It definitely works if you mix it with vodka.

So stupid reality. The England study of NSAIDs well the people they tested that suffered problems took them with massive amounts of alcohol or were meth addicts while the people who took NSAIDs without poisons had not problems at all.

​@michaelmayhem350 Everything is better with Vodka LMFAO 😂😂😅😅😊😊🎉

I think it's important to mention that acetaminophen has a much smaller range between an effective dose and a dangerous one than most NSAIDs. (this is called its safety margin). A lot of people don't strictly follow the dosing information on the packaging, which means that NSAIDs are often safer for those patients.

Should have included hydromorphone (not hydrocodone)in the back pain study

People have been drinking orange juice for the common cold for years despite it having zero effect on it.

It's not new, the fact that it does nothing has been known for decades.

Its an old drug and since its been used for along time the fda gave them a pass but you could read some articles that say that Tylenol would not pass the standards new drugs have to go through today.

@alittlebitgone Glad I never really trusted it then lol I'm the type to just power through headaches and the like. Some warm tea or honey for sore throats, that kind of stuff. Unless I absolutely need pharmaceuticals I don't bother

@@MariaM-cm7vl Fair enough

Good question. I have rarely ever taken a pain killer, but when I had covid, I had miserable body aches. After a couple days, I took two Tylenol and it was like a miracle. The fever went down, the aches went away, and I was fine. I never knew that fever was linked to body aches. I haven't taken a Tylenol since, but if I'm ever in pain from a fever again, I won't hesitate to try it.

Yes, 100% reliable for fever reduction regardless of the cause of the fever. It seems that fever intrinsically causes a type of pain -- "febrile pain" -- and you feel better when the fever "breaks".

Low-grade fevers should be allowed to do their jobs, unless there are specific health reasons otherwise for the individual. A fever is the body ramping up the heat to help fight invaders. As long as the fever itself is not doing harm, keep up on the fluids and let the fever work.

or what us old people call, "sweating it out."@@MonkeyJedi99

I learned this as a child as well. Interestingly, I recently read a book by a doctor challenging that idea. She believes that fever is the invader's way of making the body temperature higher so that it can reproduce more quickly. She claimed that all the research proves that bacteria are not harmed by temperatures slightly above normal and in fact the ideal temperature for reproducing bacteria is in the low 100s. So maybe we've been looking at it wrong all this time.@@MonkeyJedi99

Agree!

Same! I have recurring back pain, and whenever I’ve taken acetaminophen it’s NEVER helped at all. Once had terrible back pain on a 4.5 hour flight, while pregnant, and with a toddler, but I’d already maxed out how much acetaminophen I could take. Worst. Flight. EVER. I don’t think I’ve taken any for pain since that day.

@@bethn2836 Didn’t you try other over-the-counter pain relievers to see if any of them helped?

Perhaps dose was to small or the pain was to big, from what I can say for either muscle or periosteum pains best drug is Dexketoprofen in 50mg/100mg doses but for prolonged use it is not recommended.

Try mixing it with 400mg of advil. The combination of the 2 have similar effects to narcotics but are not addictive. Opioid use for back pain is a slippery slope. It does help yes but the addiction and resulting social implications can be a nightmare

Half of any analgesic is placebo, so whilst it may not be particular potent as an analgesic on its own, it’s a great antipyretic and if you think it works, it does something.

I've been saying for years that acetaminophen doesn't do anything.

@@lukematney7062it helped me when i broke my foot

AGREED! Part of the hint: researchers STILL can’t qualify mechanism: how or why it works, only that “it does”. It’s more of a threat to your liver than should be acceptable, considering it has no noticeable effect. Hence it is banned from “on shelf” access in shops where iive

It may be genetic

The title is very clickbaity, which is something I wouldn't expect from SciShow but here we are

I came here to say this

+1 This video fell short of SciShow standards

But now doctors aren't as keen on fever reduction being a good thing ...

@@k.c1126 if your fever's high enough they are lol

I find Tylenol works fine on fevers or as an additive with other medications when my pain is especially bad. But on its own, yeah, it doesn't do crap for me as far as killing pain.

Same for me. Tylenol is a liver toxin.

That seems reasonable to me. Tylenol doesn't do anything for me, but Ibuprofen does [though I'm not supposed to take it due to meds I'm on, unfortunately]..

I'm the exact opposite...ibuprofen does nothing for me. That's probably why these studies are inconclusive...each person has to find out what works best for them.

Tylenol has never helped my fibromyalgia or cero-neg arthritis. Gabapentin, however, has been lowkey god-tier.

