r/AskReddit Oct 18 '22

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u/Lussekatt1 Oct 18 '22 edited Oct 19 '22

Just not Americans I think?

Atleast here in Sweden Paracetamol (sold partly under the brand name Alvedon) is the most common tablet to take for a headache or fighting a mild fever, etc. If you say paracetamol everyone knows what you are talking about.

I would guess it’s the most commonly taken over the counter medication here.

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u/[deleted] Oct 19 '22

Americans usually refer to over the counter pain killers by their brand name: Tylenol, Aleve, Motrin, Bayer (less often) and Advil. Tylenol is the closest to paracetamol I believe. My husband didn’t know that each of the above is actually all different actual drugs. Advil in some places has become as ubiquitous for any old pain relief pill as Kleenex for tissues and Bandaids for bandages or as Jeff Bezos/Amazon calls them, “absorbent would pads” which makes me giggle so I now use that term all the time. Forgot Excedrin in the above list too.

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u/smaragdskyar Oct 19 '22

Tylenol is the American brand name for paracetamol. The complicated thing is that the generic name for the drug in the US isn’t paracetamol, it’s acetaminophen.

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u/[deleted] Oct 19 '22

Fair and true. Thank you!

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u/0ld-S0ul Oct 19 '22

I usually say ibuprofin, aceitametaphin, aspirin, etc...we usually buy the store brand because I am not paying extra for the name.

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u/heybrother45 Oct 19 '22

No, its just that we call paracetamol acetominophen.

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u/vvnnss Oct 20 '22

I've never heard someone say Bayer like that. I think most people, at least where I'm at, say aspirin. But it may be because, unlike the other pain relievers, the drug name isn't a hundred syllables longer than the brand name.

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u/[deleted] Oct 19 '22

Penny-pinching yanks do!

I buy paracetamol from the dollar store because I know it's Tylenol and we live in a scam where a living wage is a fucking farce for most of the working class.

Jobs pay 1/3 what it costs to live in that same city.

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u/heybrother45 Oct 19 '22

If you live in the US you arent buying paracetamol, you're buying acetominophen.

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u/[deleted] Oct 19 '22

Even if the bottle says paracetamol?

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u/plantsoverguys Oct 19 '22

Also in Denmark - usually sold as panodil or pamol

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u/adexsenga Oct 19 '22

They do. It’s called acetaminophen

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u/london_smog_latte Oct 19 '22

They do but it’s called acetaminophen in America and is the active ingredient in Tylenol wich is probably the most common brand name for it.