Acetaminophen (Tylenol®) is safe to use during pregnancy, right? Is it safe to take anytime you need pain relief or have a headache? I will show you that acetaminophen is a potentially dangerous drug. Most health care providers are not knowledgeable about what acetaminophen actually does in the body.
If you go on the website for Tylenol® (www.Tylenol.com) you see pictures of smiling, young women holding their happy babies. It would appear from these pictures that it is perfectly safe for anyone to take acetaminophen. To be fair, if you dig into the safety and pregnancy link, it says that before a pregnant woman takes Tylenol® she should consult her doctor. However, I would venture to guess that most doctors would say it is safe to take acetaminophen during pregnancy. Nothing could be farther from the truth.
A recent study (1) looked at the toxicity of acetaminophen use during pregnancy. The researchers studied 48,631 children whose mothers filled out a questionnaire about their use of acetaminophen during pregnancy. Within this group, there were 2,919 same-sex sibling pairs who were used to adjust for confounding factors. The analysis of the data found that three-year-old children exposed to prenatal acetaminophen for more than 28 days, as compared to children exposed to acetaminophen less than 28 days and those not exposed, had significant declines in gross motor development, externalizing behavior, internalizing behavior, and higher activity levels. The researchers state, “In clinical terms, these results suggest that exposure to {acetaminophen} for more than 28 days during fetal life increases the risk of adverse psychomotor and behavioral outcomes by almost 70% and doubles the risk of language problems in 3-year old children.”
Is acetaminophen safe during pregnancy? To answer this question it is important to know what acetaminophen does in the body. Acetaminophen depletes glutathione in the body. Glutathione is the main enzyme that aids the body in detoxification. The antidote for acetaminophen toxicity is N-acetyl cysteine, which helps the body produce glutathione.
Most doctors and health care practitioners recommend giving acetaminophen to children before and/or right after vaccination. That is the wrong thing to do. Glutathione is needed for any toxic exposure. A lack of glutathione can be disastrous when the body requires it. Vaccines have toxic agents in them such as formaldehyde, mercury, and aluminum. When a vaccine is given, the detoxification pathways of the body are stimulated in order to neutralize the toxins that have been introduced. Taking acetaminophen before or after a vaccine is not a smart thing to do. A better way is to avoid the toxic exposure or to take vitamin C before and afterwards. Vitamin C will aid the detoxification pathways of the body.
It is a fool’s game to take a substance that depletes a vital antioxidant in the body, especially during pregnancy. Acetaminophen use needs to be closely monitored and it should be avoided during pregnancy. For adults and children, acetaminophen use needs to be limited.
- Int. J. Epidem. Published 1.24.13
Lavender or Peppermint oil work like a charm. In fact, Lavender is more effective for migraines than prescribed or OTC meds. 🙂
I like your suggestions for headaches while pregnant. They don’t always work. The only thing that ever worked for me while pregnant was Tylenol (and trust me- I tried everything I could before taking it). I notice that the article doesn’t say anything about how much Tylenol a mom-to-be took during pregnancy. Why do we blame Tylenol for things that could be caused by any other reason? For that matter, it could be the way God meant for a child to be. Then again, that is my opinion.
Unable to find online the cited article. International Journal of Epidemology, which volume and issue?
The title of the article is, “Prenatal paracetamol exposure and child neurodevelopment: a sibling-controlled cohort study.” doi:10.1093/ije/dyt183
DrB
Thank you for the info. I see adults take acetaminophen and give kids Children’s Tylenol like candy sometimes. Since kids can’t have aspirin, any suggestions on how to help them when they’re feeling crappy?
Krista,
Warm baths are a way to combat fever and, there is nothing wrong with a fever. It is nature’s way to fight an infection. I say, avoid the acetaminophen and rest. That is what we should be doing when ill.
DrB
Its so common to hear of children on the autism spectrum who were given tylenol before their vaccinations. Not only does this affect your liver, it affects your ability to get rid of toxins. Not to many years ago pregnant women were told not to take anything, headache or not. Even avoid hair coloring products, nail polish or painting the nursery but today they are told to take mercury containing flu vaccines, tylenol, antibiotics or whatever else with little consideration for the fetus or what it might do. Couple that with infant vaccinations and this is why we see so many problems in children with developmental problems, allergies and other conditions. Great post!
Dr B.,
If pregnant, is there anything you would suggest taking for relief of a headache and/or body pain that you would consider ok/safe?
Anne
Anne,
Vitamin C, magnesium, water, salt baths, etc., all help with inflammation. I would try to avoid any acetaminophen/ibuprofen when pregnant.
DrB
Thanks for posting the dangers of Tylenol and pregnancy. People mostly seem to think it is much safer than aspirin and have no awareness of its’ causing liver damage.
I constantly try to raise awareness of the MTHFR genetic defect (MethylTetraHydroFolateReductase polymorphism), which compromises detoxification in at least 70% of the population. About 40% of people in the US have one gene for this, which reduces their ability to detoxify by 50%. Then there are the 30% of us with two genes whose ability to detoxify is reduced by a whopping 70%. There are protocols to work around this by taking methylated forms of folate and vitamin B12, and by taking other supplements that support methylation. Another important factor is that we need to avoid sources of folic acid, the artificial form of the vitamin B9 or folate. Since artificial folic acid is now added to all white flour, it is another important reason for us all to avoid foods made with refined flour.
No matter how pure the diet, or how many detox programs you undertake, unless a person with this genetic problem first takes care of the inability to methylate, which makes detox possible, their livers will still be unable to do the job required to safely detoxify.
For more information, and links to protocols and further detail, please go to my blog, above, to begin learning more.
NAC has many benefits besides the ability to detox acetaminophen.
I wonder it it could also be used instead?
I used it to finish clearing a lung problem that a prescription drug did not handle.