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I have a headache sometimes. Is there any healthy alternative to paracetemol?

southeast-isher wrote:I have a headache sometimes. Is there any healthy alternative to paracetemol?

Aspirin? Though, to be fair, within the recommended dose, paracetemol is pretty darned safe.

Yeah, what's unhealthy about paracetamol?

gregorach wrote:Yeah, what's unhealthy about paracetamol?

this worries me:

http://uk.health.lifestyle.yahoo.net/ac ... arning.htm

It says "continuously take slightly too much of the drug on each occasion". Anything taken in too large quantities becomes unhealthy or even dangerous, even water.
Obviously you'd want to avoid taking much paracetamol. But from this article, I'd say that staying under the recommended max dosage would mean you're safe. At least from what's described here. However: repeated use of paracetamol may lead to... headaches. It's easy to become caught in a viscious circle. Been there, done that. If you just use it occasionally, you should be fine, I'd say (but I'm not an expert). I should think it'll be hard to find a painkiller which is safer and has less side effects, at least for occasional use.

southeast-isher wrote:

gregorach wrote:Yeah, what's unhealthy about paracetamol?

this worries me:

http://uk.health.lifestyle.yahoo.net/ac ... arning.htm

Well, all analgesics (indeed, all pharmaceutically active products) present some risks... You know what's really bad for your health though? Internet / tabloid health scares... Notice the links at the bottom of the page: "Family pets can carry life-threatening bacterium", "Swine flu triggers heart attacks", "Don't get sick in August - Hospital death rates highest". That bleeping sound you hear is my bullshit detector going mental.

From looking at a couple of other reports of this (http://www.bupa.co.uk/individuals/healt ... -overdoses, http://www.chemistanddruggist.co.uk/new ... -overdoses), when they say "staggered overdose", they seem to be meaning a series of large doses taken successively within one day (or in "a few" cases, more than 24 hours) - "two or more overdoses of paracetamol over eight hours or longer". So they're not talking about a long-term chronic effect, just something a wee bit more subtle than necking a whole bottle of pills in a oner.

I think Gregorach is right. And I'm not sure that this is something that hasn't been raised as a concern before: I seem to recall that "That's Life!" did an exposé on this about 2O years back (I can't be more precise ) and reported that the people were dying from having taken double doses over a period of several weeks. The response from the health authorities was simply that people should stick to the recommended dose unless directed otherwise by a doctor.

About the same time they scared a load o fviewers witless over kidney beans killing people when prepared in a slow cooker that never boiled them.

Aspirin is probably a safer drug, but not without its drawbacks. It can cause intestinal bleeding; not a big deal for most people, but in some it is thought to provoke ulcers.

Thank you Jandra, Riff-Raff, and Gregorach

Shiatsu head massage

You could try acupressure, it uses the same sites as acupuncture, but direct massage instead. An anaesthetist showed me how whilst I was on placement in theatres during my training. He used the technique to reduce "Hangovers" from general anaesthetics in his patients.

I've used the technique on myself and found it to be helpful in the majority of headaches I've had; only having to resort to medication in about 10% of headaches I experience.

Difficult to describe how verbally, but a quick google found this:http://www.chinese-holistic-health-exer ... aches.html

A picture paints a thousand words!

The Riff-Raff Element wrote:kidney beans killing people when prepared in a slow cooker that never boiled them.

Well thats utter BS - kidney bean will (for all intents and purposes) never cook from dry in a slow cooker, even if cooked for days - trust me on this. To get them soft they need boiling for about 20 min to start with, preferably after a pre-soaking over night.

Good idea to then change the water as they do contain some nasties, and only then put them in a slow cooker to finish the job.

frozenthunderbolt wrote:

The Riff-Raff Element wrote:kidney beans killing people when prepared in a slow cooker that never boiled them.

Well thats utter BS - kidney bean will (for all intents and purposes) never cook from dry in a slow cooker, even if cooked for days - trust me on this. To get them soft they need boiling for about 20 min to start with, preferably after a pre-soaking over night.

Good idea to then change the water as they do contain some nasties, and only then put them in a slow cooker to finish the job.

No disagreement from this quarter. Didn't stop them doing it though. That's TV for you.

Back to the original subject. Do you know what's causing the headaches? If they're sinus related then olbas oil or menthol might help. Dehydration can cause headaches so drink plenty of water. I find that a mug of hot water is great when I've got a headache. The steam opens up the nasal passages and the water helps to rehydrate.

If there is an allergy or food related trigger, then maybe avoiding them would help or, if they're caused by stress, then try some relaxation techniques.

If you don't know what's causing them then paracetamol, in small doses, is fine as long.

Zoe

Probably coffee Thomzo... my achilles heel.

southeast-isher wrote:Probably coffee Thomzo... my achilles heel.

In that case, it could be dehydration. Try matching each cup of coffee with the same quantity of water. Don't drink chilled water though, as that can cause the blood vessels to constrict causing a headache. Make sure it's at least room temperature or warmed.

Zoe