Never worked for me either. The only time it has is when I had a doctor tell me to alternate Tylenol and Naproxen when I had a linear fracture in my finger. That actually worked quite well, better than either by itself. It's always worked well to break a fever though, as you said.

Im actively rejecting of synthetics. Good luck proving that too. Tell em criminal history is public record, maybe look at mine before you start assuming and slandering my character in record writing.

I'm the same. Acetaminophen never helped me with pain relief. I got use to living with headaches and random pains. The first time I took Ibuprofen was astonishing. Luckily, I don't have any chronic conditions that cause pain so I can take it for the occasional pain without worrying about the side effects.

I’m on naproxen and it does wonders for me. The thing is you can’t really take it all the time unless your doctor tells you to cause you can build a tolerance to it and it doesn’t work like it should. The stuff has really benefited me over the years when my knees and my back are bothering me

Me too, until I developed heart issues. Acetaminophen is all I can use now.

Personally Ibuprofen completely stopped treating my headaches so Acetaminophen has been my savior

@@bryantwiltrout5492 Naproxen + paracetamol is the best, except for actual pain killers ofc

I thought it was 325mg

@@destructodisk9074 Buprenorphine, Tizanidine, Baclofen, Lyrica, Ashwaghanda, Valerian root, Kava. These are what keep me sane with all my injuries and scoliosis.

​@destructodisk9074 I highly suggest a TENS unit. It has been extremely helpful for me, also with spondylosis

1g of paracetamol is a normal adult dose.

The VA gave me a gram of Tylenol in my IV while waiting for my appendectomy. That was probably the only time Tylenol has actually worked for me. But of course that was a one time thing

Yeah, that's about all I use it for. Dehydration/caffeine headache, nerve damage pain (bad car wreck), and fever reduction. If the pain has to do with inflammation (which is just about everything else) I take the drug that specifically reduces inflammation.... Works like charm every time.

I think this is super accurate. It helped a lot when I got my wisdom teeth removed (I didn’t need opioids alternating ibu and acetaminophen) but it’s never helped when I hurt myself or had an ache.

Nerve pain comes in a couple different flavors though, tylenol might help a small area that was injured but stuff like neuropathy is famously tricky to treat (not even opioids work for it sometimes!)

I've found that the modern anti-migraine medications work best for me - quickly. I've been lucky in that I'd average a true migraine around once per year, randomly, not a seasonal one that'd be likely allergies and hence, not a migraine. And oddly, after the third time I've gotten the anti-migraine medications, I've not had a migraine since and it's now been a touch over a decade since my last one. Flip side is now I get far more frequent scillinating scotoma, typically ever couple of months, but those last around 20 minutes and rarely cycle into a chain (say, once to twice a year an episode might repeat, leaving me nonfunctional visually for half an hour to 45 minutes (aka, I can read with only great difficulty in comprehending what I'm seeing)), zero pain, still have aura. The body, don't have to understand it, but one does have to live in it.

This is hilarious to me bc I have near constant headaches and nerve pain and Tylenol has never done anything for me

Ditto. I have chronic pain from hEDS and POTS and literally can't function without Tylenol.

@@angellacanfora I’m in the process of getting diagnosed with EDS! I don’t know what subtype yet, but hypermobility has done a number on my joints 😕

Same; arthritis in a knee and ankle from an accident. Acetaminophen is the only one that works well. Naproxen is about 50% as effective and Ibuprofen does nothing for me. I still try to only take 2 doses a day, no more than 3 on a bad day...limit is 4 doses.

Yay! I've found my people 😂 it's the same for me.

Tylenol has a lot of benefits aside from being a fever, reducer and pain management I have EDS and mast cell activation syndrome. Tylenol doesn't do a lot for my pain but when I'm having a really bad attack/reaction and Benadryl doesn't help, Tylenol will.

opioids work, Tylenol doesn't

@@DonaldHendleyBklynvexRecords ^^^ THIS! And yet, getting opioids from a doctor is like pulling hen’s teeth.

Back pain, had to take codeine/paracetamol drug. So sever pain that i had to take the max 4000mg/day of paracetamol to get the maximum of amount of codeine. Yeah yeah, shouldn't take more then 3000mg per day but that's bull. Just need to be monitored. And as the doctors didn't want to up the drug into more potent opiate (the nordics and the backwards mentality that suffering precedes good pain management), i was liver tested every six months. Three years later finally got my back surgery and could kick the pills. 6 months after that, my liver tests were still screaming red for the stress test. Good thing i didn't drink at all during the time....

