4 ms·

This is very silly, acetaminophen is very effective against pain, and for many people (e.g. me) is tolerated much better, especially at higher doses, than ibupr

This is very silly, acetaminophen is very effective against pain, and for many people (e.g. me) is tolerated much better, especially at higher doses, than ibuprofen etc. There is already way to much panic about drugs/medicines, especially pain meds, especially especially for chronic conditions, without further hysterics about the 'threat' of useful and well tolerated chemicals. (Not a doctor, not offering medical advice.) >doesn't get you high A huge point in its favor if you can't lay in bed opiated all day.

caymanjim 5y ago
I'm not saying it'd be good if acetaminophen got you high, just that one of the reasons it's still OTC is that it doesn't get you high, so there's no one champing at the bit to crack down on it, the way they robbed us of the highly-effective and fairly-harmless pseudoephedrine for the one and only reason that it can be illicitly turned into a street drug.
- skyechurch 5y ago
  That's reasonable. My concern is that during my lifetime I have had my access to useful medicines with zero abuse potential restricted because of (imo) panics that it could be turned into street drugs (pseudoephedrine), and also because of panics (imo) that it is too hard on my body (Torodol), and of course because of panics (imo) that they will turn me into a drug addict (opiates). The last class is admittedly worth being cautious about, especially with the more potent forms, but all of these drugs have legitimate medicinal uses and people suffer when they are taken away. (Also, for drugs that you have to take to get through the day, the lack of a buzz is a definite benefit, and not just because it closes off one argument for restricting them.)
tssva 5y ago
I find acetaminophen almost completely useless for pain. Ibuprofen is better but still not very effective. Naproxen sodium is the only OTC pain medicine which is effective for me.
- nick__m 5y ago
  accordind to the American Dental Association, 500mg of acetaminophen in combination with 200mg of ibuprofen is more effective than naproxen for pain relief. https://jada.ada.org/article/S0002-8177(18)30117-X/fulltext https://jada.ada.org/article/S0002-8177(18)30117-X/fulltext (the result are in table 1)
  - tssva 5y ago
    Don't really care what the ADA has to say. I have conducted my own study on myself, my comment was regarding which is most effective for me, and naproxen sodium is by far more effective for my pain relief than other OTC pain relievers including combinations which I have in fact tried.
- slowmovintarget 5y ago
  After going nearly a year without taking painkillers of any kind (not an aspirin, ibuprofen, or acetaminophen dose), I took some Tylenol for a bad headache, and it worked far better than it had ever worked for me before. Granted, I've had to learn to put up with a lot more constant low-level pain in my day-to-day life. But I think that's a reasonable trade off for choosing between cooking my kidneys (aspirin, ibuprofen) or blowing out my liver (acetaminophen). I had a really weird 1-in-ten-million side-effect with Naproxen sodium. It caused hard insomnia (confirmed under a doctor's care, this was before it was OTC).
  - fluoridation 5y ago
    >After going nearly a year without taking painkillers I find this pretty shocking. Is this how people normally take painkillers, would you say? Speaking for myself, I normally go for years without taking anything.
    - skyechurch 5y ago
      People with chronic pain do what they have to do to get through the day.

caymanjim 5y ago

I'm not saying it'd be good if acetaminophen got you high, just that one of the reasons it's still OTC is that it doesn't get you high, so there's no one champing at the bit to crack down on it, the way they robbed us of the highly-effective and fairly-harmless pseudoephedrine for the one and only reason that it can be illicitly turned into a street drug.

skyechurch 5y ago
That's reasonable. My concern is that during my lifetime I have had my access to useful medicines with zero abuse potential restricted because of (imo) panics that it could be turned into street drugs (pseudoephedrine), and also because of panics (imo) that it is too hard on my body (Torodol), and of course because of panics (imo) that they will turn me into a drug addict (opiates). The last class is admittedly worth being cautious about, especially with the more potent forms, but all of these drugs have legitimate medicinal uses and people suffer when they are taken away. (Also, for drugs that you have to take to get through the day, the lack of a buzz is a definite benefit, and not just because it closes off one argument for restricting them.)

tssva 5y ago

I find acetaminophen almost completely useless for pain. Ibuprofen is better but still not very effective. Naproxen sodium is the only OTC pain medicine which is effective for me.

nick__m 5y ago
accordind to the American Dental Association, 500mg of acetaminophen in combination with 200mg of ibuprofen is more effective than naproxen for pain relief. https://jada.ada.org/article/S0002-8177(18)30117-X/fulltext https://jada.ada.org/article/S0002-8177(18)30117-X/fulltext (the result are in table 1)
- tssva 5y ago
  Don't really care what the ADA has to say. I have conducted my own study on myself, my comment was regarding which is most effective for me, and naproxen sodium is by far more effective for my pain relief than other OTC pain relievers including combinations which I have in fact tried.
slowmovintarget 5y ago
After going nearly a year without taking painkillers of any kind (not an aspirin, ibuprofen, or acetaminophen dose), I took some Tylenol for a bad headache, and it worked far better than it had ever worked for me before. Granted, I've had to learn to put up with a lot more constant low-level pain in my day-to-day life. But I think that's a reasonable trade off for choosing between cooking my kidneys (aspirin, ibuprofen) or blowing out my liver (acetaminophen). I had a really weird 1-in-ten-million side-effect with Naproxen sodium. It caused hard insomnia (confirmed under a doctor's care, this was before it was OTC).
- fluoridation 5y ago
  >After going nearly a year without taking painkillers I find this pretty shocking. Is this how people normally take painkillers, would you say? Speaking for myself, I normally go for years without taking anything.
  - skyechurch 5y ago
    People with chronic pain do what they have to do to get through the day.