Paracetamol, sometimes called Acetaminophen, is a substance found in many over-the-counter painkillers. Generally, its uses as a medicine overlap those of acetylsalicylic acid and it is commonly used for minor ailments, such as headache in connection with a cold, or toothache - often as an alternative to Aspirin, whose side-effects are sometimes feared. In most cases an unfounded fear.
This is lunacy. Paracetamol is so harmful that it would be well justified to prohibit it entirely. It doesn't only cause liver damage1 so serious that it is one of the major reasons for the need of liver transplantations; it also counters the effects of testosterone, male sex hormone, causing sexual dysfunctions, reduced male fertility, accelerated male ageing and much more. Taken by a woman in pregnancy, it might severely harm the development of a male foetus. A Danish study showed underdeveloped sexual organs in such boys. In a more recent study, a connection between ADHD and paracetamol was implied.
Another known effect of this substance is that it is strongly carcinogenic [causes cancer]. The medical establishment claims that there is no danger with low doses, but that is a naive position to take. Cancer is a result of simultaneous influence of several contributing factors; a single factor being too weak to cause cancer alone might still trigger it in combination with others. We should remove as many such factors as possible from our lives.
We don't know everything about this substance yet, I'm sure the future will come with more bad news about it - but knowing only what we know now, how it contributes to liver failure and cancer, is enough to resolve never to use it. It provides no benefit we cannot get by safer means.
Various trading names for preparations with paracetamol/acetaminophen are: Efferalgan, Doliprane, Panadol, Tylenol, Anacin-3, Tempra, Datril, Napa, Crocin, Alvedon - but there are many others. To be sure, you have to read the contents on the label.
(This article is based on material previously published in Meriondho Leo.)
Copyright © 2020 Meleonymica/Mictorrani. All Rights Reserved.
All my articles on health medicine can be found here.
You find all my writings on Read.Cash, sorted by topic, here.
Also, please join my community: The Mechanisms of Health (d52e).
One of the many reasons why i don't intake this drug besides the fact that I've seen the synthesis method of it way too often in pharmaceutical laboratories. A thing you should add there is that it's often used as an overdose material for suicide, honestly. I've seen so many suicide cases that made use of paracetamol. The carcinogenic effect, I'm still not sure on. I think I'll go look up more on that later