Agreed. Doctors told me to swap every 4 hours, Ibuprofen one dose, Acetaminophen the other. One worked, the other didn't.

@@ninalehman9054 yea even the fentanyl crisis is no excuse, give ppl what they need and ODs will continue but so will ppls relief, ppl will OD on water if it's in them to do so, but we can't make relief out of thin air or water if I make any sense

Every medication works differently on every person, it may just be ineffective for you. NSAIDS make me bleed out uncontrollably, if that was the case for everyone not only would all of them be pulled from store shelves, there would be massive lawsuits and cries to reform the drug approval system. Be glad you haven’t suffered any severe reactions from common medicines.

@sedmikrasky im guessing ibuprofen probably works well for you then? ive noticed if acetaminophen works for you, ibuprofen doesnt and vice versa

Immunities to various meds are relatively common. My mum doesn't process opioids normally and they just don't work on her. Same for some oldschool local anesthesia - which she found out during what ended up being a live tonsillectomy 😱

Nope, you're not crazy (not for that anyway). Tylenol has always been useless for me except for reducing a fever. 😢🤓🍻

Doesn't work for me either. In Sweden where I live , they prescribe it for everything. I read up on paracetamol sensitivity, turns out I have it. So now I have in my records that I have a sensitivity to it.

It's my backup plan for headaches. it works more often than it doesn't, and when it doesn't, usually means it wasn't some regular headache. I DO get migraines. it DOES NOT help with those. But it absolutely is useless for muscle pain. Lower back, upper back, ate hardwood floor on roller skates, ate ice on ice skates, yeah, doesn't help for those.

Yeah, I used to get headaches a lot and when I had my surgery I took it and I didn’t have a single headache for that time

Have my upvote. Small amounts of NSAIDs cause me to bleed out uncontrollably and I’m 0/2 in surgeries because of it. Doctors wouldn’t even take me seriously until they started having to fill out adverse incident reports which can affect their insurance premiums. It’s mildly effective at headaches and joint pain for me but it’s literally my only option if my other medications aren’t enough.

I WISH acetaminophen worked for my headaches. Ibuprofen (and sometimes aspirin) are the only OTC meds that work for me. You can imagine how awful being pregnant is when you suffer from frequent headaches - and worse, migraines. We NEED more safe options for headache sufferers 😢

@@jahbern rimengepant works very well for me but it’s $150/pill before insurance in the US. Eltriptans also work and they just moved to the generic a few years ago so it’s cheaper but still $30-40/ pill before insurance. If you haven’t consulted a doctor I’d do so because these medications really do bring relief to many people and you don’t need to take huge amounts of OTC meds.

I can attest to that

Same! Tylenol works better for me than most things, at least for my headaches.

I take at least one dose of acetaminophen daily because it helps reduce my headaches. For other pain I use ibuprofen, but they don't work on my headaches nearly as well

@@gingerscholar152 As a physical therapist with a master of science in manual therapy, it might be interesting to know that acetaminophen or paracetamol can CAUSE headaches, especially if you take it 15 or more days per 30 days. Same goes for NSAID's. Also triptans if you take it for 10 or more days per 30 days. Of course there needs to be a logical starting point of the headache occurence and medication use, you take the medication and only later develop a headache. Or you take the medication for the headache, which helps, but later on you start to get a headache that feels a bit different than before. Plus there have been many studies that indicate that a combination of manual therapy, massage, neck and upper back exercise and posture help more than acetaminophen (or paracetamol) and NSAID's.

Yes! When I have headaches I’m always reaching for Tylenol… and lots of caffeine for some reason

My experience, too. Good old aspirin or ibuprofen works for me. Acetaminophen has no effect, but I will keep it in mind the next time I have a craniotomy.

Tylenol is alright for headache and fever. For everything else forget it. I think it would make a lot more sense to pair oxycodone with ibuprofen.

That’s super interesting cause for me I’ve typically found acetaminophen worked for most stuff for a good while but ibuprofen never really did, now I can’t even take NSAIDS cause of it doesn’t mix well with my other meds I already take.

I've found acetaminophen and pretty much all NSAIDs to either do nothing or so little it's completely imperceptible. Even with minor body aches it doesn't seem to help. The only thing that has actually helped me is hydrocodone and kratom which the first is obviously an opiod and the latter working on opiod receptors (I honestly don't know much about how it works), I'd say that they both work atleast 100x better. Would anyone else say that it works 100x better or is my body/brain just weird?

