Regular Aspirin
 

There are so many conditions that are said to be improved by a regular low dose of aspirin (those that spring to mind include heart attack, stroke, embolism, migraine, Hughes/Sticky Blood syndrome, DVT, but I am sure that there are a host more) that I was wondering why we don't all just take an aspirin a day as a prophylactic?

Is there any harm in a normal, healthy person taking it on a regular and continuous basis "just in case"?

Timothy

Some stuff asprin does.... inhibits platelet formation irreversably for up to seven days, anti pyretic (helps reduce fevers) and non steroidal anti inflammatory drug (can assist in reduction of inflammation)


Aspirin possible to likely side effects.......

tinnitus, temporary deafness, increased bleeding times, vertigo......

increased reactivity to persons with asthma and aspirin sensitivity

(and all the other stuff you will find on the manufacturers insert)

not recommended to be taken by pregnant persons or children under 12

daily higher doses can lead to gastric ulceration (aspirin is an acid) and lead to gastric haemorrhage. (really nasty)

most folks I know on aspirin daily doses are on 80mg, 100 or 150mg doses, with the required lowering of the clotting time and minimising the side effects. Aspirin also affects the theraputic levels of other drugs in the blood. This can be a deliberate treatment tactic by the Dr or accidental.

In most cases we administer the drug for angina and suspected AMI (accute myocardial infarction - heart attack) in conjuction with other drugs as required by the patient, if not contra-indicated. (may cause further harm to patient if they are given the drug...)

Most of the conditions in the above post are preventable to a certain extent by reducing risk factors such as smoking, increasing fitness, reducing diabetes risk and so on.

Why treat damage or risk damage with drug therapy if it can be avoided.......

Timothy, with any drug, comes a risk. If the risk outweighs the benefit, as it does with healthy people taking low dose aspirin, then the answer to your question is yes.

In other words, if 10,000 healthy people took the aspirin, you may save 20 deaths, and cause 30.

Incidentally, it has been estimated that the family of drugs, of which aspirin belongs, accounts for anywhere between 2-5000 deaths per year in the UK. A lot less people die in aeroplanes !

Well, that answers that!

Thank you both.

Timothy

I think it's a very good question. I must admit I'm tempted sometimes.

QDM

Timothy,

Not quite answered, but QDM's "non-answer" is actually the best.

Of course the decision to take aspirin (or any drug) depends on a risk/reward analysis as suggested by others. But two apparently healthy people can be at different risk.

So, for instance. Healthy people over 50 are at higher risk of heart disease than healthy people under 30. And healthy people over 50 are at higher risk of aspirin side effects :(

Current thinking is that if you are at higher than 1% risk of having a heart attack a year, you should take Low Dose Aspirin.

Plenty of cardiologists are also asking the same question. My non-interventionalist mates on the front line tend to want to put an aspirin/statin combo in the drinking water. I take it when I remember to, which is no help at all to anybody.

And asprin may well be an acid, but you still get gastric bleeding if you give it by suppository, so being an acid alone doesn't explain why it causes stomach problems.

So deciding whether you should take LDA depends on your personal risk factor for problems that aspirin has been proven to have a positive impact on. You really need to know what the latest guess of this number is once you hit 40.

I take daily aspirin, 75mg dispersible. Ensure that if you use it regularly you use dispersible (soluble), otherwise if you swallow it whole it will sit in the pit of your stomach and dissolve ... and eventually it will burn a hole in your stomach causing a bleed.

slim slag, where did you get the 1% figure from ?

Sorry, just noticed "1% per year "

Some personal observations on aspirin.

I took 100mg coated aspirin once daily for the therapeutic benefits, some time back.

Over a period of time I developed very mild asthma. It was not to an extent that caused me breathing difficulties, but was there non the less, as a slight wheeze, sometimes.

During a stress ECG my reduced air flow showed up as me being very unfit, yet I exercised on a regular program and I knew there was nothing unfit about me.No doubt the poor airflow to the lungs under high workload showed up as "unfit" in the view of the Cardiologist.

I went off the aspirin and the doctor had my lung a nd heart health checked by specialists. A couple of months later the Respiritory function test, done under stress in a laboratory, showed above average lung function for age. Heart was determined to be normal as well.

I believe it was shortness of air intake during the stress ECG caused by the aspirin. As soon as I got off it, and some time passed, my lung function was fine. This is my layman opinion only I stress.

The most recent stress ECG was done without the slightest hassle. Hardly raised a sweat.

While all this is non scientific I believe the aspirin was a problem in my case, and will not take it in future without some sound medical reason.

I provide this info for what its worth. Check with your doctor before taking daily doses.