Over reaction to paracetamol

I tried taking a couple of paracetamol last night to see if it would help me sleep through the night and I did only have to get up once at 4 am so I’m going to try it again tonight.

When I was young we took aspirin for moderate pain, then Paracetamol arrived. I always found it completely useless. Ibuprofen is good for some pains but upsets my stomach.
Strangely, in later life I now find Paracetamol really useful and I only need 1 tablet for something like a headache.
Our bodies’ reaction to drugs changes as we age.

Yes, try to always take food with ibuprofen.

I only take Paracetamol now if my pain is really bad . Even one tablet or capsule makes me constipated for 3 days!
M

I onl

M0nica

This problem is not restricted to the hot weather, I reckon it has happened half a dozen times in the past year. although not as badly as last night, but certainly enough to leave me groggy until lunch time.

My medication hasn't changed in 5 years. I am also very aware of keeping myself well hydrated for other reasons and always have a glass of water by my bed and in this weather if I wake in the night to go to the loo, I will also have a drink of water as well. Also, in hot weather, for every drink I would usually have I also have a drink of water

I have decided if I need pain killers at night again, I will only take one and see how that works. Taking paracetamol during the day has no effect on me.

If it doesn’t affect you during the day it can’t be a direct result of the paracetamol. Drugs do not work differently at different times of day, other things being equal. It may be that you sleep much more deeply because of reduced pain, you were probably exhausted as a result of poor quality sleep due to pain. Lack of good quality sleep causes brain fog amongst other things.
We do need to remember that correlation does not prove causation. Of course there is no harm in taking a lower dose if that is what you want to do.

For those who are kept awake by hip pain in the early hours - I get out of bed, take 2 paracetamol then swing and circle my leg/hip in all directions 5 times. I find the hip becomes comfortable immediately, and I am usually able to get back to sleep.
Getting older is no fun!

FranP

Paracetamol upsets my stomach so I do not take it, but given Codeine by the hospital it had just the effect you described coupled with constipation. The groggy feeling lasted 2 days, although it lessened after 1.

Ibuprofen works for me, but not apparently recommended for older folks. My cousin suffers from achy hips and uses a Tens machine to avoid drugs

Please be careful with ibuprofen. I know two people that were seriously ill after taking it; one because a doctor didn’t advise her to take omeprazole with a high dose of it and another who self medicated with it. Both developed stomach ulcers.

I do not take panadol or aspirin as a rule and it has been many many years since I have done so, the main reason is that they make me sleepy and make me feel like I am going in slow motion, my speech feels slurred and my tongue feels slow. I have been told that this is not the case but this is how it affects me. Now my doctor has prescribed panadol osteo for my knees and I am very reluctant to take it.

I was going to suggest possible heat as it can have that effect.

Baggs

monami

You slept later because you didn't get to sleep until around 2 am

This is a thought I had too. Pain is very tiring.

No Iwoke at 1.30am. I was then awake for only an hour and this feeling of being drugged is very different from how I feel when I am tired because I have slept badly.

I think standard paracetamol is 500 mg and the 'Extra' ones are 1000 mg so important to note actually how much as there is a limit to amount over 24 hrs.

monami

You slept later because you didn't get to sleep until around 2 am

This is a thought I had too. Pain is very tiring.

M0nica

This morning I slept an hour and a half past my usual waking time and when I woke I felt as if I had been heavily drugged, my mind was not so much foggy, as in deepest smog. This feeling is gradually going, but as I write (12.30) it is still there. While I was sleeping in DH got up, wandered round the bedroom, and, he says, I didn't stir and was deeply asleep. He was beginning to get worried by the time I finally surfaced.

I was so fogged up I forgot about a hair appointment that has been at the front of my mind all week.

Trying to work out what caused how I feel today, I began to remember that this is not the first time this has happened to me over the last, say, six months, but none as bad as today.

I then remembered that last night my hip had been aching and it woke me, so sometime between 1.30-2.30am, I so got up and took a couple of paracetamol.