You were skeptical of medication as a child? That’s amazing. I give medicine to my child and they say “I feel better!” and I’m like “What? You just swallowed it. Give it more time 😅”

Physiology*, not anatomy. Pharmaceuticals concern physiology. Right there with ya, though ❤

Did you just say you don’t get fevers as an adult…? What adult doesn’t get fevers?! I get a few every year at least.

@@TGFMusic I'm 43. Up until I was 18, I probably got one a year. Since then, I have had one. That was seven years ago. I'm rarely sick in general, though. In July, I got my first cold since January 2020.

​​@@TGFMusicYou should rethink your hygiene habits. And habits like touching your face with unwashed hands. Less exposure, the better. All doorknobs, keyboards, phones, laptops, there's lots of things commonly touched that don't get cleaned and can get very gross. I get a fever maybe once every other year myself. But you could also be in a bad job environment for that or something. You don't have to be germaphobic, just be mindful and reduce.

@@TGFMusic Maybe they don't have children? Mine are little germ factories.

That's interesting to me. I also have Gilbert's Syndrome, but have found that it seems to work for me

I have Gilbert’s syndrome, but acetaminophen worked well for me when I broke my back. I’m very sensitive to opioid drugs; they make me sick, but acetaminophen seemed to work for me. The nurses were surprised I didn’t want codeine.

I also have Gilbert's syndrome, I've not heard of it preventing Tylenol from working.

Really should emphasize the “for me” part. Others will think Tylenol doesn’t work at all, when it’s more that you’re a very specific case where the drug doesn’t work as well.

If you take it with vodka it works.

Same, except I've always been an ibuprofen guy

The pain relief is directly related to fever reduction, because there is pain directly related to fevers

Just the opposite for me, Naproxen does absolutely nothing for me, and Tylenol works for certain things.

@@vangu2918 bummer

Most pain people feel on a day to day basis is due to inflammation which is what NSAIDs are for anyway. Acetaminophen is better for CNS and definitely fever reducing.

I agree, for dental pain or toothache pain, it definitely works. While it doesn't eliminate the pain, it makes it able to be tolerated until you're able to be treated

Tylenol must affect different people differently. For me it has no noticeable effect on any kind of pain. It works well for reducing a fever and that is the only reason I use it. 🤔🤓🍻

I've pretty much the entire opposite effect with paracetamol. Ibuprofen works best for me, followed with the longer acting naproxen. Due to the longer half-life, I prefer the ibuprofen, as I've long been a minimum intervention for maximal benefit in my treatment philosophy. And as a military medic, I started so many IV infusions in the field, one would start moving cases of the IV bags in the morning and be well late for bed by the time you've reached the quantity I've infused over the decades. Oxygen, hundreds of liters over the decades. Other drugs, minimum intervention for maximal benefit, with one emergency that was protracted due to a lack of evacuation capabilities at the time literally consuming a substantial amount of our drug kit for a force of 1200 men. Suffice it to say, the Division Commander was quite angry at both expense and extreme risk over such a capricious decision against all evacuations at that time. As in, really bad career move, Sir.

as someone that had quite a few headaches earlier in life it worked very well for that. As far a other pains I cannot say if it worked or not. Seemed to work for my mom after bipass surgery not wanting to take the addictive oxycodones.

@@BrianK-zz4fk I don't take anything for headaches. My headaches are intense(like a knife stabbing through my temple) but only last about 30 seconds or less. They are rare (a few times a year) and nothing is going to take effect fast enough to help. Luckily those are the only headaches I get, ever. 🤔🤓🍻

Same experience here as well for my wife who lives with Lupus and Fibromyalgia. NSAIDs relieve pain better but with a higher risk to organs for her.

If you believe it works any placebo can work fairly well, especially with pain. Personal experience is worth nothing.

I’m really glad it helped her, but there’s no way of knowing it wasn’t placebo

Tylenol damages the liver which is the organ that defends the kidneys Tylenol is one of the most common medications to cause liver damage and hospitalizations

Same here. Has never worked for me. Naproxin does the trick for me on the occasion I get some back pain.

My kid’s neurosurgeon says Tylenol is only good as a fever reducer. It’s use for pain is minimal at best. This was 13 years ago that he told me that. I always thought it was useless. I preferred aspirin or Advil. Honestly Orudis KT was the best.

I wonder what the percentage is for people that it does work for, but aspirin, ibuprofen and aleve don't.

For me it works for everything, even better then opioids for some reason...

