Tylenol toxicity? How serious?? Please read!

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hi ER nurses. my sister apparently tried to overdose on tylenol PM or was taking it too much over a few days maybe to help her sleep. she is in the ER right now and the docs told my BIL that she has toxic amounts of tylenol in her system and that she may have liver damage, they are giving her n-acetylcysteine and are going to keep her in the hospital for 2 days at least. they told my BIL that she may still die.

is this true? any info you could give me? she is in florida and i am in arizona and it is so hard to not be there. thanks.

breastfeedingRN said:
hi all. my sister is doing much better. she is going to med/surg floor today and I think she might be out of the hospital and into the psychiatric hospital by the next day. she is doing good and now comes the harder part, healing herself emotionally.

from the bottom of my heart, thanks to all those who took the time to respond to my post. it helped me so much to get my questions answered and helped me to have some hope she would get better. thanks!

Gald to hear all is working out for your sister. I hope she continues to improve mental health wise and your family can go back to a certain degree of normalcy.

Z

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traumaRUs said:
It's only recently been approved to give IV - much better tolerated! I probably would also go. We have much more lenient visiting policies - I am a strong advocate of family presence and feel it is a good thing. Take care.

we've been giving it iv for about a year now too.

soooo much better!

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breastfeedingRN said:
hi everyone. it looks like she took 30 extra strength tylenol pms (15 gms) at 5pm and didn't get the mucomyst started until 2am that night. I spoke with her ICU nurse today and she told me that she isn't doing as well as she should be.

apparently they are administering it via NG tube and she keeps vomiting it up, antiemetics aren't helping her to not vomit. she had low urine output today and had some episodes of ventricular bigeminy on her EKG today. they were going to run electrolytes to see if she had imbalances that were possibly causing it that could be corrected, but I don't know anything of those results. they gave her something to see if they could increase urine output or to find out if her kidneys are shutting down.

I keep waffling between trying to get there to see her or not. apparently she only gets a few visiting periods a day for 30 minutes and from 9pm to 9am can have no visitors, not even her husband. I don't even know that I would get there and be able to see her. they won't let her talk to me on the phone either. very frustrating. her day nurse was very informative and nice, but the night nurse was not.

I keep hoping she will be okay, but reality looks different. she is supposed to call me in the morning from her cell phone and I will see how things look and possibly drive there.

thanks for all the info. it is scary to know the possibilities, but better than sitting here wondering and trying to find into online. it is so not my area.

would appreciate any other info you might offer. thanks.

To bad about your sister. Sometimes we really miss things right in front of us. Hopefully she'll get some good help and survive this. Unfortunately, many people think Tylenol is super safe (probably due to advertising) and many peole think 'if one is good, 2 is better, and if 2 might not be enough, take 3. Not only that, but how many peole actually wait the recommmended time between doses to repeat the dose? We had a pt. once that took 3-4 extra strength Tylenol every 3 hours for about 3 days and that was it for her liver. Mucomyst can be effective, as stated by other folks here, but it really will depend on if her liver is not too damaged. And then if it is, will she agree to a transplant? Big issues. Wish you and her, the best.

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breastfeedingRN said:
hi all. my sister is doing much better. she is going to med/surg floor today and I think she might be out of the hospital and into the psychiatric hospital by the next day. she is doing good and now comes the harder part, healing herself emotionally.

from the bottom of my heart, thanks to all those who took the time to respond to my post. it helped me so much to get my questions answered and helped me to have some hope she would get better. thanks!

Hi BreastfeedingRN...

I just logged on and read all the treads. I'm placing you and your family on my prayer list. I pray that your sister will heal physically and emotionally as soon as possible. You are definitely a survivor in all fronts. Lots of hugs to you.

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Specializes in ER.
suetje said:
To bad about your sister. Sometimes we really miss things right in front of us. Hopefully she'll get some good help and survive this. Unfortunately, many people think Tylenol is super safe (probably due to advertising) and many peole think 'if one is good, 2 is better, and if 2 might not be enough, take 3. Not only that, but how many peole actually wait the recommmended time between doses to repeat the dose? We had a pt. once that took 3-4 extra strength Tylenol every 3 hours for about 3 days and that was it for her liver. Mucomyst can be effective, as stated by other folks here, but it really will depend on if her liver is not too damaged. And then if it is, will she agree to a transplant? Big issues. Wish you and her, the best.

