What actually helps a sore throat: painkillers and time, not antibiotics
Most sore throats clear on their own within a week. Painkillers and honey ease the pain; antibiotics shorten symptoms by only about 16 hours and are rarely worth it.
NICE tells clinicians not to treat a child's fever just to bring the number down
Its guideline says antipyretics should be considered when a feverish child appears distressed, not to lower a temperature. In critically ill adults, paracetamol for fever changed nothing.
Paracetamol did not beat placebo in the trial built to test it for back pain
PACE randomised patients across 235 primary care centres and found recovery took 17 days on the drug and 16 days on placebo. For osteoarthritis the picture differs, but not flatteringly.
Most febrile seizures are harmless, and fever medicine will not prevent them
US and UK guidelines converge: a brief seizure during a fever in a young child rarely needs scans or blood tests, and paracetamol and ibuprofen do not stop them recurring.