Lower Your Fever and Stay Sick
Researchers at the University of Maryland have publicly stated what
chiropractors and other drug-free, vitalistic healers have been saying
for a long time: taking aspirin or Tylenol for the flu actually could
prolong your illness by up to 3½ days. Fever is the body's natural way
of fighting an infection and taking aspirin or acetaminophen (TylenolT)
interferes with your body's natural healing process.
"You're messing with Mother Nature," says Dr. Leland Rickman, an
associate clinical professor of medicine at the University of
California, San Diego. An elevated temperature "may actually help the
body fight the infection quicker or better than if you don't have a
fever." The Maryland researchers found that influenza A sufferers who
were treated with aspirin or acetaminophen extended their illness from
five days to about 8½ days. Aspirin and acetaminophen may prolong
influenza A and possibly other viral infections according to
researchers. Pharmacotherapy, December 2000; 20: 1417-1422