I know this is O/T, but I cant think of another place where I could ask this question anonymously. Im too embarrassed to ask a doctor.

When I was in high school (over 10 years ago), I tried to commit suicide by overdosing on Tylenol PM. One could argue I wasn't really serious (and was just calling for help), because I didn't even take the whole bottle. It was probably 20 tablets. I survived, and didn't seek any medical attention. My question is: is it possible that I have permanent liver or kidney damage that just hasn't created problems yet? Or am I probably ok?

And just to reassure everybody, I'm totally fine now and haven't had clinical depression or suicidal thoughts since high school. I only bring this up because I just read about someone else who overdosed on Tylenol PM who had liver and kidney failure and died.

Thanks for any info.

A toxic overdose of paracetamol (Tylenol) will cause liver failure in the days/weeks following the overdose, not many years later. You are fine.

your liver can regenerate itself so if you did accidentally damage it, since then it has regenerated.

Paracetamol toxicitybegins within 12-24 hours of overdose and is an extremely painful way to go.

Like previous poster said - you are fine now. You escaped toxicity so no damage was caused. The person you read about had damaged one organ which lead to the failure of another organ, and another, etc til the system broke down and patient died.

I know, because I had to get one 11 years ago after doing the same thing. The doctors and nurses did about a hundred tests to make sure I was ok. I'm very lucky I didn't end up with brain damage or internal organ damage.

Not to minimize what you went through, but 20 tablets isn't that much in comparison, so you should be fine. I knew another person who ate a whole bottle and woke up the next day. She spent about three days on the toilet. I ate 3 *economy* sized bottles of Tylenol PM, Tylenol, and Ibuprofen (yes, I really wanted to die that badly and thought it would happen in a matter of a couple of hours.)

The liver really is truly amazing though and can repair and regenerate itself if given the proper care. Take care of yourself.

The liver is damaged most often be chronic use of some toxic substance, alcohol, for instance. A single overdose would probably be absorbed and the organ would heal. We have excess liver capacity, so even if part of it is scarred it still works. If you had severely damaged yours, you'd likely have had symptoms ever since then.

When my niece made an attempt with Tylenol she ate an economy size bottle. She changed her mind and called my SIL in time to go to emergency and have her stomach pumped.

She was in the hospital for several days taking charcoal tablets and something else to detox her system. (as a side note the smell in her room as appalling).

Made for an interesting week since my mother was two floors above her recovering from brain surgery at the same time. Could not tell her about the niece since the doctor did not want her blood pressure to spike.

I tried to kill myself by taking 100 capsules of extra strength Tylenol two years ago. I eventually went to the hospital after 32 hours and was hooked up to IV's for the antidote for 4 days (and then was required to go to the inpatient psych ward for a couple of days after that), but I had waited long enough that I have severe liver damage even though my liver did not immediately fail (which they initially were concerned about in the ER).

You may have some liver damage, but there is very little that can be done for that organ. Do you have inflammation and swelling? If not, then you should be fine.

Your health care provider can check your liver function with a simple blood test.