How serious is this overdose?

Your friend MUST CALL AN AMBULANCE NOW !!!!!

Please !!! Make sure that your friend knows that if she waits....she or he will die.....I am sorry to be so blunt....but I cannot push this ENOUGH..waiting means dying...good luck, you are a good friend...fingers crossed...DEIRDRE xxx

ARE YOU KIDDING?

Well let's start with the product monograph. Paracetamol or acetaminophen as its known in North America has set the maximum recommended daily dose at 3000mg. First Synthesized in 1887, it wan't until 2011 that The American FDA asked that it be reduced from 4000mg to 3000mg. So we have an individual taking a dose not exceeding even the warning from the extremely litigation wary manufacturer and the US body that oversees the manufacturer. The LD50 is estimated at 400 mg per kg. Therefore if 20 of these individuals consumed 4000 mg each (which is a lot more than the 3000mg in this case ...and here is the kicker.....all 20 were a hefty 10kg or 22 pounds each..... only half of them would be expected to suffer a fatal overdose. So unless we are talking about a 10 or even a 30  month old baby maybe we should slow down a bit with the panic button. Yes, taking this amount for more than 10 consecutive days is discouraged. Yes, permant liver damage is a concern with excessive paracetamol but not on 4g/day.especially if other meds like phenobarbital, phenytoin (Dilantin), orcarbamazepine (Tegretol) (anti-seizure medications) or isoniazid (INH,Nydrazid, Laniazid) are absent. - Yes, acetaminophen is often the culprit in OD fatalities but at much much higer doses. Yes, there are  cases of OD at the 3-4g level but do, rare the drive to the ER would be much more likely to result in death.

So ,lets go with aspirin 650mg up to 6x per day which puts us at almost 4000mg .hmmm. sound familiar

As these meds operate on different physiological systems the effects are not compounded with the combination,

on to ibuprofen with a safe dosage set at 1200mg/day

Now, this combo may cause stomach irritation - maybe bleeding but not life threatening.

26 mg of diazepam, well Oral LD50 of diazepam is 720 mg/kg in mice and 1240 mg/kg in rats so I'll let you so the math, In all likelihood this individual would have fallen asleep woken a few hours later and maybe complaining of a bit of tummy upset.......certainly not in stomach pumping land.

So , Im not suggesting a trip to the hospital was unwarranted as it may be an indication of (very poorly researched) suicidal ideation or some other psychiatric issue and I do advocate that when in doubt seeking medical help is always a good idea. But someone posted asking for help in what they thought might be a crisis. What they got was AN UNNECESSARY  PANIC ATTACK  and a perfect example of why asking for medical information from a website is an awful idea. 

Why not call your pharmacy or "chemist" , a family doctor might be a resource.Anyone think of reading a bottle label before offering such expertise?

What if one of these moronic CALLS FOR IMMEDIATE MEDICAL ATTENTION caused a car crash enroute to the hospital. 

My god you should be ashamed!

ala 

"HI...this overdose if not treated will be fatal....even if treated is can and likely has caused irreparable liver and kidney damage...

HI...this overdose if not treated will be fatal....even if treated is can and likely has caused irreparable liver and kidney damage...

Your friend MUST CALL AN AMBULANCE NOW !!!!!

I apparently intertrupted a garden party, adieu 

YOUR long and thoroughly unpleasant post helps no one.....

One...I was once a NURSE in a casualty dept....two...I have been in that same situation, I was hospitalized for two days.....

You are dealing with people who are unhappy and scared on this forum...SO..IF YOU CANNOT SAY SOMETHING KIND OR HELPFUL...THEN KEEP YOUR CONDESCENDING, UNHELPFUL..AND TOTALLY, TOTALLY UNCALLED FOR COMMENTS TO YOURSELF....SHAME ON YOU, YOU COULD BE CAPABLE OF PUSHING SOMEONE OVER THE EDGE....DEIRDRE....