COVID-19 and Tylenol. Tylenol is one of the most widely used over-the-counter medications in the world. Its main ingredient, acetaminophen, is also in hundreds of prescription medications.
If you have COVID-19 is it safe to take Tylenol? A growing body of research suggests that it’s not.
COVID-19 and Tylenol are a bad combination, here’s why:
COVID-19 is a viral lung infection. Like other viral lung infections, it causes oxidative stress and damage to lung tissue. Your body’s own immune response to fight the infection also unleashes a large amount of reactive oxygen species. These include superoxide, hydrogen peroxide, and hydroxyl radicals. This multiplies the oxidative stress and damage to the lungs (and other) tissues.
While that may sound worrisome, it usually isn’t. Under normal healthy circumstances, your body will produce superoxide dismutase, glutathione, and catalase. These are among the body’s most important antioxidants. Antioxidants work to neutralize free radicals and repair any oxidative damage.
The body makes glutathione from three amino acids: cysteine, glutamate, and glycine. Glutathione requires vitamin C to be recycled.
Are you still with me? We’re coming to the problem with COVID-19 and Tylenol.
Depleting the body of glutathione
Acetaminophen depletes the body of glutathione. Tylenol is notorious for this and one of the most problematic aspects of taking it (there are others). As Harvard Women’s Health Watch explains:
Acetaminophen produces a toxic by-product when the liver breaks it down. Normally, this toxin is neutralized by a substance called glutathione, but excess acetaminophen may overwhelm glutathione stores, allowing the toxin to build up and damage the liver.”
In a typical year, acetaminophen is known to cause at least 150 deaths in the United States, as well as tens of thousands of non-fatal poisonings. The antidotes for acetaminophen toxicity are N-Acetyl Cysteine and/or glutathione. If you can replenish your body of glutathione, you can stop the poisoning caused by too much Tylenol.
Indeed, when hospitals in China started giving their COVID-19 patients IV vitamin C, survival rates increased and hospital stays decreased by two or three days. Why does vitamin C seem to help so much? Vitamin C helps your body reprocess glutathione by converting oxidized glutathione back to its active form.
Likely Chinese COVID-19 patients did so well because they were able to recycle their glutathione. Doctors in America and many other countries have had similar positive results treating sick patients with IV vitamin C. Clinical trials testing the efficacy of IV vitamin C are ongoing.
Saved by glutathione
Some COVID-19 patients with severely impaired lung function have made seemingly miraculous recoveries. How? Thanks to glutathione. This New York mom’s story is a case in point.
As reported by the New York Post, her son James Bruzzese was a 23-year-old medical school student. He called his mentor while his mom was very ill. Dr. Richard Horowitz, M.D., a Lyme disease specialist in the Hudson Valley, knew the family well. He had an idea.
He suggested trying glutathione, an anti-oxidant produced by the liver that has been used to reduce inflammation in those suffering from the tick-borne illness.
“When you get a viral infection with a huge amount of inflammation you don’t have enough glutathione to be able to protect your very sensitive lung tissue,” Horowitz said.
James did not hesitate to give his mom the nutritional supplement, which they had in the house for Julia. After one 2,000-milligram dose, the family witnessed a miracle.
“Within an hour my breathing got better. It was amazing. I sat up, I got up,” Josephine Bruzzese recalled. She even started to make her bed. “I went and I took a shower.”
She took the pills for five days and had no relapse, her son said.”
Doctors may be harming patients by combining COVID-19 and acetaminophen
The standard of care in hospitals is to give all Covid-19 patients acetaminophen. Doctors do this believing it will help. They believe (falsely) that the body’s fever should be suppressed. Yet there is a strong argument for letting fevers run their course.
Tylenol impairs the immune system’s ability to fight the infection by suppressing the fever. In addition, acetaminophen also depletes glutathione. This further limits the body’s ability to repair oxidative damage to the lungs.
See the problem? Combining COVID-19 and Tylenol is so potentially harmful that it may qualify as medical malpractice.
Tylenol potentially harms the lungs during a time when we need to do everything we can to support and repair them. Lungs severely damaged by high amounts of oxidative stress do not function well.
What if the reason we are seeing a disproportionate number of deaths from COVID-19 in America is medical mismanagement? COVID-19 patients should NEVER take acetaminophen. They SHOULD, however, take vitamin C, N-Acetyl Cysteine, zinc, and vitamin D. Safe and effective treatments for coronavirus save lives. Safer and more natural alternatives to Tylenol abound. These treatments are not toxic to the liver. Moreover, intravenous glutathione may also be a safe and effective treatment for those with impaired lung function.
