Is it possible to over-overdose?

Question

I read somewhere that you can take too many painkillers and the amount of poison would just cause you to pass out and then be very very sick the next day. I was wondering if it really is possible?

PS I am not suicidal and trying to find tips.

Answer 1

Too much of most drugs will cause you problems.

Answer 2

Yes it is.

Answer 3

You may not be seeking ' tips ' but others might be looking for them

Answer 4

yes it is possible- be careful taking any medication

Answer 5

You can OD on anything and everything....

You might want to phrase your question better as it mightn't be the best thing for certain people to come across you know?

Answer 6

Yes of corz u can u can either be very very sick or die, never go over the recomended dose.

Answer 7

tips on what? how to pass out to frighten someone

Answer 8

You would die.

Answer 9

If you mean taking too many painkillers= taking the normal dose continually then I'd have to say it depends. Acetaminophen/Paracetemol can be dosed at 1 g four times daily when you have a cold for about 3 days but the feeling is you saturate the glutathione system for secondary metabolism of the drug if you don't reduce to 1 g three times daily. Thus arthritis patients who use paracetamol would be best to use no more than 1 g three times daily. If you took a Non steroidal anti inflammatory drug like Ibuprofen then you would have a bigger range of dosing to try. Long term dosing would probably have a risk of stomach ulcers and also your kidneys could be damaged . I guess those people taking it longterm probably need misoprostol/ antiulcer medication and their kidney function monitored. Since the Vioxx crisis it has been felt all NSAID drugs will potentially induce heart problems in some people

If you talk about opiod painkillers eg morphine, dextropropoxyphene, oxycodone, tramadol, codeine then its more complex. These painkillers typically fall into weak/moderate and strong groupings and they have different affects on different body systems such as breathing etc. We have lots of opiod receptors in our bodies responding to natural pain relieving substances( enkephalins and endorphins) and the opium poppy and to a lesser extent the bracteatum poppy evolved plant alkaloids( opium) in order to reduce their animal predators ( well maybe not seen as we are so oncessed with poppy products!). One of the major fears with opiod drugs is causing the person to forget to breathe, the familiar OD of heroin addicts. To this mind, tramadol and meptid are the drugs of choice where respiratory failure is a possibility eg an asthmatic/ emphsyma patient. Dextropropoxyphene was famous for its moderate pain killing abilities but major depression of breathing and was withdrawn in britain. Opiod drugs have different binding abilities to their receptors versus abilities to stimulate the receptor. Buprenorphine binds 200 times more strongly to the morphine receptors than morphine but is about 1/20th its strength. So if you were to dose a patient with say cancer pain with MST slow release morphine and give then temgesic( buprenorphine) for breakthrough pain, the temgesic would outcompete the morphine at its receptor but provide poor pain relief...pain gets worse as morphine is blocked. This is the basis of naloxone and nalatrxone the OD injection antidotes you see on ER. So in pain control the answer is to use like with like...morphine with MST and oxynorm with oxycontin.

Lastly, in cancer pain the principle used is not to allow pain appear. If pain appears it induces psychological fear and it makes the pain harder to treat. Essentially therefore there is no upperdose of morphine although the dose increases are slowly titrated up until stable.

There isn't Poison as such but I guess you could be under tackling the pain eg using tramadol for a cancer pain when you probably need morphine and using too much tramadol when you really need a step up in potency. Ofcourse any opiod pain killer can make you drowsy and giddy- My Mom bravely fought off pain from gangarene in her legs and her escalating doses of oxycontin and morphine made her a little bizarre at times but it was an expected side effect.

In the end, talk it out with the doctor...what is your pain source ? Is the cause fixable? There are often lots of minor procedures can be done to relieve pain immensly eg palliative radiotherapy for liver metastises. Pain is fully treatable by specialists in pain management....its the guys who do their best in between with minor pain killers that prolong the pain by not realising what is appropriate treatment. Hope this helps:)