<https://bgr.com/2020/11/01/acetaminophen-safety-tylenol-paracetamol/>
The research focuses on recent data showing a clear increase in the number of poisoning cases resulting from #acetaminophen and the various pills that contain it.
“It is a very safe drug, but only for short-term pain relief and as long as the daily dosage does not go above the recommended range,” Andrea Burden, co-author of the study, said in a statement.
The data the researchers used is specific to Switzerland, but the trend of increased poisonings appears to be much more widespread, and the cause is likely the same across the board. The medication is available easily over the counter, and while directions make it clear that those with pain of various types should be using only the lowest effective dosage, they tend to ignore those guidelines and take higher dosages. For patients that the drug doesn’t work well for, that means taking quite a bit more than the safe dose.
“One problem with #paracetamol is that it is not effective for all patients or against all forms of pain,” Burden says. “If the drug doesn’t help to ease someone’s symptoms, they may be tempted to increase the dosage without consulting a medical professional. That’s the real problem.”