@@azorthegreat2112 placebo effect is real.

Amen to that!

This explains a lot because I’ve never had it work and caffeine also doesn’t do anything so it probably makes it useless to me for whatever reason which sucks

BC powder!

Are you sure it's not just the aspirin that work?

Goodies powders. When my lupus was at its worst I ran on that stuff. When I had a lupus headaches I would mix it with kratom and chase it with bourbon. Now I rarely take anything for pain but keep it just in case.

Analysis revealed a 20% higher risk of autism and a 30% higher risk of ADHD for children who had prolonged exposure to acetaminophen during fetal development.

​@@Greg042869Debunked. Also, people who take official medicine go to real doctors.

@@Greg042869Do you think fetal development occurs during childbirth? lol what.

@@Greg042869 source?

​@@Greg042869 citation needed

Thank you for the excellent work!

The best pain killer I have had for my chronic pain has been alcohol. One bottle of 6% and the pain goes away for like 12 hours.

Same, I’ve known since childhood that Tylenol doesn’t work for me. This whole video makes so much sense lol.

That's another factor. Humans are different from each other, sometimes very different, particularly on the biochemical level. A drug that works for 90% might fail to work for 5% and cause actual harm in another 5%. Or a drug might only work for 5% while the other 95% get no benefit or get some degree of harm.

Ibuprofen is very effective against toothaches.

I have similar experience, though my NSAID preference is Naproxen (common brand name Aleve).

​@@nickiemcnichols5397yesss, ibuprofen is definitely good for teeth pain. I know from personal experience.

When I was a teen I used to get migraines really bad and Tylenol did nothing. Advil was the only thing that helped

There are actual drugs for migraines that work 1000x better than acetaminophen. I take Sumatriptan for mine, gone in 2 hours. Talk to your doctor

I've never been tempted to take over the recommend dose of anything. They aren't suggestions, they are rules. Going against then in any way is to fundamentally misunderstand the situation.

Seconding what @pyrogreg8 said. Talk to a doctor. There are specific meds for migraines. There are also ones that help prevent them. Since I started taking Topiramate (I think the brand name is Topamax?), I hardly ever have them and when I do I have a med for it.

That's not true. It's categorically false actually. And as someone who nearly died from using nsaids as prescribed... it actually angers me that you'd say that. Both medications have their place. Neither medication should be abused. And they work better together. Inappropriate use of NSAIDs causes esophagus scarring, Barrett's Syndrome, GERD, chronic ulcers (not the kind you can take antibiotics for), & kidney damage. And QUICKLY. We're talking from healthy to almost dead in months. I'm one of the reasons prescribing instructions for NSAIDs changed & why there are warnings all over the bottles and boxes now. Me and hundreds of others who nearly died in the early 2000s as doctors were being told to prescribe fewer opiates, they were seeking alternatives. It is over 20yrs later and I am STILL dealing with ramifications. I will be on a kidney destroying medication, FOR LIFE, so daily functioning doesn't absolutely destroy my stomach & esophagus. Acetaminophen will take year to DECADES of abuse to cause permanent damage... and you have to combine it with alcohol usage for it to do serious damage at otherwise safe doses. Also, migraine medication is acetaminophen, aspirin, & caffeine. It's highly effective for actual migraines. However, there are headaches similar to migraines that aren't migraines. A Cranial Cervical Instability Headache will feel like a migraine hooked up with a tension headache & migraine meds aren't going to do jack for that on their own. You need to realign the cervical vertebrae & allow the ligaments to rest... since that headache is caused by overextension of the neck due to hypermobility. Cluster headaches are another type of headache that can feel like a migraine. Opiates & wait it out. If you have a particularly nasty migraine or a CCI headache... the ER cocktail works well. You can ask ER nurses & please ask your doctor... but I was taught 2 naproxen or aspirin (full strength) 2 acetaminophen, 2 benedryl (has to be the first gen antihistamine because it needs to cause you to relax & make you sleepy), & a shot of espresso or big cup of coffee. The acetaminophen amplifies the naproxen/aspirin... the caffeine is a vasodilator which helps the meds circulate faster, & the Benedryl will relax your entire body. Double down by pairing this with heat on the extremities & cold where it hurts. This will keep bare minimum blood going to the extremities & max blood going to where it hurts, therefore getting more of the medication where it needs to be. I like hot hands in gloves & socks, blankets, & a PT grade ice pack meant for the lower back right on the back of my head & a small ice pack on my forehead.

They're just referring to pain relief in the video. It does work as a fever reducer.

