Weird Experience With Tylenol And Malic Acid

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tex
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Weird Experience With Tylenol And Malic Acid

Post by tex »

Hi all,

I recall that a number of members here report that Tylenol doesn't work for them. I usually have pretty good results for both headaches and body aches and pains, provided that I take it with a meal, and before the pain gets to be really bad.

One day last week, I could feel a reaction to something coming on, (headache, bloating, and a stiff, sore neck), and since I had just finished eating about an hour and a half earlier, I took a couple of tylenol caplets.

It usually starts taking effect after about an hour or slightly less, but on this particular occasion, I had no noticeable benefit, after two hours. The symptoms were worse, and getting to the point where I didn't feel like working. Sooooooo, I took a break, and ate an apple. Within about 10 minutes, I noticed that I was feeling significantly better. In another 10 minutes, the symptoms were barely noticeable, and within another 20 or 30 minutes, I was completely pain free.

Okay, so what happened? Does anyone have any thoughts on this? Did the malic acid, (apple acid), in the apple suddenly activate the acetaminophen in the Tylenol? When I looked it up, I found that malic acid has been found to be helpful in the treatment of fibromyalgia:

http://www.pdrhealth.com/drug_info/nmdr ... 0292.shtml

Maybe this is a way to make tylenol work for us - take a couple of Tylenol capsules, caplets, or whatever, and eat an apple, for fast relief. Or, maybe we can use apple juice to wash the pills down. Note that if sugar is added to apple juice, however, the malic acid content is reduced.

I can hardly wait until I get another headache or other body pain, so that I can test it out again. LOL. In case it matters, the apple that I ate was a Gala, (which, as far as I'm concerned, is the only type of apple worth eating).

Love,
Tex
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Post by starfire »

:grin: Well, I kinda like the Braeburn apple but it's a good thing that we don't all like the same one. :grin:

Wouldn't it be great if this turns out to be something that really works for all of us!!! I am one who doesn't have much use for Tylenol. It never seemed to do too much for me. I'll have to try the apple thing too.

Thanks

Love, Shirley
When the eagles are silent, the parrots begin to jabber"
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tex
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Post by tex »

Shirley,

Hmmmmmm. I've never seen a Braeburn apple in this part of the world, (nor even heard of one before, for that matter). I'll have to look around and see if I can find a store that stocks them, and give them a try. I eat a lot of apples, when I can find decent ones. Thanks for the tip.

Love,
Tex
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It is suspected that some of the hardest material known to science can be found in the skulls of GI specialists who insist that diet has nothing to do with the treatment of microscopic colitis.
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Post by Matthew »

Tex

That might be the ultimate in food combining. It is rare if ever that I need to take anything for pain control since I have found that 99.99% of my aches and pains never come back with a consistent program of stretching and yoga. I do eat a couple of apples every day. Maybe it has made a bigger difference that i might have imagined. I will let you know next time I am so out of whack that i need to take a tylenol.

Shirley and Tex

The Gala apples and the Braeburns are my favorites. I bought a mixed case from a small organic orchard on the western slope at the end of the farmers market season. They are almost gone and will soon have to go back to grocery store apples but in the mean time I have enjoyed every one the snapingly delicious little gems

Love

Matthew
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Post by kate_ce1995 »

Hmmm...maybe that;s why the Tylenol I took at 5am this morning didn't seem to do anything! When Geoff got up I had an incling of a headache. For me usually if I don't take something, then the headache gets really bad (Geoff the little devil, can sleep headaches off). I've still got the same incling and figured if it got bad enough I'd have to take some ibuprofen later (which for the record seemed to be okay for me for a while, but has returned to being a problem).

Do you think applesauce would work? I often have a jar of that on hand (always unsweetened...want it to taste a bit sweeter, add cinnamon) but we are quickly moving out of apple season (in fact we did a good job on the bushel we picked in September. Personally I buy macs most of the time because they are slightly smaller (a good snack size in my opinion) and they make a good cooking apple for treats...apple pie, crisp, whatever.

Katy
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Post by Polly »

How interesting!

I have no idea what the mechanism might be, but I will file this little gem in the back of my mind for future experimentation. I am one who gets little to no relief with Tylenol, so I will definitely try this.

It is a well known principle in medicine that certain things can potentiate (or interfere with) a medication's effectiveness. Grapefruit juice is one example that most are familiar with.

I recall Dr. Fine telling me that he eats several apples a day and that they have an antihistamine effect. Maybe the apple all by itself headed off the immune reaction that you were having? Who knows? Anyway, thanks for sharing this nitnoid.

Love,

Polly, who loves braeburns and galas and fujis and etc.
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Post by starfire »

Matthew, Tex......
I can only get the Braeburn apples in the supermarkets and even then not all year. During the fall & winter is when I find them.

Love, Shirley
When the eagles are silent, the parrots begin to jabber"
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Post by Beth »

I'm definitely filing away this piece of info! When I woke up this morning, I was dehydrated and nauseous, and I took some Tylenol but immediately followed it with an apple - the only one left in the house! After eating and drinking lots of water, I'm starting to feel better. Thanks, Wayne, for this interesting tidbit!

Beth
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Post by tex »

Beth,

You're certainly welcome. If the weather gets bad, one of these days, so that I can't work for a few days, (and therefore I can afford to take a chance on getting sick), I plan to do more experimenting. I suspect that peanuts caused the symptoms the day that I tried that combination, so I'll try them again, and see what happens.

Thanks for trying the remedy, and reporting back with the results.

Wayne
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It is suspected that some of the hardest material known to science can be found in the skulls of GI specialists who insist that diet has nothing to do with the treatment of microscopic colitis.
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Post by artteacher »

Is it a common thing for Tylenol to not work for some people? It also doesn't work for me, but aspirin and Aleve do.

Polly? is this like some people are dog people, and others are cat people?
It sure seems like a lot of us are immune to Tylenol . . .

Love, Marsha
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Post by Polly »

Hi Marsha!

I have never thought that Tylenol was very effective for most people. Of course each of us reacts differently to meds, as we well know. The reason that aspirin, Aleve and the other NSAIDs work so much better is because they have an actual anti-inflammatory effect in addition to a pain-killing effect. Tylenol does not have an anti-inflammatory effect.

Love,

Polly, who is a dog AND cat person so I must be weird!
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