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Life-threatening paracetamol-challenge-what parents can pay attention to
Consuming and survival an overdose of paracetamol-children and adolescents risk their lives for a few likes in this Tikok challenge. What parents can do about it.
In the past, tests of courage took place in the school yard, nowadays they shift more and more into the online world. So-called challenges like running-out fire spread on social media platforms such as TikKok-and some of them are life-threatening. One of these worrying tests of courage, which is currently circulating, is called Paracetamol Challenge. It is about consuming an overdose of paracetamol willfully and, as the Pharma Germany Association described it in a message to “survive the highest possible dose”. The children and adolescents knowingly play with their lives.
An overview of the symptoms of paracetamol poisoning, what damage you can do in the body and what parents can do to protect their children.
When will paracetamol become life -threatening
Paracetamol is a free-selling medication that is used to treat light to moderate pain- for example in the case of headache or toothache- and also as a fever. If paracetamol is properly consumed, the active ingredient in the liver is broken down and excreted via the kidneys. However, even in the case of therapeutic quantities, a small part of the active ingredient is converted into a toxins (NAPQI), but which is neutralized and harmless by the body’s own antioxidant glutathione.
However, if paracetamol is taken into excess and abusive, there is an imbalance of Napqi and glutathione. The result: the antioxidant can no longer neutralize the amount of the toxin. This can lead to sustainable damage to the body and serious irreparable damage to the liver but also other organs such as kidney and pancreas. In the worst case, paracetamol poisoning leads to organ failure and death.
The stages of the poisoning symptoms
Since there is a risk to life, as soon as the suspicion of poisoning arises, medical help should be used. The symptoms of paracetamol poisoning usually occur in four stages:
- Stadium I (0-24 hours): loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting
- Stadium II (24-72 hours): Pain in the upper abdomen, increased liver values
- Stage III (72-96 hours): Inheritance, symptoms of liver failure, also kidney failure and pancreatitis
- Stage IV (> 5 days): As a rule, in the fourth stage of the course of poisoning, there is either a health improvement and regeneration of liver damage, or the liver damage develops to multi -organ failure. The multi -organ failure can be fatal.
What makes paracetamol poisoning dangerous: the course of the disease is usually creeping. Up to two days can pass until symptoms occur at all – and they are often unspecific.
So parents can protect their children from dangerous challenges
Social media challenges are not new-also not potentially deadly. As part of an investigation into Tikok Challenges, the State Media Institute NRW found that every third of the evaluated videos contains test samples that can be potentially harmful. One percent of the videos showed potentially deadly challenges.
What can parents do to prevent their children from participating in such courage samples? The EU initiative clicksafe advises more security online:
- Be a trusting contact person: On the one hand, this includes talking to the children and adolescents in order to find out which tests of courage are announced. On the other hand, such challenges should not be convicted by parents. Better: help to find safe challenges.
- Competent help: Parents and beneficiaries should deal with the corresponding platforms in order to be able to give competent advice and not to disqualify themselves directly through ignorance in this subject area. Anonymous help offers for children such as and can alternatively serve as a contact person.
- Convey critical thinking: Support that children and adolescents are able to critically question what they see themselves. This enables you to develop awareness that many fake videos are also circulating in the context of such courage.
- Make the danger clear: Parents should encourage their children to neither end in danger nor others – even when group printing. It should also be clarified that sharing such challenges is dangerous because they can spread further.
- Stay calm: If parents receive that a harmful challenge is circulating, they should pass on this information to other parents and the class management “calmly and prudently”. Such tests of courage can also be directly on and reported.
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TPO.
Source: Stern
I’m Caroline, a journalist and author for 24 Hours Worlds. I specialize in health-related news and stories, bringing real-world impact to readers across the globe. With my experience in journalism and writing in both print and online formats, I strive to provide reliable information that resonates with audiences from all walks of life.
