Different issues regarding the safety and effectiveness of various medications available today in the market are arising. Government officials and health care professionals are continuing to evaluate and reassess the effectiveness and safety of many medications used by the general public to protect and help save lives of many individuals who are using these medications and are hopeful that their diseases will be treated.

Also, researchers are trying to conduct further studies about the possible side effects and adverse effects of medications in order to make proper recommendations in terms of the proper use and consumption of these drugs. Recently, it was noted that a drug which is a pain killer known as acetaminophen may damage the liver in the long run when taken in excess.

Acetaminophen or known for its brand name Tylenol is a drug belonging to the drug class called as analgesics or pain killers. The action of this drug is that it increases the pain threshold of an individual which means that there should be a great amount of painful stimuli before the person can actually feel the pain sensations. This drug was approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 1951.

On the recent study which was published in the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology, findings of the study showed that taking a little too much of the prescribe dose of the said pain reliever can actually lead to an overdose which puts the liver into dilemma causing damage to its cells. Also, this can lead to liver failure and can even become more fatal which can cause death.

The new study involved the analysis and examination of data from about 663 patients who are actually suffering from acetaminophen induced liver injury. These patients were currently admitted in the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, Scotland dated between 1992 and 2008.

Moreover, findings of the study reveals that out of the 663 study participants, about 161 had suffered from a staggered overdose of taking Acetaminophen because the patients were trying to achieve pain relief for their recurrent and episodes of pain sensations brought about by different causes.

These results were compared to those study participants who were taking only single overdose of acetaminophen. Researchers found out that those patients who suffered from staggered overdosing of the drug were more likely to develop liver and brain health risk.

As stated in the Life Extension Website, “when a person with suspected acetaminophen poisoning is admitted to a hospital, the standard treatment is to administer a prescription drug called Mucosil as rapidly as possible. This drug inhibits the buildup of toxic by-products in the liver, thus limiting free radical damage and antioxidant depletion.”

“The main ingredient in Mucosil is the nutrient N-acetylcysteine (NAC). In cases of acetaminophen poisoning, NAC should be administered within eight hours of ingestion of the acetaminophen. NAC stimulates synthesis of glutathione, which reduces free radical damage in the liver (Harris RA et al 2002). It also may act on the acetaminophen metabolite that directly depletes glutathione (Bartlett D 2004; Ankeer A 2001).”

email

print