Anecdotally (+ over many years) I've had covid / other viral a few times, and they're _always_ preceded by a very distinct type of headache (like a caffeine headache but harsher). This headache -- which comes with fever -- is suppressible with acetaminophen, one OTC every 4-6 hours for a couple days.

Can confirm with my own anecdotal evidence - when my infant son had covid with a fever I used it every 8 hours or whenever his temp when up for 2 days, taking his temperature constantly in that time - fevers being so dangerous in babies - I was beyond grateful it worked.

it's used in almost all fever medications like niquil so that makes sense

Yup my doctor recommended that I take acetaminophen for my fever when I had covid. It made me more comfortable and able to sleep.

Yeah, with opioid and benzo overdose, it’d be pretty obvious if you were od’ing as you’d quickly lose consciousness, however with Tylenol overdose your liver has quite a bit of time before it fails, and then a bit more time before you die. Up to a week in some circumstances. If you’d made it to hospital and you were awake and talking, the Tylenol is really the only concern.

Does it work if paracetamol doesn't? they tried to give it to me last time i was in the hospital and i was like if i already tried the pill an hour ago why would it help given a different way? (especially because i dont do well with needles at all lol)

Yeah if I'm hurting, and if I have both available, I'm using both at the same time 😂

Any update on your Tramadol experience? I have no idea why I'm suddenly so invested in this 😂

@curioustill haha that's fantastic! Honestly, for what I'm experiencing, it feels pretty similar. I'm tempted to be dumb and just go without any pain meds for the day to see how much they are actually doing. From what I can tell, though, the main difference was that I feel a little more relaxed with the tramadol, which makes sense given that it's an opioid. That said, that comes with feeling ever so slightly altered. I did come across a paper somewhere saying that Tramadol isn't particularly effective for pain following dental surgery so it's possible that it may be more effective for other types of pain but I haven't done much more diving in than that lol. I'll get back at you with what I decide to do lol.

@@curioustill, and just like that the experiment is over. The dentist gave me amoxicillin which you are not supposed to take with tylenol due to increased chance of bleeding. I didn't have any issues yesterday but won't be continuing that lol.

@@krisrasmussen1131 thanks for your detailed updates!!!!

Aspirin's blood thinning is also potentially life risking for some people, surely you're also aware of that..

It's amazing how a home remedy made from willow bark became an effective worldwide pain medication. They give us a clue in the chemical name of aspirin; acetylsalicylic acid. Salix alba, the White Willow, is why that "salic" is in the chemical name!

not supposed to use tylenol after heavy drinking because it increases kidney damage. supposed to use nsaids

It’s possible that the water is more important than the pill you use it to swallow.

@@ragnkja usually it’s only a sip of water, just enough to swallow them

Same here, I wonder if the study used cramps as a source of pain. It doesn't do much otherwise though

Acetaminophen does work well as an antipyretic, as do aspirin and ibuprofen. It is the analgesic function is what is in doubt. Although it appears that this is highly variable based on the comments.

another commenter mentioned Gilbert's syndrome as a cause for this. i know nothing about it, just wanted to transfer that term down here so you'd see it and maybe be able to check it out

It works for me for headaches and mild pains from stiff/sore muscles. Though I always need to take 2 pills and it takes a while to kick in. NSAIDs I can get by with 1 pill and they work probably 25% faster, and on more intense pains. But I limit my use of them because of the side effects.

i find it useless for me too, but then again novocain and the rest of the cain family don't have much effect on me pain wise. Made dentist's fun

Try taking a whole bottle at once and let us know if you do anything for you!!😂

I don’t know anyone who regularly suffer from severe migraines who are helped by any pain medication of any type. Migraines are not a good example, they are probably the poorest understood common pain. If your doctor is surprised that it doesn’t work for migraines you need to find a better doctor because that’s extremely common. I suffer from tension headaches every so often and paracetamol (same thing as acetaminophen but for Europe) works wonders for that. When I can’t get a professional massage, it’s my only line of defence. If I don’t take them it’ll ramp up and get worse and worse.

Taking acetaminophen for a migraine is like trying to level a mountain with a hammer and a chisel, while you have a migraine.

Paracetamol on its own isn’t enough to stop a migraine for me either. It can help make one of the symptoms (headache) milder, but unlike sumatriptan it’s useless against all the other symptoms.

If you have no medically background then you’re still better off listening to a doctor

But it's "Safe and Effective(TM)!" If you have any concerns at all, then you don't "Trust Our Front Line Heros(TM)!"

