From Peter Cooke
It doesn’t surprise me that paracetamol is linked to increased internal bleeding. While the drug itself doesn’t interfere with vitamin K metabolism – vital to blood coagulation – one of its metabolites does interfere with the activities of enzymes dependent on vitamin K. So, in a sense, paracetamol has warfarin-like properties, and if we take too much warfarin, we bleed.
I was teaching that to third-year medical students years ago. Why all the fuss now?
Belfast, UK
