The Truth about Tylenol

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Back pain? Let’s solve it with 400 milligrams of Tylenol! Headache? Another 400-600! Unfortunately, for those who experience these bits of discomfort, we aren’t seeing a change that works more than a placebo.

What’s worse, when we pop these “pain relievers,” we’re actually destroying our livers.

Tylenol, also known as acetaminophen, is an over the counter drug that’s been given to us to help lessen some physical pain we may be experiencing and to reduce fevers. But a New York Times article shows us that we aren’t getting the results we need, we’re just getting the placebo effect.

The article says Australian researchers looked over three random trials that compared the drug with a placebo for the relief of spinal pain and 10 trials that compared their use for easing the pain of osteoarthritis. Acetaminophen was given orally in doses between 3,000 and 4,000 milligrams a day, except for one study in which a dose of 1,000 milligrams was administered intravenously.

In the review, the researchers found evidence that Tylenol is ineffective in treating low back pain or disability. But it does in fact quadruple the risk of an abnormal liver function test.

The studies having to do with knee and hip arthritis found a clinically insignificant, short-term pain-relief effect for acetaminophen when compared with a placebo.

Instead of drugging your body, consider trying some more natural substances for pain relief, such as cranberry juice, peppermint, essential oils and ginger, just to name a few.

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