Women taking daily amounts of non-aspirin painkillers,— such as an extra-strength Tylenol,— are more likely to develop high blood pressure than those who don't, a new study suggests.
While many popular over-the-counter painkillers have been linked before to high blood pressure, acetaminophen, sold as Tylenol, has generally been considered relatively free of such risk.
It is the only one that is not a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug or NSAID, a class of medications the federal government just required to carry stricter warning labels because of the risk for heart-related problems. Those include ibuprofen (sold as Advil and Motrin) and naproxen (sold as Aleve). Many had turned to those painkillers in the wake of problems with prescription drugs, such as Vioxx.
However, the new study found that women taking Tylenol were about twice as likely to develop blood pressure problems. Risk also rose for women taking NSAIDS other than aspirin.
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Now I wonder if this applies to men, too. When I was younger, my (currently very stressed out) father excitedly pushed extra-strength Exedrin on me like it was brussel sprouts. "Your head hurts? Have some Exedrin." "We're out of Diet Coke? Try Exedrin." "You got locked out of your email account? Exedrin." I tried to stay away from OTC's, unless it was Advil (for the knees) or a combination of Advil plus Sudafed (for the sinus headaches). Even now, I try not to overdrug myself, for fear of not realizing honest-to-goodness symptoms when they appear. Last year, I saw a new orthopedic surgeon for indefinable knee pain. After spending a good 3 minutes with me, she prescribed Prozac, saying it would numb the pain signals my knees were sending to my brain and allow me to accomplish physical greatness that I haven't been able to achieve in years. Um... Prozac? What, are my knees so unhappy they're depressed? Maybe she needs some Exedrin.
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