Wednesday 23 November 2011

Serious side-effects

I've taken my fair share of flu medications and pain relief in my time but since cleaning up my act diet and health-wise I've been keen to keep all medications to a minimum and try and use natural remedies when possible.

Sometimes though when it comes to pain relief, no amount of garlic and ginger is going to cut it! and anyone who's endured any long-term pain will feel hugely grateful to the inventors of ibuprofen and paracetamol. The problem is once you get used to using pain relief on a regular basis it's easy to fall into a habit of taking pain relief medication for every slight twinge.

Today in the bbc there was an article on the dangers of taking too much paracetamol - and these aren't just nasty side effects - experts have warned that taking slightly too much paracetamol day after day can be fatal, even just a few pills too many taken regularly over days, weeks or months, could lead to serious and irreversible liver damage.

In my opinion anything where the side effect is death should be avoided whenever possible and even if you're not taking a dangerous dose, it's just not something you should be taking regularly even in small doses. Obviously when you're injured or genuinely ill over the counter medication can be a real godsend, but if you've just got a headache or a slight twinge, maybe think twice before popping a pill.

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