Mrx. Kennedy

It’s always disappointing to get online and see that the conversation is “X thing shouldn’t exist” on the grounds that it made somebody feel badly. It was meant to make you feel that way and it’s normal that it did - it’s okay that you stop reading it or don’t finish it but I am BEGGING you to consider why it made you uncomfortable and why the author felt the need (if the answer isn’t immediately obvious, as it can be). There isn’t shame in something putting you off so badly that you shelve it.

The sterilization of reality is a detriment to all who exist within it. To censor stories with painful themes is to erase the reality that such stories are based in some horrific truth and works to erase the reality that many people have endured.

This trend or whatever we want to call it has gotten so bad that I listened to an entire lecture from somebody about how awful a book was and how it shouldn’t exist at all, how the author was a terrible person for concocting it and how it hurt people. When I asked what the book was, this person not only could barely recall the name but HAD NEVER READ IT. I bought the book. I read the book. It accomplished its task beautifully and I found it to be a cathartic experience. I also understood how it could make people so uncomfortable and would never judge anybody for setting it down.

I can act a little silly

Vultures are holy creatures.

Tending the dead.

Bowing low.

Bared head.

Whispers to cold flesh,

“Your old name is not your king.

Vultures are also responsible for keeping diseases at bay.

Vulture stomach acid is so powerful that it can kill anthrax and many other deadly diseases.

So when they consume the carcass of a creature that has died of disease, they actually destroy the disease within it too!

STOP

Stop.

Take that after a meal. Take it with a big glass of water. Don't take it on an empty stomach EVER. Don't take it with alcohol. You will destroy your stomach. You will end up with an ulcer. You will vomit blood. I'm not exaggerating.

Yes, you. Yes, it will happen to cute little you. With your cute little bottle of miracles. Ibuprofen really does that to your body.

Acetaminophen, not a NSAID, even more so that NSAIDS, should not be taken when drinking. No seriously, it causes liver and stomach damage (and it's particularly hard on the liver to start with).

The risk of destroying your stomach with an NSAID if you use it a few days in a month, and no more than the recommended dosage, is low. Usually, well before you would start vomiting blood, you'd get stomach pains and acid reflux. These can be warning signs that your stomach is sensitive to NSAIDs.

Acetaminophen is one of the greatest drugs we have. We have no painkiller with less side effects than acetaminophen has. It's ridiculously safe compared to other painkillers, even to other drugs. It's so safe that a lot of the reported side effects and deaths are due to other active ingredients (think children taking acetaminophen syrups that also contain propylene glycol, which is a lot more toxic).

It won't destroy your stomach or liver if you know how much to take, and is actually the first choice painkiller in many countries. It is way less harsh on your stomach lining than NSAIDs are, and liver damage is rare and usually only occurs at 150mg/kg a day (so, for someone weiging approx. 145 pounds, that would be around 10.5 grams, when the recommended maximum daily intake is 4 grams). Of course if you take your paracetamol with alcohol, you can damage your liver with less, but you shouldn't (routinely) combine any (pain) medication with alcohol, frankly. Additionally, you should always be cautious if you have had, or are suffering from liver disease.

Recommended maximum dosages are:

Acetaminophen: no more than 3000-4000mg per day

Ibuprofen: no more than 1200-1600mg per day

Naproxen: no more than 500-750mg per day

When taking painkillers, make sure the daily dose is equally spaced over the day. If you get stomach complaints after taking NSAIDs, consider taking them with PPIs to protect your stomach lining (such as omeprazole, esomeprazole, pantoprazole). You can take the listed PPIs once or twice daily, up to 80mg per day. Depending on the country you live in they could be available over the counter or on prescription.

It's important to realise that if you regularly need painkillers, let's say for more than 10 days each month, or more than 5 days at a time, that's worth contacting your doctor about.

If you use acetaminophen and NSAIDs incidentally (with or without PPIs), then they're absolutely safe (if you didn't already have a gastric ulcer, liver problems, you don't take them with (large) amounts of alcohol, or other medication that damages your stomach lining). But if you need them (near) daily, then you should seek medical advice, to make sure you don't destroy your stomach and liver, definitely, but also to figure out if there's an underlying cause.

It's not recommended to use acetaminophen or ibuprofen daily, but I think it's important to realise that there are many people in the world that are prescribed acetaminophen or NSAIDs for (near) daily use, and that many of these people use them for years on end, and they don't all succumb to liver failure or vomiting up their own blood.