Medicine For Arthtitis: Tylenol Not Reducing Arthritis Pain

It does make sense when people with Osteoarthritis assume that Tylenol would help relieve their hip and joint pains. However, contrary to popular belief, a new Swiss study begs to differ. Researchers claim that Tylenol is useless in relieving the pain and soreness of Osteoarthritis.

The Swiss researchers told Forbes that Tylenol doesn’t work much better than a sugar pill in treating hip or knee pain from osteoarthritis. According to UPI, Dr. Sven Trelle, lead researcher and co-director of clinical trials at the University of Bern in Switzerland states that the prescription drug diclofenac is the most effective drug among painkillers in terms of improving pain and function in osteoarthritis. However, he also warned us to take note that like most NSAIDs the drug increases the risk for heart disease and death.

Dr. Nicholas Moore from the department of Pharmacology at the University of Bordeaux in France stated that Acetaminophen may not be as safe as most people would believe: it is known to be toxic to the liver. Acetaminophen overdose is a leading cause of liver transplantation. He also added that NSAIDs are much more effective painkillers. Avoiding them puts patients at risk of overdosing with acetaminophen.

Moore also advised that people should also look at older drugs that may have been discarded. These may perhaps work more to understand the mechanism of action of acetaminophen to develop a new, more effective and less toxic drug of the same class or develop new classes of painkiller.

Meanwhile, Tylenol manufacturer McNeil Consumer Healthcare defended their product and disagrees with the authors' interpretation of this meta-analysis. They believe acetaminophen remains an important pain relief option for millions of consumers.

Tylenol is particular for those with certain conditions for which NSAIDs may not be appropriate, pertaining to cardiovascular disease, gastrointestinal bleeding, and renal disease. "The safety and efficacy profile of acetaminophen is supported by more than 150 studies over the past 50 years," McNeil said.