It was only 2 and I have not taken any, day or night, for at least the last fortnight, so no question of taking too many or too close. My memory then suggested that the previous periods of fogginess could have been associated with taking paracetamol.

I was just wondering whether anyone else here has had this sort of reaction to paracetamol and what they did.

I have a history of over reactions to drugs. I am allergic to penecillin, and anti-histamins have exactly the kind of effect on me I think paracetamol is now causing.

I believe MOnica that we are about the same age - I have noticed that on occasions when I take Paracetamol I feel similarly 'drugged' and, in fact, rather 'meh', so I previously asked ChatGPT about this...

Ageing can slow some aspects of liver metabolism a little, but paracetamol is generally still processed well in healthy older people. A vague "MEH" feeling isn't a recognised common side effect of paracetamol itself. It's more often due to whatever you're treating (pain, infection, poor sleep, dehydration, etc.) or to general increased sensitivity to medicines that can occur with age. If it happens every time and is noticeable, it's worth mentioning to a GP or pharmacist, especially if there are other medications involved.

Have you checked the dose? Some paracetamol are 200 mg, some are stronger at double that. In the middle of the night I'd only take one, not two. Hope you feel better now.

You slept later because you didn't get to sleep until around 2 am

Last night, no pain, no paracetamol and I was up and about as usual.

This possible over reaction to paracetamol is recent. I have been taking it for my achy hip for at least a decade, only once every month or thereabouts, roughly the same frequency as the reaction I have noticed over the last six months. I do not think that I have any other medical problems.

I do have nights when i sleep badly and feel tired whe I wake up, but that is very different to feeling really groggy and having difficulty. I was talking to someone today and described it as bit what someone feels like after their drink has been spiked. No, I have not been drinking.

I became allergic to paracetamol in my early 20’s. They give me hay fever type symptoms & shortage of breath. Doctors always seem surprised I can’t take them. I never take pain killers during the night incase of overdose.

Paracetamol upsets my stomach so I do not take it, but given Codeine by the hospital it had just the effect you described coupled with constipation. The groggy feeling lasted 2 days, although it lessened after 1.

Ibuprofen works for me, but not apparently recommended for older folks. My cousin suffers from achy hips and uses a Tens machine to avoid drugs

2 paracetamol alone shouldn't have that effect, it can in rare cases make you a bit sleepy but it shouldn't cause the way you're feeling now. I'd assume you're developing something else.

Did you immediately get up when you felt your hip? I know I can feel pain in my hip when in bed and I move about for ages trying to find a comfortable position before getting up for medication. And medication takes a while to kick in. Perhaps you've had your sleep disturbed longer than you think hence sleeping in and feeling groggy. Or, you could be sensitive to paracetamol. Perhaps check with pharmacist.

I once mistakenly bought paracetamol with caffeine in. I was jittery and felt unwell. Never again as fine with standard paracetamol.

Wish it did that for me. I have had insomnia for about 30 years since my divorce, and am permanently exhausted. Even taking sleeping pills short term didn't help. Co-codamol given for osteoarthritis hand pain helps a bit, but they can be addictive, so can't take them daily.

LyricalGranny

My mother used to take paracetamol because she insisted it helped her to sleep. Maybe in some people it does cause drowsiness.

I regularly take 2 paracetamol at night to help sleep. But the sleep only ever lasts a few hours. But I find it helps better than taking Nytol or similar as I often feel a little nauseous and dopey after taking that. Never found I oversleep with them. But if you did oversleep after taking them, maybe you needed the sleep? Do you sleep well normally? If so then maybe it was an adverse reaction and I would get medical advice.

Interesting to see a number of people saying that paracetamol makes them sleepy. I thought it couldn’t be just me, and now I know it isn’t. I take one now and then (usually Panadol Advance) purely in the hope of getting a decent night’s sleep — not for pain. It usually works, or at least helps, but I’m always worried that it might be harmful.