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Comment by ericd

2 days ago

Acetaminophen, honestly, shouldn't be recommended so frequently, especially for kids, and if he's against it, I view that as a big point in his favor. The distance between the therapeutic and liver toxic doses is too small for kids, less than 2.5x the max recommended dose, and it's based on kid's weight, so very young kids can't really be given the amount shown on the box. For example, a hepatotoxic dose for my 5 year old based on their weight is just 3/4 of the adult daily max recommended dose. That's a pointy-ass UX failure.

Growing up, my mom, a pediatrician, never let tylenol in the house because she saw too many kids come through the pediatric ER with liver failure because of it in her hospital shifts. It's the leading cause of acute liver toxicity in the US.

> The distance between the therapeutic and liver toxic doses is too small for kids, less than 2.5x the max recommended dose

If you’re giving your kid 2.5x the listed maximum dose of a medication, that’s on you.

> a hepatotoxic dose for my 5 year old based on their weight is just 3/4 of the adult daily max recommended dose

Sure, and even a small drink of alcohol can poison a kid. Something being OK for adults doesn’t make it OK for kids. Read the packaging.

  • It causes >100k cases of poisoning in the US every year. RTFM isn't working.