Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with Paracetamol

Should you avoid taking Codeine and Caffeine for headaches?

chill — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 01:45:44 -0800

My girlfriend was told something by her doctor this morning that to my ears sounds strange, or at best misleading. He basically asserted that you should never take pills like Solpadeine and Syndol because they contain codeine and caffeine, which in the long run cause more headaches and ultimatley makes them worse. Now, I could imagine that this might be the case if you were taking multiple doses each day every day (I used to get lots of headaches when I drank lots more coffee than I do now for example), but surely it's not the case if you are an occasional user? Like a few times a month say?
I'd be interested in knowing some facts about this. I could of course go to Google to find something that will disprove what the doctor is saying, and equally I could go to Google to prove what the doctor is saying. Basically, looking into this on Google confused me even more, so I was wondering whether the erudite members of AskMe might be able to offer some insight based on sound science?

If it helps, here's the messenger exchange that started all this:

She says:
he told me that tablets with codeine in them (including Solpadeine and Syndol, unfort) make headaches worse in the long run and actually *cause* headaches and so I should never take them, rather take paracetamol. And also, that caffeine makes headaches worse too, which is also in solpadeine and syndol and so one should never take them for headaches
He says:
With all due respect to your doctor, that sounds like pseudo science.
She says:
he said actually it is well-known. But not advertised.
and that codeine should not really be available over the counter.

Thanks, and sorry for the length of the question.

Which PainKiller is best? Aspirin, Paracetamol or Ibuprofen?

complience — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 07:31:45 -0800

Which PainKiller is best? Aspirin, Paracetamol or Ibuprofen? I suffer from a condition which is similar to cerebral edema, I have recently started taking painkillers to get me through the day.

I like to self medicate myself as much as possible, so I want to find out exactly how these drugs work.

As well as pain control, I also suffer from poor circulation which results in my extremities getting cold.

I believe asprin causes thinning of the blood which might improve circulation, but what about paracetamol and Ibuprofen and which of these 3 is most powerful in stopping pain and in what way?

I also read somewhere that because Aspirin and Paracetmol work in different ways.. you can take them both at the same time without risk of OD.

I'm also interested in other pain killers like Tramadol and Diclofenac,

Is it okay to take Asprin with Morphine based drugs like Tramadol? I heard either Asprin or paracetamol boost the effect of morphine.

Basicly im after all and any infomation you can give me on all the different painkillers out there from doc leaves to
diclofenac.

My neighbors are kinda creeping me out.

bookish — Thu, 15 Feb 2007 04:13:51 -0800

Why are the scetchy dudes who live downstairs throwing away hundreds of empty boxes of painkillers? I'm currently living in Jaipur, India, in the home of a woman who rents out her downstairs to "paying guests". The part of the house we live in is not at all connected to the downstairs-- we enter by going up a detached stairway.

Two new guys moved in a couple of weeks ago; I don't know anything about them, except that they aren't students like the previous renters were. They unloaded several huge desks; when I asked Bhabhiji, the landlady, if they were running some kind of business, she said no. One afternoon the two men came into our part of the house and spent a good fifteen minutes yelling back and forth with Bhabhiji; I don't speak enough Hindi to have any idea what it was about, and no explanation was offered.

The other day I noticed a huge open trashbag on the front patio. It stood out because there is no trash pickup around here, and most places don't even have trash cans (who needs garbage disposal when you have the street?). It was completely full of small, torn open cardboard boxes that say ROSPIN-DS on them, and in smaller print, "Diclofenac Potassium, Paracetamol & Serratiopeptidase Tablets."

I gather that this is some kind of OTC painkiller, but I can't fathom why they're using so much of it. Would they be repackaging it for some reason? Or using it to synthesize something else? I'm dying of curiosity.