Can you take too many Tylenol 3's? What should the limit be?

Question

I am taking it for the pain in my mouth and it is doing nothing for the pain. I am not able to sleep............ What can I do?

Answer 1

You need to be concerned with the acetaminophen (Tylenol) level when you take these pills.  Tylenol #3 contains 300mg of acetaminophen.  The daily (24 hour) max dosage is 4000mg.  You do not want to take more than 1000mg at a time.  Both of these are for protection of your liver.  This means that you can take 3 at a time (900mg) and a max of 13 in a 24 hour period.  This is, however, not advised.  You should follow the instructions given by your doctor.  If you are finding that the Tylenol w/ codeine is not adequately relieving your pain, you should contact your doctor and request a stronger prescription.  You can supplement the Tylenol #3's with ibuprofen for additional pain relief.

You also need to be concerned with the effects of the codeine.  Since it is an opiate it can cause CNS (Central Nervous System) depression.  This can cause your breathing to become shallow.  Too much CNS depression can cause your breathing to stop.  Codeine is generally considered a fairly mild opiate, though.  There are a lot of people who don't think that Tylenol #3 does much more than Tylenol alone.