Ziekenhuispatienten lopen een risico op een overdosering van paracetamol!

Toen ik dit voorjaar na een darmperfortie in het ziekenhuis opgenomen was, kreeg ik na de operatie grote hoeveelheden paracetamol aangereikt. Per dag 3 maal 2 pillen van 1000 mg! Niet te geloven! Ik had geen pijn, dus ik weigerde die pillen te slikken. "Mevrouw, we willen dat u een bepaald niveau van deze pijnstiller in uw bloed heeft!" "Dat kan wel zijn, maar ik heb geen pijn, dus ik neem die pillen niet". Het viel niet in goede aarde, maar niemand kan een patiënt dwingen de pillen in te nemen natuurlijk. Daar kwam nog bij dat ik over het algemeen veel minder van een medicijn nodig heb (zoals veel mensen hebben), maar daar wordt niet naar gekeken. Mijn kleine lijfje van 50 kilo krijgt net zoveel paracetamol als iemand van 100 kilo. Protocol is protocol! Het is diep triest dat de geneeskunde nog steeds niet weet dat paracetamol zeer schadelijk is voor de lever. In hoge doseringen kan het leverfalen veroorzaken!

Dear Reader,

Shocking? Frightening? Infuriating?
I've been writing about the paracetamol (acetaminophen) toxicity crisis for years. So I can't believe it's still a major issue. But it is.
What's really troubling is that even some health officials are still not getting the message about paracetamol and that means that a hospital stay could put you in grave danger.

Sound the alarm

By now, you would think that all doctors and nurses would be on high alert to prevent liver toxicity from paracetamol overdosing.
Wrong.
In a new study, 1 in 15 hospital patients treated with paracetamol were given doses greater than the amount recommended in a 24-hour period. Most of these patients received excess doses more than once.
But here's what's really staggering. In patients with liver diseases, nearly 20 per cent received excess doses. That's like treating alcohol poisoning with tequila shots!
Many of the subjects were getting excess doses because they also received drugs like Vicodin and Percocet. These and other popular drugs contain paracetamol, making overdose risk all too easy.
One liver specialist said that these study results were "a bit alarming."
A bit? Well that's one way to completely understate it.
He also predicts that this problem will drop off as the medical authorities "crack down" on paracetamol in narcotics.
Riiight! I'm sure we're going to see a LOT of cracking down... Just sit tight. The problem will practically fix itself!
Please don't hold your breath.
What you CAN do is go on high alert if you have a family member or close friend in the hospital. We can't expect patients — especially those in pain — to keep track of dosing. With different nurses coming on and off of shifts, they might easily get dosage details crossed up in the shuffle.
But by all means, if a patient has a liver disease, confront a doctor directly about paracetamol use. 

Paracetamol (acetaminophen) is de meest algemene oorzaak voor leverfalen

Acetaminophen poisoning has become the most common cause of acute liver failure in the United States," report the authors of a study, published in Hepatology. While attempted suicides still account for many cases, almost half are the result of unintentional overdose.

Acetaminophen, also known as Paracetamol, is the most widely used pain reliever in the United States — 36 percent of Americans ingest it at least once a month — but taking more than the recommended dose can lead to fatal liver injury.

While intentional overdoses generally present early after ingestion and can be treated with the amino acid N-acetylcysteine (NAC), unintentional overdoses are usually not recognized until later.

If you're taking acetaminophen (Tyelenol or Excedrin) please take 500mg of NAC a day. NAC can be purchased at any health food store.

Paracetamol is heel slecht voor de lever!!!

Pain is Complicated

After I posted the article Save Your Liver – Just Say No to this Drug, which is about the dangers of the drug Tylenol (acetaminophen), I received a number of comments and emails asking for advice about natural alternatives for treating pain.

Short-term or Acute Pain

There’s a big difference between short-term or acute pain, and long-term or chronic pain. If you have short-term pain because you got hit on the head by a board, or sprained your ankle, or had one-too-many the night before, or tried to lift the couch by yourself, or wrenched your knee in yoga class, take an aspirin or ibuprofen or acetaminophen and get on with it. (If you had one-too-many don’t take acetaminophen, your liver has already been abused.) You may also want to apply ice to the affected part for quicker relief and healing. Pain drugs aren’t, for the most part, dangerous in the short term.

Long-term or Chronic Pain

Chronic pain, like relationships and calculus, is complicated. How we experience and cope with pain is unique to each of us. Let’s take headaches for example, which are the single biggest reason that we reach for an over-the-counter painkiller. There are literally dozens of possible underlying causes of a headache, from allergies and sinus infections to eye strain and stress, and—you guessed it—side effects of prescription drugs. The best long-term way to cure chronic headaches, and almost any chronic pain, is to find the underlying cause. I’m not aware of one single drug, prescription or over-the-counter, that doesn’t have serious side effects when used long term. Not one. So it’s worth it to devote attention and energy to finding underlying causes for chronic pain.

Headache Causes and Remedies

How to Find the Cause of a Headache by Dr. John Lee

5 Natural Headache Remedies

Prescription Drugs that Can Cause Headaches

Chronic Back Pain

If you have chronic back pain, the book Healing Back Pain by John E. Sarno M.D. is required reading. I’m sure that I’ve gifted at least a few dozen people with this book since it was published in 1991. Sarno was an orthopedic surgeon who specialized in spine surgery, but eventually he realized that what he was seeing on x-rays had little or nothing to do with people’s pain levels and he began to delve into the psycho-emotional aspects of back pain. In short, many of us tend to store our emotional pain in our lower back muscles, which become tight, which blocks the flow of blood, which causes pain. Sarno now practices MindBody medicine and is an expert on the subject of chronic pain.

Arthritis

If you have osteoarthritis, the biggest secret to pain relief is to keep moving. So simple and so true. Stretching and walking are essential. Before getting out of bed in the morning, or getting up out of a chair, stretch a little. You don’t need to know yoga to stretch; just do what feels good, gently. Keeping inflammation down is also important, and if you have a flare-up it’s important to take an anti-inflammatory such as aspirin, ibuprofen or naproxen right away. You can also use some over-the-counter cortisol cream for quick relief. When the flare-up pain has subsided, start moving and try to figure out what caused the flare-up.

Inflammation Causes and Remedies

How to Reduce Inflammation Naturally

5 Ways to Lower C-reactive Protein (a marker of inflammation)

Rheumatoid arthritis can often be dramatically helped by identifying food sensitivities with an elimination diet and then avoiding the offending foods. You can find instructions on this as well as many, many other natural remedies in Prescription Alternatives.

More Information — Other Sources of Pain, Remedies and Causes

PMS

PCOS

Estrogen Dominance

Fever/flu

Heartburn