These kind of sentiments really scare and provokes me. Telling anyone that they shouldn't alleviate kids fever and/or pain is absolutely revolting to me.
I didn't say that, I said it's a trade-off. Taking them reduces pain and the risk of certain complications, but increases the risk of other complications (side effects). According to https://www.consumerreports.org/prescription-drugs/too-many-..., "The amount of harm stemming from inappropriate prescription medication is staggering. Almost 1.3 million people went to U.S. emergency rooms due to adverse drug effects in 2014, and about 124,000 died from those events." So even if a medicine is side effect free when used as prescribed, there are still risks if it's accidentally misused, and painkillers are not side-effect free even when used as prescribed.
Thought effect: if you had the option to eliminate a kid's pain with an 0.01% chance of causing a lasting defect, would you do it? Not everybody would; different people have different time preferences.
Ah, good catch, I didn't notice that part. Here's a more relevant link, evidence for the trade-offs of OTC painkillers: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S014067360... . Seems there's evidence of a link between use of paracetamol in early childhood and developing asthma.
Fever is likely a mechanism that the body exercises to fight infections, just the way diarrhea is probably a way for the body to flush out vira and bacteria quickly. In both cases, excess can be dangerous but that doesn't mean they should be stopped per default.
Would you also give your kid anti-diarrhea and let the disease spread in order to stop the immediate unpleasantness?
What if the fever is actually the body’s way of killing the infection? You’re saying it’s scary that someone would want to prioritize recovery from the root cause rather than prolonging the root cause in favor of relief of mild symptoms?
That’s the more shocking belief from my perspective.
Thought effect: if you had the option to eliminate a kid's pain with an 0.01% chance of causing a lasting defect, would you do it? Not everybody would; different people have different time preferences.