Coffee and Acetaminophen
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I can’t count the number of times that I have popped a couple of Tylenols while drinking my morning coffee. Sometimes I wake up with a little headache - not surprisingly, this usually happens when the kids wake up crying in the middle of the night repeatedly - and every morning I enjoy a nice cup of coffee to start my day. Putting the two of them together was more for the logistical ease instead of being something I did intentionally, but I never imagined that it might put my health at risk.
Then I read an article about the dangers of mixing acetaminophen and coffee. The specific reason why the combination of the two things is so bad boils down to this: Apparently, the coffee makes the acetaminophen three times as toxic to the human liver. Yikes!
This got me to thinking…how many things do I do to myself or my kids that might be endangering us? I mean, who would think that taking a Tylenol with a cup of coffee would be a potentially harmful event? I wonder if some of the other combinations I encounter throughout the day are wrecking my internal organs too. Does my multi-vitamin clash with the orange juice I have with breakfast? Does my allergy medicine become deadly when I take it with hot cocoa? My kids take allergy medicine too…what horrible drug interactions am I exposing them too?
Honestly, it makes my head spin.
I guess I have to keep in mind that the caffeine is a drug, after all, and so that means it can have contraindications to other drugs. I guess I’ll also have to pay better attention to the combinations or drugs that I expose myself and my kids to.
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