Paracetamol (acetaminophen) is basically completely useless

[schopenh]

I'm not going to explain how scientific thought and systematic reviews work. To that end, for those of you who understand how this works, paracetamol favors very poorly under systematic review.

Here's a good article that summarises it:

Paracetamol: widely used and largely ineffective - Evidently Cochrane

Pain expert Andrew Moore reveals the inconvenient truth about paracetamol. This widely-used drug mostly doesn't work and isn't a safe as you might think

www.evidentlycochrane.net

and here's some systematic reviews from cochrane showing how garbage it is:

Paracetamol for low back pain

www.cochrane.org

Paracetamol for cancer pain

www.cochrane.org

Ibuprofen versus paracetamol (acetaminophen) for pain relief after surgical removal of lower wisdom teeth

www.cochrane.org

https://www.cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD011219.pub4/abstract

I specifically bring this up on this website because I see people taking this stuff before SN thinking it's going to stop their headaches.

"but I take it and it works how do you explain that!!!" - cool. Good luck!

 

[nigelhernandez]

It's ironic how it's said to be good for pain when it does nothing. If you actually take too much, it'll will give you the most painful death possible (liver failure).

The only things that work are controlled, opiates (codeine, hydrocodone, oxycodone, morphine) and weed.

 

[Brick In The Wall]

All the old regimens I've seen recommended Ibuprofen. I've seen the shift towards acetaminophen being recommended more lately but I'll stick with the Ibuprofen.

I'll save my acetaminophen for alcohol based hangovers. It does work wonders on those!

 

[Skathon]

...it is not supposed to be used for any type of pain (especially not ulcer or chronic), only a few specific ones.