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Home > Portable Practical Pediatrics > Should You Give Your Children Tylenol? (Pedcast)
Podcast: Portable Practical Pediatrics
Episode:

Should You Give Your Children Tylenol? (Pedcast)
Category: Kids & family
Duration: 00:09:29
Publish Date: 2020-01-07 18:59:29
Description: Photo by S. Buissinne @Pixabay Images Despite the fact that most parents and pediatricians consider acetaminophen, you know- Tylenol, a totally safe drug, there has been a growing chorus of concern about this drug among researchers for many years. In today's pedcast I am going to break those concerns down and give you some up to date knowledge on this subject. Stay tuned. Musical Intro The History Behind Acetaminophen Acetaminophen has been around for a long time, first being synthesized in 1800's by various chemists. But it stayed on the shelves and was not used for medical purposes. It was just an interesting organic compound back then.  But then in the 1950's came Robert McNeil, an American chemist, who made acetaminophen into a liquid form and marketed it as a fever reducer/pain medicine for children, coining the name "Tylenol elixir". Originally, a prescription medication and later becoming OTC. McNeil's company was bought by J and J and brilliantly marketed, becoming the standard for pain and fever reduction for decades in both children and adults. When I trained, the only concern we had about Tylenol was overdose. With this concern in mind, the FDA limited bottle sizes and doctors, like myself, thought that Tylenol was flat out safe! Obstetricians even recommended it for pregnant and lactating moms and pediatricians gave it to very small infants. If that doesn't speak to confidence of safety, I don't know what does. The Dark Side of Tylenol But Tylenol had a darker side to its story. It was commonly being used as a suicide agent, particularly in England in the 1990's.  Just like with accidental overdoses, bottle sizes were again limited in size and this helped reduce the number of overdoses. Experts thought again, problem solved. But not so fast. Next came concerns, in 2008, that Tylenol use in children was increasing the rate of allergy and asthma that was occurring at the time. Multiple studies showed mixed results about this potential side effect but this concern still exists today. Then, in 2016, it was found that anti-pyretics like Tylenol, that are commonly given before or after childhood vaccines, are actually blunting the child's immune response to the vaccine, sometimes to the point that it renders the vaccine ineffective. Oh no! Say it is not so. And now the latest blow to Tylenol's reputation as safe- a report in  JAMA Psychiatry has found an association between late pregnancy use of Tylenol and a babies chances of developing autism or ADHD. Now my, very savvy Doc Smo listeners, will know that associations don't necessarily mean causation but this study is worrisome none the less and will get a lot more attention before the issue is resolved. What Can we Learn From the Saga of Tylenol? So what are parents to make of all this and how does this information help your parenting? I believe there are many valuable lessons that the Tylenol saga can teach us and that you can transcribe to other health decisions you will be making as your children grow. First: With health issues in humans, it is very difficult to prove causation since there are so many variables. Proof that Tylenol is harmful, except in cases of overdose or drug interactions,  is just not there yet, and in fact, may not exist. Time will tell us but like with all therapies, caution is the word of the day. Second: Just because a drug is safe in some situations doesn't mean it is safe in all situations. Older children may get all benefit from drugs like acetaminophen but babies before birth and infancy may have unique sensitivities due to their rapid growth and development. Safe for one use but possibly unsafe for another. Third: Medications, by design, change your children to get the effects that they are designed to get. But while doing so, they often have unintended consequences. We call these side effects in the biz. All drugs have them and before using any medication,
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