They actually started airing commercials recently about the dangers of taking too much tylenol...I've seen it a couple times, but I forget the channel...Hopefully that will help people realize its a helpful drug but certainly not a benign one

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June 20, 2005

When you cannot make up your mind between two evenly balanced courses of action, choose the bolder.

W.J. Slim

Go to your sister. Mary

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Specializes in Emergency nursing, critical care nursing..

Sorry to hear about your sister.

I work in a SICU that specializes in liver transplantation. If the mucomyst doesnt' self correct the damage, it may be irreversiable and she might need a liver transplant to live.

They should be trending her LFT's closely. Sometimes if caught in time, and the proper treatment is given, the liver can be saved.

Hope she does ok.

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sockov said:
Sorry to hear about your sister.

I work in a SICU that specializes in liver transplantation. If the mucomyst doesnt' self correct the damage, it may be irreversiable and she might need a liver transplant to live.

They should be trending her LFT's closely. Sometimes if caught in time, and the proper treatment is given, the liver can be saved.

Hope she does OK.

thanks again everyone. my sister is doing much better. she has been on med/surg floor since yesterday and will be transferred to psych hospital either later today or tomorrow. she wants help and wants to live. she apparently hadn't been taking her meds (she is bipolar) and coupled with all the other stress in her life she just snapped.

her husband is now being mean to her, when he was really supportive before. is complaining how it is "all about her", etc. maybe this is normal for someone who had close family try to commit suicide? don't know, but making me mad. his 2 faceness has been apparent to me since this whole thing started, saying things to sound all supportive and great and then in the next breath saying so stupid comment. I really hope she gets help and realizes she is in a really dysfunctional marraige.

anyway, I thank you all for your support, info and advice throughout this whole ordeal. I really appreciate it.

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Dear Breastfeeding,

Her husband's reaction is probably based in some reality. It must be very difficult to have a mentally ill partner. And suicide is often perceived by others to be a selfish act that deeply hurts family members. So, I would try and have some compassion for him. He's not perfect and is forced always to be the strong one, deal with his confused and hurt children, etc.

God Bless you, I'll say a prayer for you today.

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mystery5 said:
dear breastfeeding,

her husband's reaction is probably based in some reality. it must be very difficult to have a mentally ill partner. and suicide is often perceived by others to be a selfish act that deeply hurts family members. so, I would try and have some compassion for him. he's not perfect and is forced always to be the strong one, deal with his confused and hurt children, etc.

god bless you, I'll say a prayer for you today.

I agree somewhat with this, but at the same time, we do not know how he was treating his wife prior to here suicide attempt. I think that due to the history, they all need counselling to move forward through this. whether that means together or separate remains to be seen.

(((((((hugs)))))))))) to the op, my brother attempted suicide in december, was flown unconscious to a level 1. I can empathize with what you and your family are going through. there are sooooo many various emotions for all of you.

stay strong and give it to god, he is standing by waiting to hear you. take care and I will keep you in my prayers!

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Specializes in MICU, SICU, PACU, Travel nursing.

had a pt who was in her 20's almost die from that a month or so ago. she was taking tylenol every few hours for fever and taking darvocet and lortab [not a presciption, supplied by family] with it for some injury she had. well, she didn't know tylenol was in the lortabs and darvocets and ended up on the vent unresponsive with liver failure for awhile, her recovery was long and painful for her family, they called her survival "a miracle". alot of pt's have no idea of the harm possible with "just tylenol"

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Specializes in Telemetry, ICU, Resource Pool, Dialysis.

((((((((((BreastfeedingRN)))))))))))))))) Like Mytery said, I think your BIL's behaviour is pretty normal. Most people, at some level, are angry at a loved one who attempts or commits suicide. Especially when that attempt leads to an extremely stressful recovery, like your sister's. Now that the immediate crisis is over, his anger is surfacing. And as ernurse mentioned, he will need counseling along with her.Good luck, and I'm so relieved that she is recovering so well physically.

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