Tylenol toxicity? How serious?? Please read!

[breastfeedingRN]

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.

[sockov, ADN, ASN, BSN, CNA, LVN]

seaofsapphires said:

I was 16 when I attempted suicide, I am now 32. Lately, I have been thinking about the whole thing and decided to look up some information on what I did to see how serious the whole thing was. In looking up info., I came across your post, I am not a nurse but thought my story might help.

After being raped and not telling anyone, my parents divorcing, my mom telling me that the divorce was all my fault and that I had 15 devils in me, I took 100 Extra-Strength Tylenol (without throwing up), wrote my suicide note, and went to bed. I was not playing around and didn't plan on waking up...I figured an entire new bottle would do the trick. Well, it didn't...I woke up the next morning about 8 hours later throwing up over and over but I saw that I wasn't throwing up any pills so I was hoping I would still die.

My mom came in the bathroom and asked me what was wrong and I looked at her and she knew. She found the tylenol bottle but I ran and hid the suicide note, I was hoping she would not take me to the hospital. She rushed me to the hospital, against my will, which was 30 minutes away. I threw up in the car the whole way.

When I got there the er Dr. took my blood and later showed me a chart and said I was double the amount of toxicity that it takes to kill a person and that I should be dead and I will probably die. He told me that he could not understand why I was still living and that it medically did not make since. Then he proceeded to yell at me and asked me if I understood that I could die. "Hello" isn't that the point of suicide!

Anyway, I don't know much after that, I woke up a week later in ICU and felt like I was dead. I then spent another week in a regular room. Then they sent me to some crazy place that was terrible with insane people, not depressed people.

I have put this out of my mind since then, I turned my life around...finished highschool, went to college, got a 4.0, got married and had children, became an elementary teacher, got my graduate degree, and never think of suicidal thoughts.

I have never told doctors through the years because I find it quite embarrasing to talk about face to face. I wonder if I would still need to have my liver checked, I haven't since I was 16?? They told me at the time that I had cirrocis(sp.) of the liver. Does anyone know? I would rather not bring it up with the Dr.

Anyway, I wish your family all the luck in the world and I am testimony to the fact that even when things look entirely bleak everything can turn out better than you ever thought. I am a very happy person and happy to be alive. I hope your sister can do the same.

Sincerely,

Jennifer

If I were you, I would go to a doctor, be open and honest and don't be ashamed. Get a complete liver work up. Coags, LFTs, chem. 14. You may have severe liver damage. Sounds like you made a complete recovery, but I would still get it checked out. You may still need a liver transplant.

[suebird3]

My thoughts and prayers are with you.

In LTC, we are VERY careful with the Tylenol......no more than 4000 mg of Tylenol in 24 hours (or 2 Tylenol 500's every 6 hours.)

[BabyRN2Be]

seaofsapphires,

I second the idea of going in and getting it checked out. I'm so happy for you that you've got your life together! You've worked through a lot and it looks like you have a lot to show for it! Good work! Be sure to explain to the doc that you do have your life together, things are going pretty well for you and you just want to have things checked out to be on the safe side.

Good work!

[sgent]

I would definately have your doc run the tests as part of your annual physical. There is a lot that still might be wrong with you -- or might not be.

As to telling your doc about it, remember that even your average Family Physician manages medical issues for a lot psychiatric cases, many much worse than yours. You are not alone, but you need to be safe.

Now... my one bit of advise is that you offer to pay for the tests yourself if the doctor can't find a reason to run them other than "prior liver damage". The reason is that if you run the tests and are fine, but your doc submits a claim to an insurance co. with a diagnosis of prior liver dmg, that could affect your ability to obtain life/disability/medical insurance in the future.

The CMP, which is the test he will most likely order, is used for a lot of different issues though, so he might be able to bill it under something else if also indicated for that. (skin disorders, hair disorders, etc).