| Alternative Names:
|
| Tylenol # 3 |
| Home Treatment:
|
| Seek emergency medical care immediately. Both Tylenol and codeine overdoses can be rapidly fatal. DO NOT INDUCE VOMITING.
|
| Before Calling Emergency:
|
Determine the following information:- The patient's age, weight, and condition
- The name of the product (as well as the ingredients and strength, if known)
- The time it was swallowed
- The amount swallowed
- If the medication was prescribed for the patient
|
| Poison Control, or a local emergency number:
|
| See Poison Control Centers for telephone numbers and addresses. Take the container with you to the emergency room.
|
| What to expect at the emergency room:
|
- For swallowed poison
- Placement of a tube down the nose and into the stomach (a nasogastric tube, or an NG tube) to wash out the stomach (gastric lavage).
- Activated charcoal administration.
- Give IV fluids.
- Admission to the hospital.
- For Tylenol, N-Acetyl cysteine is given if the blood Tylenol level is high enough. Without the antidote, the patient has fatal liver failure.
- Treat the symptoms.
- Give a counteracting medication (narcotic antagonist). Multiple doses may be needed.
|
| Expectations (prognosis):
|
| If an antidote can be given, recovery from an acute overdose often occurs within 24-48 hours. |
