Asprin ,Heart Attacks And Strokes.

[Sqad]

Asprin, heart attacks and strokes.

Asprin makes platelets less sticky and may prevent the formation of a clot.....it is an anticoagulant and stops the blood clotting.

Heart attacks are invariably due to clots and prophylactic Asprin may reduce the frequency and severity of heart attacks.

Strokes are due 75% to clots BUT 25% to.......bleeds.

Now, aspirin as a preventative has gone out of fashion by most Cardiologists in the U.K and by almost all Cardiologists in the U.S due to the fact that if a stroke is caused by a bleed,  then the aspirin will make the bleeding worse......so by and large it is no to prophylactic aspirin.

As for the usefulness of aspirin in a heart attack......I wouldn't bother as most areas in the UK will be well served by non invasive coronary artery stent insertions.

I hope that summary helps.

[Prudie]

Thank you sqad :-) So why is it also so out of favour as a standard painkiller? Paracetamol has never worked for me and before ibuprofen came along I always used aspirin. It was almost a cure-all, apart from easing pain and reducing fever it is also (for some reason) an aid to relaxation and sleep when stressy - well it is for me and it was for my mother also.

[Peter Pedant]

Sqad - I am sure you will agree
that if you think you are having either - you should ring 111

[Peter Pedant]

There is quite a lot here

https://bnf.nice.org.uk/drug/aspirin.html

[douglas9401]

I take aspirin every morning and have never enjoyed being stroked.

[Peter Pedant]

// So why is it also so out of favour as a standard painkiller?//
she wants my hour long leccy on Reyes syndrome innit?

one degree under take aspro

because there are better more modern drugs is the short answer

[Prudie]

^ they must be doing it wrong :-)

[Peter Pedant]

cloppy plus aspirin - you bleed like baggery innit?

My neighbours identical twin had an occipital stroke and was put on cloppy - and I said the identical twin should be on it, innit
and the GP said - good call - and I got a gold star for my fridge

(20% concordance which I thought was low)

this is ya-ya OK - I am not gonna stop my rivaroxaban and the twin isnt gonna forego his cloppy ( as a result of AB and its physicianly prognostications ) - just chit chat

[Peter Pedant]

yeah if it is a choice aspiring or being stroked

I wd go for a shorter life and being storked ( sybarite I am)

[satprof]

Rather than relying on medical 'fashion', I prefer a medical practioner who takes a 'whole body' approach. A patient with congestive heart failure but very little atherosclerosis might well be helped by regular 'preventive' aspirin.

Human medicine, IMHO, is a place for well-qualified personnel who know where and when to use 'standard' solutions and when to look beyond them.

[Sqad]

Prudie.....Asprin....no problem if it works and doesn't upset you in any way, but it does have a propensity for irritating the stomach lining causing pain, gastritis and maybe bleeding.
If you are not having any problems with asprin as a painkiller, then go ahead and continue.

PP.....of course and yes, yes, the website.

[Sqad]

Can we put Reyes Syndrome and Asprin to bed........it it extremely rare and usually if not always affects kids following a viral infection.

[Sqad]

satprof......the bottom line is always do what your GP suggests and with what you are happy.

[Khandro]

Asprin was sourced from the bark of willow trees & horses chew it, so it must be good. :0)

[Prudie]

There may be better and more modern drugs available but not off the shelf where there are only 3 remedies for everyday aches and pains - ibuprofen, paracetamol and aspirin.

[calmck]

Agree Squad. The advice re children, aspirin and Reyes I remember from the 70s when we had cases in NYC after a measles and chicken pox outbreak amongst unvaccinated kids

[Vagus]

If you go to bowelcancer uk, there is some suggestion daily aspirin may help prevent bowel and other digestive tract cancer.

[Peter Pedant]

yeah agree sqad too
re children, aspirin and Reyes I remember from the 70s when we had cases in NYC after a measles and chicken pox outbreak amongst unvaccinated kids
forget reyes
in the 80s it occurred to the paeds that it wasnt only post viral but that there was a genetic predisposition in those kids who were gonna get it - as in normal kid then dead shock
lets forget about it
BUT - as far as I am concerned it had a marked effect on sales in adults - think covid vacc

[Bazile]

Would Clopidogrel be a better medication to take ?

[jourdain2]

Thanks, Sqad, all very interesting. OH (88) had a triple-bypass in 2000 and when we lived in France he was prescribed a daily tablet containing both aspirin and a statin - Pravadual - but when we came to the UK, this was unavailable and now he just has the statin. You've just cleared up the mystery of 'why?'. Again, thanks. I usually keep aspirin handy 'just in case' but it seems I can relax on that as well.

[237SJ]

"As for the usefulness of aspirin in a heart attack --I wouldn't bother as most areas in the UK will be well served by non invasive coronary artery stent insertions" Don't forget what can happen remotely though - Aspirin and Oxygen is all we have at 40 thousand feet