Psychotropic effects of Acetaminophen

By William Corden

Of course I have no extensive research to point to (as have the people at the U.S. food and drug administration) but I can tell you that I was severely affected by dosage of Tylenol during a  stay in hospital a few years back. I was in a severe bike crash and they gave me Tylenol to dull the pain.

Never in my life have I had such disturbed sleep as I had during that stay, nightmares that had me waking in a cold sweat having just escaped death in my dreams. I mentioned it to the nurses but they just brushed me off , telling me it was the traumatic side effects of the accident.

But I assiduously avoided them  after I got home and the scare of the nightmares faded to the back of my mind. Then, wouldn’t you know it , I tripped over a kerb on the sidewalk and bashed my hip. I’d forgotten about the Tylenol dreams and popped a couple to help me get throug,h but the nightmares returned with a vengeance the very same night …..  absolutely terrifying!

Now I don’t know if all of the hoopla about acetaminophen causing Autism has any grounds in fact ( and I’m sure the tobacco lawyers will resurface to support the manufacturer’s “it’s harmless” stance but it’s indisputable to me that the drug does have some psychotropic effects and it would come as no surprise in this “medication for every complaint” society that doses were overprescribed for young patients.

It’ll be hard to make the claim stick against the drug companies but there’s no arguing against the fact that autism is much more prevalent than it was just 20 years ago. It could be of course that psychologists are including people in the diagnosis who would just have been labelled “stupid” in the past.

You be the judge.