Is it better to take two tablets every four hours, or one tablet every two hours.

Assuming that total taken in 24hrs is not exceeded?

Posted 10 years ago

So you just want half the pain relief all the time or all the pain relief most of the time?

Posted 10 years ago

the dosage on the package tells you take them every 4 hours with no more than X in 24 hours.
I would follow that advice personally

Posted 10 years ago

One every two hours to the same total dose as two every 4 hrs will give you a slightly more even effect but its pretty marginal

Posted 10 years ago

cheers TJ, im looking for that ‘slightly more even effect’

Posted 10 years ago

mrs tts is a pharmacist and i have her copy of BNF ( british national formulary.. a druggies bible..) in front of me..
it states a dose size per period of 4 – 6 hours so clearly the intention is that you take the dose and dont repeat the drug for 4 – 6 hours not do half and half I’m confident looking at the detail that if it were more effective taking half the dosage twice as regularly it would say so and it does not.

i can give detail on the rectal dosage if you’d like..

Posted 10 years ago

Calpol via NG tube is where it’s at 🙂

Posted 10 years ago

i can give detail on the rectal dosage if you’d like..

you could, but I think if I did it would be more amusing 🙂

Posted 10 years ago

Totallshell – I have seen this done in hospitals and it makes no odds really assuming total dosage per 24 hrs is not exceeded. Its done when folk are getting breakthru pain before the next dose is due.

to the OP you can also take ibuprofen at the same time as paracetamol.

If in doubt get advice from a pharmacist

Posted 10 years ago

“to the OP you can also take ibuprofen at the same time as paracetamol.”

This you can alternate ibuprofen and paracetamol every 2 hours.

If you die though, don’t blame me 🙂

Posted 10 years ago

Apparently you can triple team with aspirin as well.

Posted 10 years ago

Should dosing be more accurately based on body weight?

Also there will be some safety margin in there so you’d probably get away with taking more for a short period of time.

I always figured that as the packets were sold in 16s you could easily take that amount in one go and not kill yourself.*

*don’t do this!

Posted 10 years ago

paracetomol is very toxic to the liver. lethal dosage is not fr above theraputic dosage and 16 at one go might well kill.

Posted 10 years ago

Not sure if you can take ibuprofen at the same time as aspirin because they are both NSAIDs…?

Posted 10 years ago

and u can also include codeine into the mix and make co codamol

Posted 10 years ago

Ahhh, paracetamol, codeine and brufen. The holy trinity of pain relief…..

Take two paracetamol every 4 hours, take 400mg of brufen every 4 hours (four times a day, not three like it says on the box); alternate them so you are taking something every two hours. Codeine on top if you have been prescribed it.

Don’t take aspirin and brufen as they are both NSAIDs and it will do nothing extra other than give you gut rot and if you’re lucky make you go deaf.

(obviously this is what I would do and not advice I would give to someone I have never met over the internet without knowing why they wanted to take so many painkillers/their medical history, allergies, other meds etc)

p.s. that’s free NHS advice. If the Godforsaken Tory Health Bill gets through you can just owe me the £50

Posted 10 years ago

wont mix with brufen as ive had a couple of heavy weeks on a much stronger NSAID which is no longer having the desired effect

didnt know that about asprin tho, useful to know as i could do with its blood thinning properties for a different issue.

Posted 10 years ago

I always figured that as the packets were sold in 16s you could easily take that amount in one go and not kill yourself

That is quite possibly some of the scariest “logic” I’ve ever heard 😯

and paracetomol is pretty horrible stuff when taken in excess so Never take more than prescribed/told to on the box! Ibuprofen/Codiene certainly help along side it though.

Posted 10 years ago

Are you self medicating or something?

Posted 10 years ago

“I always figured that as the packets were sold in 16s you could easily take that amount in one go and not kill yourself.”

You could always experiment and found out 😆

You used to be able to buy them in 100’s but then they now restrict it to 32’s ? Not sure how that helps really, its only going to stop your very opportunistic suicider, the more thoughtful ones can just stock pile for the main event…

Posted 10 years ago

Are you self medicating or something?

yes and no

now torn between the words of TJ and Totalshell, but find it easier to remember every two hours….. so thats what i’ll do.

Posted 10 years ago

I always figured that as the packets were sold in 16s you could easily take that amount in one go and not kill yourself

The majority of people on the liver transplant waiting list were of a similar opinion, paracetamol is the commonest cause of liver failure 🙂

Posted 10 years ago

Why would you take the advice of a plumber over a doctor?

Posted 10 years ago

You used to be able to buy them in 100’s but then they now restrict it to 32’s ? Not sure how that helps really, its only going to stop your very opportunistic suicider, the more thoughtful ones can just stock pile for the main event…

I think the 16 rule is aimed more at the ‘accidental overdoser’ – the four every two hours kind of folk. It is more likely that these will end up with liver toxicity, rather than suiciders. Perhaps word has got around that paracetamol overdose is a bloody horrible way to go.

Posted 10 years ago

By limiting the amount you can buy there has been a significant reduction in suicides from overdose.. A similar story to making gas safe too!

Also, of you live near a tall, pretty bridge, you are more likely to use that to top yourself…..

DrP

Posted 10 years ago

TheFunkyMonkey – Member
Why would you take the advice of a plumber over a doctor?
POSTED 1 HOUR AGO # REPORT-POST

Depends on what your issue is I’d imagine.

Posted 10 years ago

*don’t do this!

🙄

Posted 10 years ago

Once again Dr_Death and DrP speaks sense.

Posted 10 years ago

full fat pain relief

as recommended by this pharmacist

Posted 10 years ago

mrs tts has added that its 4- 6 hourly as it knackers your liver or sommat if taken more frequently ( i wasnt listening) but she did say alternate with ibuprofen as mentioned above for that extra kicker..

Posted 10 years ago

By limiting the amount you can buy there has been a significant reduction in suicides from overdose.

But that stupid ‘law’ (is it a law?) doesn’t stop you. If I need 2 packets, I just go round the check-out twice.

Posted 10 years ago

Slightly OT, but it drove me up the wall when I used to go and pick up my box of 500 cocodamol, but was only allowed to buy 32 paracetemol at the same time in case I od’d.

Posted 10 years ago

Two every 4 hours…..but yeah paracetamol are generally good for keeping your tempetature down. I myself find that paradox are quite effective..also nurofen are good too-but if you suffer with asthma do not take nurofen or ibuprofen as they can make you wheeze…..

Posted 10 years ago

Geeze spelling mistake. Panadol I meant to say…works well for me.

Posted 10 years ago

I was going to ask my pharmacist wife but seeing that 2 doctors and Mrs TT have already commented I’ll just keep on lurking

Posted 10 years ago

I read somewhere that paracetemol is sold in dissolvable sachets in France so that you have to drink a bucketload of water with it to have an overdose.

Wise to keep track of your paracetemol use if you are really a bit distracted with the pain: a mate used to be a charge nurse in a&e and unbelievably they lost (as in ‘she died’!) a student nurse who was working long hours whilst battling headaches, she lost track of how many/how often over a few days and once she twigged, it was too late. As above, an extremely slow and painful way to die, nothing like the romantic ‘you fall asleep’ death that my patients come in expecting to have had. “You chuck up a bit, feel absolutely terrible, panic and phone an ambulance” is far more like the reality. And as above, you might know a dozen people less healthy than you who have survived overdoses of 16 and yet that dose kills you, or you may have survived a dozen such overdoses yourself and still die from the thirteenth one.

Posted 10 years ago