It’s time for the American public to realize the harms of Tylenol. Doctors must stop recommending this drug. Especially for patients with COVID-19. When our bodies have the nutrients we need to fight infection and overcome oxidative stress, we can quickly recover our health.
Related articles:
Do You Need a COVID-19 Vaccine?
How Much Baby Tylenol is Safe?
The Truth About Coronavirus: Dr. Paul Thomas, M.D., Weighs In
I fully agree. It is a well known fact that Acetsmynophen (Tylenol) is toxic to the liver(at least in amounts larger than 2000 mg/day) so why take it at all? Part of the fault is with the media which does not encourage alternative treatments such as vitamin C 15000 20000 mg: day in decided doses, zinc 50-100 mg/day, N Acetyl cysteine, vitamin D3, quinine. These are inexpensive and very effective treatments but big pharma does not like competition !
What I need to know is … What should we be taking for fever? Motrin? I have COPD.
April, how do you tolerate buffered aspirin? You can simply let the fever run its course and do comfort measures or you can try natural fever remedies or, if you’re desperate, use aspirin. Aspirin is a very effective fever reducer. Here is some interesting information about aspirin and COPD: “Now it appears aspirin may also reduce flare-ups of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). In a study of COPD sufferers, researchers found that aspirin was linked to fewer moderate exacerbations, but not severe bouts, of the lung disease. It also reduced moderate and severe episodes of labored breathing.” https://www.webmd.com/lung/copd/news/20190304/daily-aspirin-might-ease-copd-flare-ups. And here is a much longer article about alternatives to Tylenol: https://www.jennifermargulis.net/tylenol-alternatives-better-safer-remedies/. (NB: I am not a medical doctor and this is not medical advice, just my best suggestions…)
So to help your body have enough glutathione would you take N-Acetyl Cysteine or glutathione? Or is it more of a situation that you can take N-Acetyl Cysteine as a preventative but if you find yourself with severe symptoms while sick just take glutathione?
Thanks for your question, Stephanie. Here’s an answer from a naturopath who prefers to remain anonymous, but likes to go by Dr. Awkward (it’s a palindrome). This is not to be construed as medical advice, just information to help you make educated decisions.
“NAC provides the body with the critical precursor for the production of glutathione but,once absorbed, it does not mandate glutathione production. Rather, it allows the body to produce it, if that’s what it wants to do. So it’s a good thing to have on board as a daily health ensurance practice. Common doses are 500-1,000 mg once or twice a day.
“Taking glutathione, though, is somewhat problematic. Glutathione consists of three amino acids (Glutamate, cysteine and glycine) joined together in a small chain. It is basically a really tiny protein. When we ingest it, our digestive enzymes can separate the three amino acids, at which point it is no longer glutathione, just expensive food.
Two factors can improve oral absorption of glutathione. The first is to have the glutathione in an enteric-coated capsule that doesn’t dissolve until it reaches the small intestine where absorption takes place. It thereby avoids the harsh acidic environment in the stomach and is less likely to be broken down. The second is to have glutathione in a liposomal form. This is when the glutathione is incorporated into little fatty globules that more readily cross the small intestinal cellular membranes allowing the glutathione easier entrance into the blood stream.
“Enteric-coated, liposomal glutathione provides the best oral absorption potential. Common doses are one 250 mg capsule once or twice a day.
“Which is better? NAC or enteric-coated liposomal glutathione? I really can’t say. Take whatever you can get your hands on. If you get Covid, take them both. Personally, I take one 250 mg capsule of enteric-coated liposomal glutathione every day along with my usual assortment of supplements (Vitamin C, B complex, fish oil, vitamin D etc).
“The absolutely best way to get more glutathione into a person is to administer it intravenously with a quick IV “push.” It takes about five minutes and can deliver much larger amounts of glutathione directly into the blood stream. I typically administer 1,000-3,000 mg per treatment. I have seen dramatic improvement in post-Covid patients’ ability to breathe within minutes of getting IV glutathione. Incidentally, these people all got Covid before they were my patients and they all took acetaminophen when they had Covid. They ended up with tight restricted lungs and persistent fatigue. IV glutathione has been a very important part of their healing process.” ~Dr. Awkward
Any trustworthy brands you recommend for Enteric-coated, liposomal glutathione?
Thank you so much for the information! That really helped me to understand.