Dealing With Headaches

One of the most common painkillers used for all kinds of headaches (as well as other pains) is acetaminophen (best known under the brand name Tylenol and a major ingredient in my personal fave, Excedrin) has long been known to be harmful in large doses. But if you wash your doses of acetaminophen with a caffeinated beverage (especially coffee or colas), you risk liver damage. This is the finding of a study done this autumn in the University of Washington in Seattle.

You really need to be wary of mixing the two drugs if you drink alcohol at all (since alcohol puts your liver through a loop anyway.)

In every other country in the world except America, acetominophen is known as paracetamol. I’m just going to continue calling the drug acetaminophen throughout this article for the sake of my tired typing fingers.

What They Say

Quite frankly, I’m not entirely sure how a mixture of large doses of caffeine and acetaminophen harm the liver, so I’ll just quote from the press release about the study:

Chemist Sid Nelson, Ph.D., and colleagues, of the University of Washington in Seattle, tested the effects of acetaminophen and caffeine on E. coli bacteria genetically engineered to express a key human enzyme in the liver that detoxifies many prescription and nonprescription drugs. The researchers found that caffeine triples the amount of a toxic byproduct, N-acetyl-p-benzoquinone imine (NAPQI), that the enzyme produces while breaking down acetaminophen. This same toxin is responsible for liver damage and failure in toxic alcohol-acetaminophen interactions, they say

So, Basically

You can still take acetominophen, if you follow the label’s directions or your doctor’s recommendations. It’s best to take it with water or milk, however.

You can still drink caffeinated beverages (cola, coffee, tea, hot chocolate), but moderate your intake, try to drink a glass (or at least a coffee mug full) of water between drinks.

Try not to take anything with caffeine and acetominophen together.

Which raises the question — what about drugs like Excedrin, which mix the two drugs (along with aspirin)? Panadol in England also has this mix. Well, you’re still OK as long as you don’t take Excedrin by the handfull and don’t chase them down with a two liter bottle of Coke. For example, when I feel a headache coming or get a warning sign for migraine (aura, senisitivity to light and sound, pressure in my right eye) then I only take one pill.

Basically, everything in moderation, which I guess is not exactly news, but is still good advice that helps you in everything, not just in health matters.