Paracetamol (Acetaminophen), Ibuprofen and Vaccines

I have NEVER bought a bottle of Calpol (Tylenol) or any other medication in 16 years of parenting five children.

Why?  Firstly because it was unnecessary.  In the first few months of life four out of five of my children weren’t ill, not even with a cold, so they didn’t require any.

On the very rare ocassion that they got a fever or upset stomach I just gave plenty of water to keep them hydrated, breast milk (with it’s wonderful anti-bacterial and anti-viral properties!), some vitamin C to help their immune system fight whatever they had and a cold face cloth to keep them comfortable.  After that and plenty of sleep they’d bounce back and not get so much as a runny nose for the next year.

I didn’t see any need or reason to put drugs into their bodies that were filled with sugar, aspartame, colourings and E numbers, in addition to the actual drug.  I knew with hydration, rest and a little nutritional support, they’d get over it and since I never used any of these products on myself either I didn’t have them in the house and didn’t even think about purchasing any.

I have also never owned a thermometer (I refused initially to buy one because of the mercury in them, but then when digital ones came out, I realised I didn’t need one so I still didn’t buy one).  I can tell if my children are feverish, just by touching them.

I have never bought a cough medicine either because I knew instinctively that a cough is there for a purpose and it is to expell mucus from the chest.  Why stop something that is assisting your child to get better?

But all of my reasons not to have these things were based upon gut feelings and intuition rather than anything solid I had read about them.

It wasn’t until many years later when the FDA banned cough and cold medicines for young children and then the UK followed suit, that I began to actually read about these medications and about how fever works and I realised how grateful I was that my instinct had guided me in the right direction.

The FDA wrote on their website:

‘ FDA strongly recommends that over-the-counter (OTC) cough and cold products should not be used for infants and children under 2 years of age because serious and potentially life-threatening side effects could occur.  There are a wide variety of serious adverse events reported with cough and cold products.  They include death, convulsions, rapid heart rates, and decreased levels of consciousness.’

(http://www.fda.gov/ForConsumers/ConsumerUpdates/ucm048682.htm).

WebMD also say:

‘For decades, parents have relied on kids’ cold medicines and cough syrups — typically grape, cherry, or bubblegum flavored — to ease their children’s discomfort.

However, the FDA and manufacturers now say that over-the-counter cough and cold medicines should not be given to children under 4.

Evidence indicates that children’s cold medicines don’t really help and may pose a real (although small) risk of side effects, particularly to young children.

One specific concern was that these medicines were often not studied in children.  Instead, they were studied in adults, and those results were then applied to children.  However, it’s not clear that adults and children will react to these medicines in the same way. Even in adults, the evidence that cough and cold medicines help is weak.’

They say that 7,000 US Children Under 11 End up in Hospital Every Year Because of Cough and Cold Medicines and that in one study, more than a Third of All US Children were Taking Cough and Cold Medicines.

So WebMD and an FDA document mentioned that….there is NO EVIDENCE these medicines work and THEY’VE NEVER BEEN TESTED IN CHILDREN.  This after generations of parents assumed they were giving their children treatments based on scientific evidence and that doctors actually had a solid basis for what they were recommending.

The FDA document said

‘The Petition states that these products are not safe or effective in children under the age of 6 years for treatment of cough and colds. The efficacy of the cough and cold ingredients was based on the extrapolation of efficacy from adults using a fraction of the adult dose.’ – So instead of seeing if the medicines worked in children, they took data from adults and applied it to children.

(http://www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/ac/07/questions/2007-4323Q1-Questions.pdf).

The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency in the UK then banned children’s cough and cold medicines for under 6 year olds.

Patient UK wrote:

‘In March 2009 an important statement was issued by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, saying, that parents and carers should no longer use over-the-counter (OTC) cough and cold medicines in children aged under 6. For 6 to 12 year-olds these medicines will continue to be available (as there is less risk of side-effects in older children). However, they will only be sold in pharmacies, with clearer advice on the packaging and from the pharmacist.’

The MHRA also wrote:

‘The new advice is that parents and carers should no longer use over-the-counter (OTC) cough and cold medicines in children under 6. There is no evidence that they work and can cause side effects, such as allergic reactions, effects on sleep or hallucinations.

For 6 to 12 year olds these medicines will continue to be available but will only be sold in pharmacies, with clearer advice on the packaging and from the pharmacist. This is because the risks of side effects is reduced in older children because they weigh more, get fewer colds and can say if the medicine is doing any good. More research is being done by industry on how well these medicines work in children aged 6-12 years.’

(http://www.mhra.gov.uk/Safetyinformation/Safetywarningsalertsandrecalls/Safetywarningsandmessagesformedicines/CON038908).

What about Paracetamol/Acetaminophen?

These haven’t been banned as they are painkillers rather than cough and cold medicines, but I still don’t use them except in extreme emergencies such as a burn injury, broken limbs or for post-operative pain relief, in which case the doctor would give them in the hospital.

