In what circumstances are over-the-counter drugs dangerous?

There has not been an in depth research done to compare the death rate of every over the counter drug. Researchers think it would be a waste of time for this experiment because the number of deaths from overdoses of antacids is so small it has not made an impact. Overdoses from pain relief medication is called analgesic overdose, which is very common in the United States. In 2000, more than 130,000 people reported to the poison control centers that they had taken a dangerously high amount of pain killers. About half of these calls were the concern of high amounts of acetaminophen, which is known as the main ingredient of Tylenol. Most of the deaths from aspirin are suicidal but there are always the accidental deaths. My Papaw passed away due to liver failure, then looking back through his medical history where they had discovered that every morning when he would take his doctor prescribed medicine he would also take one Tylenol. His excuse to doing this was to stop the pain before it started and by doing this it gave him high risk of liver damage and after constantly feeding your liver over and over again with the acetaminophen the liver can’t fight it or clear out of your system and causes death. Even though Tylenol is currently the most popular pain killer it is very safe as long as you take it responsibly and only take the recommended amount in the correct time frames.  

Karla K.

http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/explainer/2011/12/emergency_contraceptives_over_the_counter_are_they_more_dangerous_than_other_drugs_.html