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From: dyer@harvard.UUCP (Steve Dyer)
Newsgroups: net.med
Subject: Re: Aspirin vs. Tylenol
Message-ID: <645@harvard.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 24-Jan-86 20:10:33 EST
Article-I.D.: harvard.645
Posted: Fri Jan 24 20:10:33 1986
Date-Received: Sat, 25-Jan-86 07:23:38 EST
References: <2208@aecom.UUCP>
Distribution: na
Organization: Aiken Comp Lab, Harvard
Lines: 24

In article <2208@aecom.UUCP>, werner@aecom.UUCP (Craig Werner) writes:
> 	Tylenol (Acetominophen) is purely an analgesic without anti-inflam
> [-matory]
> or anti-pyretic effects.  It has the advantage, however, of having less
> short-term side effects, so is better tolerated.  Moreover, it is the belief
> of the author that a large portion of its success is due to the fact that
> most people don't have about the objective relief of signs, as long as the
> pain/discomfort goes away.

Um, acetaminophen is an effective antipyretic, and reduces fever about
as well as aspirin.  As Craig says, it is notoriously lacking a strong
anti-inflammatory effect, unlike aspirin and ibuprofen.  However, for
most run-of-the-mill mild headaches and muscle aches, clinical anti-
inflammatory actions are much less important than direct analgesia,
which explains why acetaminophen is still fairly popular.

This has been mentioned before, but it should be repeated that, although
acetaminophen is better tolerated than aspirin in typical therapeutic
doses, it is actually a lot more toxic than aspirin when taken in massive
overdose.  
-- 
/Steve Dyer
dyer@harvard.harvard.edu
harvard!dyer