Pain relievers and fever relief

Factual Questions
1

So I’ve been taking a lot of freaking pills this week and since I’ve spent most of the last 10 days in a feverish haze I’ve been wondering all kinds of odd things.

I figured that once I recovered enough to sit at the keyboard it would be a simple matter of some google research and I’d have a funny anecdote.

Either I am still feverish enough that I am incapable of research or the answer isn’t as easily discovered as I thought but…

Why do all 3 major OTC pain relievers also relieve fever? Is it a side effect? Was it marketing? Why oh why?

2

That’s a good question and the answer is that it’s not a coincidence and not so much a “side effect” as “expected effect”. Prostaglandins, one of the body’s ‘signals’ for pain overlaps with that for fever. Aspirin, acetaminophen, and ibuprofen all inhibit the production of prostaglandins. Again, the latter are the chemical 'signal involved in both fever generation and inflammation (of which pain is a component).