Millions of Americans can and do safely rely on painkillers with acetaminophen on a regular basis. They also take acetaminophen to lower fever. According to the NIH, they generally have nothing to worry about so long as they do not exceed the maximum dosage for the drug, 4000 mg a day.
If you are taking multiple medications, however, make sure that those drugs do not contain acetaminophen. You could be exceeding the maximum daily dosage and doing harm to your liver.
It’s also unsafe to take acetaminophen if you’re on warfarin, a blood-thinning drug, sometimes known as Coumadin.
And the NIH warns that you should not have more than two alcoholic drinks a day when you are taking acetaminophen.
Many years ago I was told that my acetaminophen dosage should be no more than 325mg/dose or 1,000mg/24 hour period. Now my PCP tells me that I should take 2 650mg Tylenol three times per/day for my arthritis and chronic back pain because it is not toxic to the liver unless you take too much at the same time. Yikes! that’s 3,900mg/day. I was doing OK on a combo of hydrocodone and diclofenac (nsaid). Now I don’t know what to do but I’m getting really tired of hurting all the time.