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Old 13th May 2014, 14:00
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Mac the Knife

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"...have seen death in as little as 7.5gms/24 hrs..."

MAX rec. dosage of paracetamol is 6gm/24hrs for an adult so that is not "little", it's well over the top. 12-15gm in one shot will likely lead to hepatotoxicity

(I'm not knocking paracetamol - it is a really good drug with a very acceptable safety profile so long as you don't go crazy)



When I was a medical houseman, the use of iv acetylcysteine to prevent fatal liver damage in paracetamol OD para-suicides had not been discovered. Treatment was messy, complicated and not particularly effective - people died, and took a long time about it.

[IV acetylcysteine is almost 100% effective in preventing liver damage when given within 8 hours of the OD]
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