4 Reasons to Never Use Tylenol
Over fifty million people use Tylenol in the United States every year, making it one of the most commonly consumed painkillers and trusted products we use. But over its 70 ear history, acetaminophen, sold as Tylenol, has carved out a place as the only dangerous non-prescription painkiller. Every year it claims hundreds of lives and every year its efficacy comes deeper into question. Here are a few reasons to consider Aspirin or Ibuprofen instead.
1. It Doesn’t Work
An analysis of over a dozen different studies shows that Tylenol is no better than placebo (read: worthless) at alleviating back and arthritis pain. It’s also not a true anti-inflammatory, so it does not prevent cancer the way aspirin does or relieve muscle sprain.
2. It Leaves You an Empty Husk.
According to a study done by Ohio State University, acetaminophen actually reduces your ability feel joy. That 50 million people are dead inside because they have an ouchie reduces my ability to feel joy.
3. It Kills You.
About 150 people die from Tylenol overdose every year in the United States. Double that number is you include deliberate overdoses by people committing suicide. All other painkillers, prescription or not, kill about one tenth of that number. (15 in 2010)
How does it kill you? Liver damage. Tylenol is a leading cause of acute liver failure after Alcohol and Hepatitis.
How much does it take to do liver damage? Well, assuming you take it as directed, and have consume no alcohol, and have no other drugs in your system, and you are not allergic to it, and have a fully functional liver in the first place; it takes two more pills to seriously damage the liver.
Two. Pills.
Hope that headache didn’t make you forget how many you took this morning! Buy hey, who needs to worry about that when we have a slice of grandmas rum cake in the fri…whoops, liver failure.
Even if you stick to the number of pills listed on the bottles tiny print, combination with almost any amount of alcohol can cause liver damage. The FDA warns of “serious liver damages” if the suggested dose of Tylenol is taken with three drinks. Of course, “three drinks” pertains to the capacities of an adult male, so petite college girls are probably in the clear.
4. There are Better Alternatives Available
The obvious alternative are Aspirin and Ibuprofen. Coated Aspirin alleviates most of the side-effects, such a stomach aches,that make some hesitant to use it. Ibuprofen, on the other hand, is the safest of the lot, and, like Aspirin, is a true anti-inflammatory.
Interestingly, for problems cause by inflammation, and many types of pain are, any anti-inflammatory may be effective. Curcumin, for example. Curcumen, the yellowish supplement extracted from Tumeric, has been found to be as effective as over-the-counter medication at countering aches and pains. It’s also quite good for you with no chance of side effects.
