To think paracetamol is just a placebo?

[User321321321321321]

I have taken many over the course of my life, for a variety of different types of pain, mainly headache. However, I can't ever recall an occasion where paracetamol made the slightest bit of difference!!

Is it just a placebo!!?? A big con???

Or are some people simply not susceptible to it?

It works for me. I almost never take ibuprofen.

I also had IV paracetamol immediately after a c section (well, after the spinal wore off and I started feeling pain) and it was very effective. I assumed I'd be given something stronger but it wasn't necessary.

I find soluable paracetamol works much quicker and better than the tablets that you swallow. Maybe it gets into the bloodstream faster as a liquid rather than your body having to break down and dissolve a tablet?
But I have to say the very very best painkiller ever for me is Solpadeine (soluable). It's paracetamol & codeine. Brilliant stuff.

Works beautifully for me up to a certain point: headaches/period pain etc. Not with very severe pain. But I also know people who say its rubbish.

If I take it at max dose with regularity it is helpful for pain. The odd dose here and there isn't great unless it's just for fever.

I suffer horrendous migraine and usually end up taking paracetamol and ibuprofen+ staggered throughout the day until I can see straight again.

Does bugger all for me, its a waste of medication. I tend to use ibuprofen for everything.

Works for me and for my DCs.

works well for me

It usually works for me for the occassional headache, cold aches and other fairly minor stuff. I'm not a fan of pill popping and am lucky to be in pretty good health so only take medicines occasionally, which I think is why they usually work ok.
For labour contractions and appendicitis they may as well have been tick taks. I took them because the hospital said to but I'm sure everyone knew it was just ticking boxes to allow the stronger stuff to then come out. Morphine in the case of the appendix - that stuff really works!

Er no. And it's the one most easily overdosed. It fucks your liver, be v careful with it

It depends on your genetics..... your levels of some liver enzymes are genetically determined. If you have high levels of the enzymes that process paracetamol then it wont be very effective on you as it will 'go straight through you' if you have low levels then you will find a small dose will work really well. I just had a test done to look at my levels as I was having surgery and you can get a read on the effectiveness of a whole load of different painkillers. (It also looks at ADHD meds, and anti anxiety and anti depressants). I found out that I should never take codeine and that oxycontin wont work very well on me but the morphine based drugs, ibrufen and paracetamol will all be very effective.

It's a build up so you have to keep taking them every 4 hours so they'll work in 24 hours. 2 paracetamol won't do masses but after 24 hours it'll be a big difference. It's all I was given 6 days after cs (and all anyone gets at our hospital) so I figured if it has such an impact on major surgery it must work. Ibuprofen is an anti inflammatory so only useful if you're actually getting pain from inflammation.

Works for me for some pain (headaches, cold and flu, any wound pain); but I find ibuprofen as an NSAID better for period pain and any kind of muscular pain e.g.. back or muscle pain, RSI. Though if I don't have any ibuprofen to hand, paracetamol will work for period pain, just not quite as well. It doesn't touch muscle pain or inflammation for me though. They have different active pathways so it's not that surprising that they differ in effectiveness for different people and different types of pain.

I used to be fine with ibuprofen, but increasingly as I get older my stomach, once cast-iron, can't tolerate it! So I'm falling back on paracetamol more often.

A couple of tablets every now and again will never fuck your liver or do anything else. If however you have a long term illness then of course you need to speak to a professional in the matter of managing pain.

Does absolutely nothing for me ever. Bad headaches, cramps, back aches are never relieved. If I have co-codamol then that's my go too pill for pain relief. Otherwise it's ibuprofen. Standard paracetamol has never once helped me.

I think studies have shown it doesn’t work for everything, haven’t they? I only take it if I also have a temperature and I think lowering the temperature is what makes you feel better. Would take ibuprofen for anything muscular or that involves inflammation (eg sore throat).

It doesn't work for me on much, other than general cold symptoms. It's pretty effective then though.

Any other time and it's really ibuprofen. I have a prescription for sumatriptan for migraines as nothingvtouches them.

It's definitely an effective anti-pyretic and analgesic but not partcularly potent. Often it makes other painkillers more effective (e.g. When taken in combination with opioids or opiates it can add extra pain relief but I rarely take it on its own). I once had to go to hospital for severe endo pain because my morphine dose wasn't even touching the pain and I was falling in and out of consciousness - I literally wanted to hit the doctor who decided I was just a druggie and gave me a paracetamol IV. After listening to me scream for another few hours they finally gave me something effective.

I've recently been diagnosed with fibromyalgia and I've had a few sufferers say that it seems to work for their fibro pain but it doesn't touch mine.

My neighbours daughter overdosed on parcametol as a teenager, few hours later confessed to mum but it was too late. A week long stay in e hospital while her organs shut down one by one, definitely not a placebo.

Don't be daft. It's a wonder drug. I take a couple before I go to bed if I have had a drink and I think a hangover is likely. It makes going to work ith a filthy cold/sore throat manageable. Im allways a bit 🙄 when people wont even try it or use it in tandom with other pain relief. Given IV it's incredibly effective at bringing down fever and managing pain. Defiantly not a placebo.

Worked for me as a painkiller 2 weeks after emcs, was a bit wary when they took me off the good stuff and said use paracetamol, but really surprised how effective it was. I could definitely feel it wearing off and working after taking again.

Also good for fever and sore throats. Period pain and hormonal headaches I use ibruprofen.

"Drug trials are usually done on men (because women's hormones go up and down all the time)"

That's not the reason. Drug trials are mainly done on men or postmenopausal women as they can't get pregnant and doing drug trials on pregnant women is not ideal.

I've had iv paracetamol and it's honestly amazing.

*It's a build up so you have to keep taking them every 4 hours so they'll work in 24 hours. 2 paracetamol won't do masses but after 24 hours it'll be a big difference.

and this is why probably. If it doesn't work first dose I just give up.*

It is not true so don't worry about giving up ;) Paracetamol is a wonderful drug. No it doesn't work for everything or everyone but (as long as not taken in overdose) it is the safest and best tolerated painkiller we have. It is also, as someone said proven to work synergistically with morphine drugs. And in some types of pain has been shown in trials to be better than morphine. Also for those saying they have to take 2 tablets for it to work that is probably because that is the adult dose... No idea why they say 1-2