Every few years the codes for building houses will be updated to reflect new best practices, adapting technology, and better understanding of safety measures. What that DOESN'T mean is that we should all start DIYing our own electricity. A doctor is a professional you hire to work on your "house". Sometimes you get a shitty contractor. But you should still hire a doctor.

@@Museofmemory Exactly. I am not going to try to replace a malfunctioning kidney on my own.

Science is a process. We will never know everything. We will have to move forward and make decisions, we just reavaluate that science as new knowledge comes to light.

It does seem to make the opioid work better, or at least work at a similar level of pain management with a reduced dose of opioid

Oh, that "sinergistic effect" note mad me laugh when I read it in the pdr. Yes, I'm a professional patient and so read the pdr so I know when I'm being lied to. It's to make the prescriber feel better about not handing out pure opioids and to reduce the overdose risk. You're less likely to down half a bottle of hydrocodone if you know your liver will fly the coop if you do so. Well, some people are.

@@SarafinaSummers Well if you look at the literature, there's quite a lot of evidence that points at its synergistic and opioid sparing properties.

Imo even if it does make them work "better" it's probably a by a very small degree and the real practical reason to prescribe them like that it's 100% to make them feel safer about prescribing it since it helps avoid patients abusing it or accidentally overdosing. If you are in such a degree of pain as to need to take opioids, taking paracetamol with them is almost like having a filler with some placebo effect and from personal experience I can't say that having them mixed with paracetamol made me feel any better than just taking the thing.

@@sedmikrasky. That's understandable, it's not meant to make you feel any better, it's meant to make a smaller amount of opioid go further. And the paracetamol-opioid combo isn't just for out of hospital use, it''s also used intra-operatively and with acute patients, where the argument that the chance of abuse is lower doesn't really apply.

To be fair, stuff like placebo effects are always important to note as well. The Placebo effect is very strong. When actually testing to see if medicines work, you ALWAYS need to check it against a placebo. Even in cases where drugs DO work, the placebo effect can still make their effects even more pronounced. I mean, either way, if the medicine is working for you then thats great. (especially if doctors are prescribing it). My only point in saying all this is to just keep in mind that personal accounts of whether or not a medicine works for you may not actually be all that helpful since you havent controlled for other potential variables.

Paracetamol definitely works.

@@KingLundh Placebo also works just as well in most cases, is the argument here.

Paracetamol is one of the better painkillers (better then ibuprofen) when you build a level. 3 times spread out a day and after 2 days it really kills a lot of pain.

I saw a study which noted a 70% reduction in arthritis pain using placebo. Placebo definitely works!

It's funny because I have had migraines and headaches for a long time. I'm really sensitive to stuff I guess like sunlight or not drinking enough water and sometimes that isn't enough. Aceto kind a works sometimes but I prefer to normally take NSAIDS because I've always been scared of liver damage from them. I've never had problems with any of them though. A lot of times i've avoided aceto because of drinking too I don't wanna put more strain on my liver. I have had brain fog as well and fatigue but I never connected them all together and I decided to get a prescription of adderall for brain fog and shockingly It tends to do very good at stopping my headaches, brain fog, and i'm not constantly tired. I noticed while on ephedrine that I tend to get significantly less headaches as well. I am a physics major so I don't have the greatest knowledge of drugs and their interactions but I do dabble a little and have done some research.

I noticed when id have ephedrine as well a lot of my headaches aren't as present, I don't know if increased dopamine levels or whatever vaso properties of the drugs have done it but it is definitely sometime I have noticed

Very well said. Chronic pain needs to be treated differently, and by the time many patients seek help, the pain is chronic. For myself, Tylenol was effective for my bone pain associated with rods, cages and may screws in my spine. It has allowed me to return to work and hike. 💕

I think we also don't have any doubts that fentanyl is an effective painkiller.

I was also given Tylenol (liquid IV) when I had my craniotomy. 😊

It's worked for me on headaches, too. It's the only thing it works on, but to balance that, other meds (otc or prescript) have either done poorly or not worked at all on my headaches, so... *shrugs*

Tylenol has never been prescribed as a cough suppressant, it doesn't work that way.

@@Sarah-said It reduces fever symptoms. In any case, I'm only speaking from personal experience. I went from coughing every 3 seconds without it to coughing every minute with it. It was a very noticeable difference.

I took in once in the last 20 years. For a horrible sore throat and it worked.

Yes acetaminophen is a good antipyretic. The question is more if it actually works for pain.

