With the dropping of temperatures, we are seeing a rise of people sneezing away. Now, the doctors are warning patients against mixing over-the-counter drugs. Most of the cold medicines on the shelves contain paracetamol, a substance that can harm one's liver if overdose on it.

When the weather is getting colder, it's so easy to catch a cold.

Some people take cold remedy drinks to cure common cold.

To double the effect, some even take cold tablets too.

But this combination of medication may lead to fulminant hepatitis.

According to doctors, most cold medicines contain Paracetamol, which is used to relieve cold symptoms such as stuffy nose, sore throat, coughing and fever.

But the medicines may result in some toxic metabolites.

Excessive intake of which can cause death of liver cells.

Therefore, doctors suggest one should not take over 2,000 milligrams of cold medicines.

One tablet or one sachet of remedy power contains 500 milligrams of Paracetamol.

So pharmacists advise the public to not take the medicines over four times a day and take the medicine at least 4 hours apart.

When purchasing over-the-counter medicine, one should also consult pharmacists with the correct way of taking cold medicines to prevent overdose.

◆ 追蹤更多華視影音及圖文新聞：
1.用Plurk追蹤華視影音及圖文新聞：追蹤
2.用Twitter追蹤華視影音及圖文新聞：追蹤