geirrseach t1_it0alqb wrote
Reply to comment by Dad_Next_Door_ in How do new drugs get invented for diseases etc? How do we know that a very specific combination of chemicals will get rid of a curtain illness? by DemetrioGonz
/u/Corpcasimir hit it on the head. Acetaminophen would never make it to market today. The window between "this works" and "this kills you" is so small for that drug that it's scary that you can just buy it over the counter.
Whenever you take a drug, your body has mechanisms that "see" that it's not something your body has produced and is not food/nutrition. It will then take steps to modify that compound chemically to get it out of your body. For Acetaminophen, the majority of is is metabolized to something you can just pee out. A small amount of it is converted to something else though, something reactive and extremely toxic. Get enough Acetaminophen in your body, or even if you just happen to metabolize it more in the "bad" way, and you get this stuff building up. What literally happens is that it physically reacts with the proteins that control energy production in your cells. No way to make cellular energy = cells die. Enough cells die, your organs start to fail. So yeah. Don't take acetaminophen if you have any other option.
Dad_Next_Door_ t1_it0ltpz wrote
Damn that's crazy. Thanks for elaborating I appreciate that
Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments