Acetaminophen and Aspirin are super dangerous, read on....

[Roham]

Saw this article in the paper and I had to share it. It's my personal opinion that they are "super dangerous", but you can read the article and decide for yourself

http://rohampahlavan.blogspot.com/20...hma-risks.html

[Devil Doc]

And this comming from a cigar smoker.

Doc

[badwhale]

I personally attribute rising Asthma rates to heightened pollutants, irritants, allergens, not once a year tylenol use.

Will

[Roham]

I understand, I just wouldn't be giving it to children, not even once a year.

[Paddy]

I take all that shit with a grain of salt. Christ, anything you eat or drink can cause some sort of illness ( that can be backed by some half ass study if you look hard enough).

[VancouverMark]

I understand, I just wouldn't be giving it to children, not even once a year.

Do you have children?

Mark

[Paddy]

I give my Grandchildren Child's Tylenol all the time.

[VancouverMark]

I give my Grandchildren Child's Tylenol all the time.

This is where I was headed with my "got children" of your own comment. There are a lot of things I said I would or wouldn't do to my kids prior to having one. Then I had one that didn't sleep, was constantly fussy, and very busy/active. All those do's and don't went out the fucking window and we did what we needed to do to cope. Sometimes it meant some Tylenol when he was teething or sick. The bottom line is we all do what we feel is right depending on our own circumstances. I'm not an advocate to dose children with drugs for no reason, but in moderation, I think the benefits of acetaminophen for both the parents and the children far outweigh the costs based on this one study alone. Like Will said, I also believe the environment has more significant implications on allergies than acetaminophen IMHO.

Mark

[craig]

Interesting article, but I'd pull up the journal citations to see what is there. Something that is too neat often has some statistical flaw.

MBTE (or whatever the common lead substitute in gasoline is called) follows the same time frame, as does Reag-onomics, and the death of disco.

I'd use a placebo if I had a kid. ;-)

[Roham]

I don't have kids. Just really thought it was an interesting article and felt that it was important to share.

[Paddy]

I appreciate you posting the article. Anything that strikes a nerve and you feel important is worth reading. Maybe I’ve become jaded living in the USA so long now.
Remember when vaccinations used to cause autism!

[VancouverMark]

I don't have kids. Just really thought it was an interesting article and felt that it was important to share.

It was interesting. Thanks for posting. It will be added to the memory banks and revisited as more information comes out (or not).

Cheers,

Mark

[ggiese]

I appreciate you posting the article. Anything that strikes a nerve and you feel important is worth reading. Maybe I’ve become jaded living in the USA so long now.
Remember when vaccinations used to cause autism!

I cannot stand idly by and watch my child or grandchild suffer because of pain and/or fever when I can dose them with aspirin or Tylenol. No way - no how...

That's not to say I give them meds every time they develop a sniffle - that would be full blown crazy.

[Alcibiates]

I study medicinal chemistry, and we're routinely given studies like these and told to refute them as an exercise in reading clinical studies. Here are the main issues:

The study proposes no causal relationship. It uses children who take Tylenol a certain amount of times per year but ignores why the drug is being used. If you look at the second study they mention in the article, they are specifically looking at acetaminophen vs ibuprofen usage during viral respiratory infections--consider that the number of respiratory infections a child experiences through their early life is going to have a much stronger causal relationship to asthamtic symptoms than nearly any drug would.

This one's going to get a bit wilder, but it's a documented issue with using acetaminophen as a fever reducer for low-grade fevers. If you take the body's normal response to a viral infection, it's primary response is to raise the core body temperature. Most viruses must survive in a very narrow window of temperature, and can be killed off with a 3 degree shift (IE a 101f fever). Using acetaminophen to reduce the fever and lower pain stems the body's natural response to the virus, and allows the virus to live for longer within the body and cause more damage within the body. Ibuprofen is a pain killer without the fever reducer and allows the body to continue the fever to fight the infection. If we, again, take the viral respiratory infection as an example, we see a lot of viral infections treated with antibiotics and fever reducers. Antibiotics do not interact with viruses, and essentially do nothing. The fever reducer actually does more damage than doing nothing.

So, that's my sense of things. I highly doubt that the actual acetaminophen is doing any damage itself, but is rather creating a situation where the viral infections (or bacterial infections) are doing damage and causing the effects you're seeing. Giving Tylenol as a pain killer is more than likely fine, but I would never suggest giving it as a fever reducer. Fever's are one of our body's primary defenses and artificially reducing a fever can cause great damage to a body. Anything under a 103 fever does not do damage to your body, and once you hit 103 or higher, it's time to start considering going to a hospital; either way, Tylenol is not the right answer.

[ggiese]

I study medicinal chemistry, and we're routinely given studies like these and told to refute them as an exercise in reading clinical studies. Here are the main issues:

The study proposes no causal relationship. It uses children who take Tylenol a certain amount of times per year but ignores why the drug is being used. If you look at the second study they mention in the article, they are specifically looking at acetaminophen vs ibuprofen usage during viral respiratory infections--consider that the number of respiratory infections a child experiences through their early life is going to have a much stronger causal relationship to asthamtic symptoms than nearly any drug would.

This one's going to get a bit wilder, but it's a documented issue with using acetaminophen as a fever reducer for low-grade fevers. If you take the body's normal response to a viral infection, it's primary response is to raise the core body temperature. Most viruses must survive in a very narrow window of temperature, and can be killed off with a 3 degree shift (IE a 101f fever). Using acetaminophen to reduce the fever and lower pain stems the body's natural response to the virus, and allows the virus to live for longer within the body and cause more damage within the body. Ibuprofen is a pain killer without the fever reducer and allows the body to continue the fever to fight the infection. If we, again, take the viral respiratory infection as an example, we see a lot of viral infections treated with antibiotics and fever reducers. Antibiotics do not interact with viruses, and essentially do nothing. The fever reducer actually does more damage than doing nothing.

So, that's my sense of things. I highly doubt that the actual acetaminophen is doing any damage itself, but is rather creating a situation where the viral infections (or bacterial infections) are doing damage and causing the effects you're seeing. Giving Tylenol as a pain killer is more than likely fine, but I would never suggest giving it as a fever reducer. Fever's are one of our body's primary defenses and artificially reducing a fever can cause great damage to a body. Anything under a 103 fever does not do damage to your body, and once you hit 103 or higher, it's time to start considering going to a hospital; either way, Tylenol is not the right answer.

Fascinating stuff - and for an "untrained" parent and grandparent - this is pretty eye opening. Listening to my kids Pediatrician, I was told the 103 or higher fever can cause damage - so it is best to get that fever under 101 - beyond aspirin or Tylenol to the point I've had them tell me to toss the kid in an ice bath (try that some time!!!).

So essentially there is potential respiratory damage from the infection (and not letting the body naturally take care of it through fever by treating with fever reducers) -OR- there is potential neurological damage from not treating the fever.

All I know is - the US Surgeon General has linked the leading cause of death in humans to living...

[mrtr33]

Anytime I feel like I might be getting sick, I eat a cheeseburger. If it escalates beyond that, I'll smoke a cigar while I'm eating a cheeseburger.

I haven't been sick, aside from the occasional sniffle, in years.

[ggiese]

Anytime I feel like I might be getting sick, I eat a cheeseburger. If it escalates beyond that, I'll smoke a cigar while I'm eating a cheeseburger.

I haven't been sick, aside from the occasional sniffle, in years.

My "home remedy" is one part (1 oz) whiskey, one part (1 oz) lemon juice, one part (1 oz) honey. Mix all together in a small pan on a low flame until well mixed and warm (not boiling). suck that down quickly and hop into bed - wrap yourself in as many covers as you can find and sweat it out.

Works like a charm!!!