Q. I was recently traveling in France and ran out of the acetaminophen I brought from home for my painful arthritic knee. When I attempted to buy more acetaminophen from a French pharmacy, the pharmacist said acetaminophen is not sold in France. The pharmacist advised me to take a product named paracetamol. I took the French pharmacist’s advice and bought some, but I have some reservations about it. What is paracetamol and is it safe to use?
A. Acetaminophen (Tylenol, etc) is sold throughout the world as paracetamol. The two are identical.
