paracetamol

I googled "panadol" and got over 51,000 citations--I didn't look at them all, maybe some of them were not appropriate.

I also googled the drug with the word "drowsy" and came up with references to "non-drowsy," which were all about panadol in combo with something else (usually allergy meds) which might make one sleepy under normal circumstances.

I've never heard of acetaminophen making anybody drowsy, but mixed with other stuff that does, oh yeah, there's lots of that out there.

Hope this helped!

We sometimes give patients a couple of paracetamol at night to help them sleep. I would attribute it to a placebo effect (they're sometimes handed over when the patient is having trouble sleeping and the resident doesn't want to order a sedative, with the owrds "these should start to work in about half an hour and will help you sleep) except that the practice started after several patients requested paracetamol at tnight to help them sleep. I don't have any idea if there's a physiological effect, though.

Paracetamol does not make a patient drowsy. You won't find any literature that says otherwise... However there are paractamol preparations that can have codeine added. This may make a patient drowsy.

thanks everyone for your response- it has shed some light on the matter. will have to continue the search, i guess. Enjoy your weekend

cheers,rivergirl

will have to continue the search, i guess

This drug does not, in and of itself, make one sleepy.

It is often combined with medications for pain or for cold or allergy symptoms, and those may make one sleepy.

It is my belief that you can search all you want, but you will not find anything different.

May I make three suggestions that will at least abbreviate your search process?

1) Look the drug up in your drug book. Look especially in the area of adverse effects or complications. Liver damage will be there, but not sleepiness.

2) Look at the insert provided by the manufacturer and included in the drug's packaging. You probably will not find anything about drowsiness there.

3) Ask a professional face to face: a nurse you know and trust, or perhaps your own physician. This may be especially helpful, since it seems you are rather convinced that the drug has this effect and that person may be able to clarify whatever it is that has contributed so strongly to your opinion.

Any drowsiness resulting from giving this drug is due to the giving of the drug, not the drug itself. This is the "placebo" effect, and can be a very strong factor. It arises from the patient's trust in the medication and in the person administering it (so if this has been happening when you give this drug to your patients, you can consider that a sort of compliment!).

If you should find that this drug causes sleepiness, I hope you will post your findings (and citation, of course) on this BB.

Happy Hunting!

i have a query regarding panadol...why does it make you sleepy? cannot find any answer anywhere, so thought i'd post it here, as it was a question put to us by our lecturers (im a 1st year undergrad). thanks. rivergirl.

the following statement was extracted from mims online...

symptoms. toxic symptoms include vomiting, abdominal pain, hypotension, sweating, central stimulation with exhilaration and convulsions in children, drowsiness, respiratory depression, cyanosis and coma.

so, yes it can cause drowsiness, but only in overdose. poisons information will also tell you this.

thanks guys, just needed info for uni. your help is much appreciated.

cheers, rivergirl:p

the following statement was extracted from mims online...

symptoms. toxic symptoms include vomiting, abdominal pain, hypotension, sweating, central stimulation with exhilaration and convulsions in children, drowsiness, respiratory depression, cyanosis and coma.

so, yes it can cause drowsiness, but only in overdose. poisons information will also tell you this.