Took Tylenol Along With Cold Medicine And Lortabs. Should I Be Concerned?

Posted on Fri, 5 Apr 2013

Question: Between friday night and early saturday morning i had taken stupidly 5500 mg of tyenol. Between cold medicine and lortabs 7.5/500. I have had no problems but reading so many sites it scares me. I have been going to the bathroom normally and eating fine. Should I be worried? How long should i avoid any medicine with tyenol in it?
I also took 2 lortabs (the same mentioned above) due to pain this morning (sunday).

Answered by Dr. Grzegorz Stanko (41 minutes later)

Hello!

Thank you for the query.

Usually the toxic dosage of Acethaminophen varies between 10 000 - 15 000 mg. So there is a chance that 5500 mg wont cause life threatening toxic liver damage (it depends of the individual liver enzymes ability to metabolize it), but this is just a theory.

This is the dosage which for sure caused SOME damage of your liver (you never know how serious this damage is). And as the first symptoms of liver damage do appear after 2 days of Acethaminophen intake, I suggest you to visit your doctor as soon as possible. Liver tests should be done and Acethaminophen level tested. There are medicines which can be given for Acethaminophen intoxication.

And please do not take Loratabs as it also contains Acethaminophen and you can make your liver condition worse.

It takes 24 hours for complete Acethaminophen elimination and next dosage can be taken after that time.

Hope this will help. Feel free to ask further questions.
Regards.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar

Follow up: Dr. Grzegorz Stanko (9 minutes later)

so it has been over 24 hours since i took the Acethaminophen, does that mean it has been eliminated from my body?

Answered by Dr. Grzegorz Stanko (1 minute later)

It can be eliminated if liver works property. In such high dosage when for sure some part of liver has been destroyed, this process can take much longer.

Hope this will help.
Regards.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar

Follow up: Dr. Grzegorz Stanko (0 minute later)

besides this morning about 9 a.m., the last i took Acethaminophen was saturday morning around 3:00 a.m.

Answered by Dr. Grzegorz Stanko (3 minutes later)

Saturday morning is less than 2 days, so the symptoms of liver damage could not appear yet. And there is still something can be done to improve liver condition and help with Acethaminophen elimination. Maybe you wont need any medicines, but you risk too much waiting and not doing anything. So please visit your doctor.

Regards.

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Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar