No One Should be Taking Tylenol
DO YOU THINK TWICE ABOUT GIVING YOUR CHILD TYLENOL? If you watch the commercials or look at the ads, you’d think that only the most demonic, uncaring parents would withhold Tylenol from their child with a fever. It’s safe, right? So long as your 15 month old doesn’t take it to help with their hangover… Well, many are not aware that paracetamol (the active ingredient in Tylenol) has been strongly associated with development of asthma in adults and growing evidence in newborns and toddlers. This article continues to support this link. Those children who received at least 10 (read that…only TEN doses) before 15 months of age almost quadrupled the risk of asthma. Wow. Here’s the kicker. There has never, in the history of research, ever been a study (at least to my knowledge…and I’ve looked!) that suggests that lowering a fever in children is a good thing. Many studies have looked at how well this or that agent lowered fever, but no one’s ever looked at whether lowering the fever (ironically, that the body produces to fight off infection) actually prolongs an illness and makes it harder to fight off. There were several rough nights (few, but there were some) I remember with Keegan having a fever that I did not give anything to lower the fever. It always seemed that by the next day he was greatly improved. Giving something to lower the fever (not my decision, but happened maybe twice) always seemed to drag the episode out days longer. Read More…