@@audeforcione-lambert4293 My issue is that the video asks if it does anything, and it does. I just found it odd that the video made it sound like pain is the only thing Tylenol is used for.

Acetaminophen is a godsend for flu/fevers and migraines for me.

As long as you have a healthy liver function AND you don't take to high doses of acetaminophen/paracetamol, you should be fine. Yes, it does have a very toxic metabolite (N-acetyl-p-benzoquinone imine), but your liver further metabolizes that metabolite to a non-toxic one. So if either your liver is impaired or you overdose acetaminophen you are at risk of toxicity, but as long as you know that your liver works well AND you keep following the recommended dose you don't have to worry about toxicity. :)

@@ffarkasm Also, don't drink alcohol while on Tylenol because less of the toxic metabolite will be detoxified -- i.e., Tylenol will be more risk of serious side effects to your liver.

It's way to long out of patent to bother promoting

Aspirin works better for me than Tylenol.

Aspirin thins your blood and puts you at risk of internal bleeding. That's why it isn't normally recommended except for low doses for people who need blood thinning and when you are having a heart attack.

High doses and prolonged use of aspirin can cause tinnitus.

Aspiring works as an NSAID (like ibuprofen and naproxen), but due to the irreversible platelet inhibition it has a higher risk for benefit than the usual NSAIDs, and are thus not usually recommended for general OTC use, though it remains available, at least in many places. So for the population groups that shouldn't take NSAID's, Aspirin is not recommended, and for the population groups without heightened risk from NSAID complications, there are preferable alternatives.

Oh that works for most people, I've seen drops in two degrees for people using it while very sick! ( From 38 to 36c. )

Placebo effect.

He was right!!

I'm allergic too, and I get doubt from so many medical professionals that it's real. I think feeling like someone stuck a cheese grater down your throat means you're allergic, especially since my mom and her mom are all allergic.

I thought Reye's Syndrome was triggered by aspirin or aspirin like compounds. I remember warnings on Pepto Bismol etc.

This is true for pretty much any medicine and does not help discuss the topic of the video.

@@Mateus01234 does relate. Because if we’re discussing safety and people having allergic reactions. People have such strong beliefs that it’s safe that if people do have bad reactions people are not gonna believe that their reactions are because of the Tylenol. That’s my take on it at least

Holy phuq mate! Glad you're still kicking

You do know the dosage limit of ibuprofen is mostly because of potential liver damage and Paracetamol is worse in that regard? You can't just take two medications and essentially double the dosage limit, unless a doctor cleared it. In this case no doctor would have.

​@@4203105while it's true you have to be careful when mixing medications (some can cancel each other out and others can multiply each other's intended or unintended effects), doctors definitely DO allow alternating between acetaminophen and ibuprofen for some things. I gave birth a month ago and alternating between these two exact medicines was their standard treatment for pain relief during recovery.

My anecdotal experience is that acetaminophen is great at lowering big pains, but useless at getting rid of sucky but meh pains. My mom was big on "take Tylenol if you have any minor discomfort". I'm very "I only take meds if it's stopping me from sleeping/working". Naturally, when I follow her advice acetaminophen seems to be useless. When I trust my gut, it's ibuprophen with way less side effects.

Paracetamol is an NSAID...

try caffeine

@@DonaldHendleyBklynvexRecordsOr don't if you get frequent migraines because then you're dependent and get migraines from not having it too.

you rite , Ive noticed that too @@sourgreendolly7685

I feel your pain, being allergic to NSAIDs is so limiting on what we can take to deal with random headaches (luckly I don't get migraines). Weird thing is it started after my 30s.

Same. My uterus taught me about Naproxen for cramps

I’m sure it became popular because it works great for some people (including me). Sorry it doesn’t work for you, but believe me, it does work great for some people. It’s the most important med in my medicine cabinet. It’s almost the only med in my medicine cabinet though, as so far I thankfully haven’t needed much medicine over my life.

My go-to for most pains and fevers is... water. If the fever is low grade, I let it do its biological function of helping to kill off invaders. If water and gentle stretching doesn't help with muscle or joint pain, I MIGHT take acetaminophen once that day. Usually that's enough to reduce the pain to let me keep moving things, and as most of my muscle and joint pain is from sleeping weird or doing something unexpectedly strenuous, it works out.

It didn't work on me for years, but it now alleviates headaches. It works especially well with aspirin and caffeine, like Excedrin.

I used to do the same, now I take a prescription called Mobic, it’s equivalent to a daily dose of ibuprofen in 1 pill