Common pain pills behind hospital rush

MORE than 100 people have landed themselves in the Townsville Hospital’s emergency department this year after overdosing on over-thecounter medicine including paracetamol and ibuprofen.

According to data from Queensland Health, 116 people had to present to the emergency department up to June this year because they took too much medicine.

There have been 451 presentations for poisoning by drugs, including medicine, anaesthetics and illicit substances.

Last year there were 782 presentations for overall poisoning, with 203 resulting from over-the-counter treatments.

That jumped from 733 overall ED presentations in 2017, and was a slight decrease from 205 paracetamol and ibuprofen poisonings.

Townsville Hospital emergency department director Dr Luke Lawton said people needed to read instructions about administration carefully, as over-the-counter medication in large quantities could be “very dangerous”.

“Generally speaking, if the instructed prescribed medication is not working, then there may need to be a different class of drug … which requires medical assessment from the GP,” Dr Lawton said.

“It’s also very important to take in existing medication to check in with their pharmacists if any medication may interact with what they have been prescribed … some of those side-effects can be serious.”

Dr Lawton said the ED wanted to see as few patients as possible who had become ill through medication “misadventures”.

“We want the community to be taking care of themselves,” he said.

Taking more than the recommended dosage of ibuprofen or paracetamol can poison the body, causing dizziness, drowsiness, nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea.

The Queensland Poisons Information Centre receives about 10 calls a day about medication errors.

Manager Carol Wylie said people could protect themselves against overdosing by reading labels carefully, checking medicine strength and the maximum number of tablets per day.

“People who are sick or injured and in pain might also become groggy, confused, anxious and forgetful,” she said.

“They may also be susceptible to making mistakes, especially when it comes to taking medicine.”