Here’s a little-known fact: Acetaminophen — not alcohol — is the leading cause of acute liver failure in Canada.
Because the shortage of livers available for transplants is in the news these days, this fact is actually vital information.
In an era when people pop pills for a variety of ailments, it’s much easier to overdose on this particular drug — and seriously hurt your liver — than you may have thought. And while experts say most overdoses are intentional, more than 20 per cent are accidental.
We can do something about these.
Read the labels in the drug store: Acetaminophen is an ingredient in hundreds of over-the-counter products, including Tylenol. Doses vary, from 325 mg tablets to 500 mg, the “extra strength” variety. If you have a cold or flu, you might not grab just the extra strength pills; you might swallow them alongside some specialized cold medication or hot drink that also contains acetaminophen. You might not realize you’d done this. It wouldn’t take all that much for an accidentally toxic result.
In fact, it’s now thought that Delilah Saunders, the Inuk woman who made headlines recently after being denied a liver transplant, suffered her liver failure because of acetaminophen, which she had been taking for jaw pain.
(Acetaminophen is also more likely to damage the livers of people who have abused alcohol or already have a liver-health issue of some sort.)
What’s the solution? Some experts want the extra-strength variety banned altogether. We disagree — you can’t resort to the nanny state every time a product has potential for abuse. (This is a society that doesn’t ban smoking, for heaven’s sake.)
Used properly, the 500 mg tablets help and are a better solution to the self-medicating consumer who might otherwise sub in two 325 mg pills — an even higher dose. Let’s not pretend to solve a problem.
So what can be done? We agree with better, more helpful labelling, and this is coming: Drug manufacturers this year will be required to clearly label products that contain acetaminophen.
We also see some merit in the suggestion that drugstores keep stronger doses behind the counter. You wouldn’t need a prescription, but if you had to request your extra-strength pill from the pharmacist, you’d likely get a quick safety chat as you purchased it. That kind of education would help.
No solution can prevent deliberate abuse of drugs, and a ban on Extra-Strength Tylenol won’t do it, either. What we can achieve is to educate and caution people who simply want relief from illness. Informed patients will look out for their own livers.