophen accumulate and that a lifetime maximum guideline might be in order.

Way (WAY) to much acetaminophen. Call the doc (meaning talk to his nurse). Being a Saturday means that's out the window...try calling the pharmacist.

Hi,
i was just discussing this with my wife who is an RN she told me that you need to stop taking the tylenol and call your doctor on Monday. Her response when i told her what you were taking is thats a good way to kill yourself.

If it's for short term ask your doctor about Vicoprofen. Good pain management medicine.

Exo said:

Way (WAY) to much acetaminophen. Call the doc (meaning talk to his nurse). Being a Saturday means that's out the window...try calling the pharmacist.

Click to expand...

Saturday or not. Call your doctor. He makes enough money and talking to you for a moment won't do anything to his peacefull Saturday.