Why?

Because they suppress the body’s healing ability and make it harder for you to get better.

Fever Helps Your Child.

When your child gets a fever, he produces more white blood cells.  These white blood cells are part of his immune system and they kill off the virus or bacteria that is making him sick.  BMC Pediatrics say that fever increases the production of interferon, which has anti-viral and anti-bacterial properties.  So if you suppress a fever with medication, you are actually limiting your child’s ability to fight the infection.

In animal experiments, if sick animals are allowed to have a fever, they have an increased survival rate compared with animals who had their fever suppressed, so I always welcomed my children’s (rare) fevers as a sign their immune system was working correctly.

BMC Pediatrics wrote:

‘Numerous studies have shown that fever enhances the immune response by increasing mobility and activity of white cells, stimulating the production of interferon, causing the activation of T-lymphocytes, and indirectly reducing plasma iron concentrations [29–32]. Antiviral and antibacterial properties of interferon are also increased at febrile temperatures [33,34]. A decreased morbidity and mortality rate has been associated with fever in a variety of infections [35–39]. Newborn animals infected with a variety of viruses have a higher survival rate when febrile [40]. The use of antipyretics to suppress fever results in an increased mortality rate in bacterially infected rabbits [41] and an increase in influenza virus production in ferrets.’

(BMC Pediatr. 2003; 3: 9 – http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC194752/).

In fact, autistic children show a decrease in their autistic symptoms when they have a fever according to the same report.

Paracetamol also depletes the body’s supply of glutathione – the most powerful immune cell that helps your child to detox.  A patient information sheet for a children’s paracetamol product stated:

‘When large amounts of paracetamol are taken, hepatic glutathione may become depleted causing excessive accumulation within the hepatocyte of acetamidoquinone, which binds covalently to vital hepatocellular macromolecules.’ – i.e, your child’s glutathione immune cells are reduced.

(Medicines.ie – http://www.medicines.ie/medicine/1240/SPC/Calpol+Six+Plus+Suspension/).

These immune cells are VITAL for his recovery from illnesses and from exposure to toxins and vaccinations.  In fact, a study in Indian Pediatrics found that children who had their measles ‘treated’ with anti-pyretics had more complications and a higher death rate than those who didn’t.  (The adverse effects of antipyretics in measles, Indian Pediatr. 1981 Jan;18(1):49-52).

And it may also explain why 40% of parents of autistic children say their regression happened after a vaccination.  Parents are advised to give their child paracetamol before or after getting shots to ease their fever and this reduces their white blood cells so they can’t fight the vaccine viruses so well and it reduces their glutathione so they cannot detox from the metals, solvants and other toxic substances in the vaccine.  Children’s ability to ‘handle’ vaccines depends upon their detoxification system and if this has been suppressed by paracetamol, they can end up with mercury/aluminium poisoning (AKA autism), as the Autism journal found:

‘The present study was performed to determine whether acetaminophen (paracetamol) use after the measles-mumps-rubella vaccination could be associated with autistic disorder. This case-control study used the results of an online parental survey conducted from 16 July 2005 to 30 January 2006, consisting of 83 children with autistic disorder and 80 control children. Acetaminophen use after measles-mumps-rubella vaccination was significantly associated with autistic disorder when considering children 5 years of age or less (OR 6.11, 95% CI 1.42—26.3), after limiting cases to children with regression in development (OR 3.97, 95% CI 1.11—14.3), and when considering only children who had post-vaccination sequelae (OR 8.23, 95% CI 1.56—43.3), adjusting for age, gender, mother’s ethnicity, and the presence of illness concurrent with measles-mumps-rubella vaccination. Ibuprofen use after measles-mumps-rubella vaccination was not associated with autistic disorder. This preliminary study found that acetaminophen use after measles-mumps-rubella vaccination was associated with autistic disorder.’

So I will NOT routinely give my children medicines that will deplete their immune cells and make it more likely that they will suffer from complications of illnesses.

(Autism May 2008 vol.12, no.3, 293-307 – http://aut.sagepub.com/content/12/3/293.short).

And that doesn’t even address iatrongenic complications.

GP in the BMJ Discussing Iatrogenic Complications

“People have died from the drugs I have prescribed. I rationalised that these drugs were prescribed in good faith, in line with guidelines, and deaths were the result of misuse. But this offers no comfort to my sense of guilt. Prescription drug misuse is a problem, especially psychoactive drugs such as opioids and benzodiazepine. And there is an iatrogenic epidemic of harm in the US with nearly 15 000 deaths annually from prescribed painkillers. This is the tiny tip of an abuse iceberg, with an estimated 12 million Americans misusing these drugs recreationally.” – Dr. Spence, GP, Glasgow.

Iatrogenic is a Greek word.  Iatros means physician and genein means ‘to produce’ and according to a medical dictionary definition means: