brit_usa2014

Are Paracetamol & Tylenol both the same? Google says yes (it contains the same active ingredients) but I find paracetamol much better for giving pain reliefs.

Any insights?

MattySD

Paracetamol = acetaminophen, they are the same thing, Tylenol is just a brand name, like Panadol. Took quite a bit of getting used to when I first moved to the USA!

Pulaski

The placebo effect is extremely powerful especially with OTC pain relievers. That doesn't alter the fact that paracetamol and acetaminophen are different names for the same chemical.

Wintersong

Are you comparing like for like in terms of amount of active ingredient?

While paracetamol and acetaminophen are the same thing, different brands will contain different amounts. Panadol original has 500mg of acetaminophen per tablet whereas Tylenol regular strength has 325mg.

Ibuprofen is better anyway

Abu Nazir

advil >>> tylenol

Mallory

Acetaminophen is bad for your liver. I never take it.

Pulaski

If you following the dose instructions there is zero harm. If you take 20 it will kill you.

yellowroom

The full name of the drug in old chemistry terminology is para-acetylaminophenol - in the US it was shortened to acet-amino-phen, in the UK to para-cet-am-ol.

The difference in effectiveness may be due to the dose. Standard paracetamol tablet size in the UK is 500 mg, so you get 1 g of paracetamol per 2 tablet dose. In the US, regular Tylenol tablets are 325 mg, so you get 650 mg per 2 tablet dose. 500 mg acetominophen tablets are available, but they are often labelled "extra strength".

It is regarded as a safe drug in terms of general prevalence of side effects, but only if you stick to a maximum 4 g dose per day. It is very easy to take too much and damage your liver.

As with all drugs, individual experiences may vary, consult your pharmacist or GP etc etc...

Rete

Tylenol or advil do nothing for me. I prefer ibuprofen for pain. After my shoulder arm surgery and multiple eye surgeries the only pain relief I got was from ibuprofen.

MidAtlantic

Nothing beats over-the-counter UK codeine.

yellowroom

Some NSAIDs (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) like ibuprofen and naproxen work for my pain but really upset my digestive system - not much use to me if I'm hobbling to the toilet with terrible belly pain and gut rot. Meloxicam (another NSAID) on the other hand is a miracle drug as far as I'm concerned as it sorts out my back spasms and leaves my stomach alone...

Mangaboy84

great for pre & post root canals that XD

bloody difficult to bring in tho i thought, last couple of trips where ok but never been searched so i got lucky and i dont plan doing it on this trip with all my stuff in the suitcases since they are bound to search me this time when i land permanently

yellowroom

I can only guess by this thread that BE is inhabited by the middle-aged who are reaching "that age"....

Pulaski

No, I don't believe that you will be treated any differently. I think I have only been stopped and had my suitcase searched once on arrival in the US, and it was not the time that I arrived to live here. As it happens it was shortly before I got married and we were preparing to live in London for a while. I was going to take clothes for the then-future Mrs P back with me, so one of my suitcases was empty, literally nothing in it, which surprised the customs officer!

That said, bringing illegal drugs into the US is always an extraordinarily bad idea, and there is currently a lot of publicity in the US about morphine-related drugs, their abuse, and potential for addiction and overdose, not to mention moving on from legit/prescription drugs to other more dangerous drugs, so I wouldn't try to bring codeine into the US under any circumstances.

Mangaboy84

In my defence, they are perfectly legal in the UK and i had not thought about usa laws being different and requiring a prescription for them until after that 2nd trip.