Panadol is one of those names that starts off as a trade name and then goes on to become representative of similar products. They are called proprietary eponyms or generonyms. Google and Kleenix are probably the best known but there’s Band Aid, invented in 1920, and trademarked by Johnson & Johnson, Jell-o, Q-Tip, onesie, dry ice (originally made by the Dry Ice Corporation of America), escalator (Otis Elevator Co trademarked the word “escalator” in 1899), vaseline and ping pong.
Locally, old timers will fondly remember Flit, used for any form of mosquito repellent, Pallet or any frozen custard ice cream on a stick, Lux toilet soap for sweet soap and Iodex for rubbing anything.
Panadol come like aspirin. Long ago, anything you took for a headache, backache, period cramps, “rheumatism”, toothache or fever was called aspirin even if it had caffeine in it (Phensic) or worse, caffeine and paracetamol (Excedrin).
Panadol is paracetamol. It has many trade names, Calpol, Aramol, Tylenol and Tempra, but they are all contain the same chemical, known as paracetamol in the UK and former colonies, and as acetaminophen in the USA and its present colonies. It’s also called Tachipirin in Venezuela in case you come across it on some of the containers you find on the beach.
Paracetamol is used like water by mothers, grannies and aunties for fever and pain. It is very safe. Unlike aspirin, which must seldom be given to children or ibuprofen, which is actually a more effective medication to bring fever down but which irritates the stomach, you need to give huge quantities of it to harm children.
It is still given far too frequently. Fever is one of the main ways the child’s body defends itself from germs which cannot survive at fever temperatures. Bringing the temperature down isn’t exactly the smartest move and I hasten to say that, regardless of what your GP or obstetrician or tantie told you in 1952 or last week, a fever has never harmed a child. It’s what causes the fever that harms the child. As for “fever fits”, they are like a dog’s bark, more bluster than bite.
Panadol should only be given if the child is in discomfort from fever or pain. Both cause stress and stress causes an increase in stress hormones which can hinder the body’s immune response.
By turning to Panadol whenever a child is febrile, you contribute to an already rampant culture where problems are supposed to be solved by medication. There are simple things that can be done to relieve fever (fans), pain and distress (distraction). How many times have embarrassed parents made appointments for sick children with “real fever” and turn up at the office with a happy, playful child? The reason is that they are in an interesting environment and they’ve had a ride in a car or maxi and cooled off a bit.
Yes, waiting rooms for children should be interesting!
But Panadol works. It does lower the temperature although nobody knows how it does this. It does relieve pain. It does help when the child is up at night and nobody is sleeping. It’s powerful and its power may come from its ability to comfort parents.
Children and babies are extremely good at picking up anxiety in parents. One can always tell which babies getting immunisations are going to cry. Their parents are the anxious ones.
Yes, there are parents who are not anxious!
It’s natural to be upset when your child is ill and to want to help. Giving medicine is a way of helping. The act of giving something and showing love and care reduces tension and may have a placebo effect by proxy: the child benefits from the parent believing that they’re doing good.
Panadol has become part of this. We don’t view it as a drug. It’s a routine we use to solve a problem. For better or worse, it’s as part of the solution as an old fashioned hug and rock.