Aspirin

If you take low-dose aspirin for your heart, can you also take ibuprofen for pain? You can, but the timing is critical. If you take ibuprofen first, it fills up the same molecular site inside platelets that aspirin binds to. If ibuprofen is already there, the aspirin can't bind, which means aspirin's potent anti-clotting action can't get started. To get around this, you can take low-dose aspirin, typically 81 milligrams, in the morning, then wait an hour or two before taking ibuprofen for pain.

My 81-year-old mom is currently prescribed allopurinol to prevent gout, enalapril and labetalol for high blood pressure, metformin for diabetes, Plavix to thin her blood, Zocor to control cholesterol, plus extra magnesium and potassium (Klor-Con). She exhibits confusion, symptoms of dementia and dizziness, and has fallen several times. I think these medications may be excessive, and at this stage, some may even be counterproductive. Opinion? Your mother's medicines could be having an impact on her overall health.

About a month ago, my son-in-law started taking one regular Bayer aspirin each morning and one Bayer PM before going to sleep. Two weeks into this regimen, he started bleeding from the mouth while he was sleeping. He stopped taking the aspirin, and the bleeding stopped as well. Is this a possible side effect? Aspirin can thin the blood by interfering with the sticky part of blood called platelets. Some people are especially susceptible to this effect, so even a standard dose might trigger bleeding.

About a month ago, my son-in-law started taking one regular Bayer aspirin each morning and one Bayer PM before going to sleep. Two weeks into this regimen, he started bleeding from the mouth while he was sleeping. He stopped taking the aspirin, and the bleeding stopped as well. Is this a possible side effect? Aspirin can thin the blood by interfering with the sticky part of blood called platelets. Some people are especially susceptible to this effect, so even a standard dose might trigger bleeding.

I know that aspirin reduces the risk of heart attacks, strokes and cancer, but I am confused about the best dose. Some experts recommend a baby aspirin, while others suggest a regular aspirin daily. I am prone to stomach irritation from chronic non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug use. How can I get the benefits of aspirin and minimize the risks? Is buffered aspirin better? Even low-dose aspirin (81 mg) can cause digestive-tract irritation for some people. That's why no one should undertake a lifelong aspirin program without medical supervision.

The old advice to "take two aspirin, go to bed and call me in the morning" may actually do cold sufferers more harm than good, a new study suggests. And aspirin substitutes such as Tylenol and Nuprin are no better, says the report in the December Journal of Infectious Diseases.A group of Australian researchers led by Dr. Neil M. H. Graham studied 56 volunteers infected with a cold virus and fed various pain relievers or a placebo. The doctors found that all common over-the-counter pain relievers worsened some cold symptoms and suppressed some natural responses of the body's immune system.

I've heard that a daily dose of aspirin might lead to an ulcer due to the corrosive effect of aspirin on the lining of the stomach. Enteric-coated aspirin is sometimes recommended. I understand that it results in the aspirin dissolving in the intestine rather than the stomach. Why is it better to get a hole in your intestine thanyour stomach? Holes in any part of the digestive tract are undesirable! Dr. Waqar Qureshi, chief of endoscopy at Baylor College of Medicine, says that doctors mostly ignored the effect of medications on the small intestine until recently because it was so hard to examine.

Q. I'm taking aspirin for my heart and ginkgo to help boost my memory. My wife says you have written that this combination is risky. Can you tell me more, so I can decide whether to continue? A. We worry that ginkgo and aspirin could interact to increase the risk of bleeding. Although there have been several cases of hemorrhage with this combination, there has not been a study to determine the significance of this possible complication. In their column, Joe and Teresa Graedon answer letters from readers.

FORT WORTH, Texas - Taking aspirin and other anti-inflammatory medications for at least two years may reduce the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease, according to a study. The findings, being published today in the journal Neurology, support the possibility that low-cost, over-the-counter medications help combat the inflammatory mechanisms believed to play a role in the debilitating brain disease. Anti-inflammatory medications - sometimes as little as a baby aspirin daily - have been shown to reduce the risk of heart disease, stroke and some cancer.

You might think that a drug that has been around for nearly 100 years would hold no surprises. But new discoveries about aspirin never fail to amaze us.Although many people have turned to other drugs like Tylenol or Advil for pain relief, recently published research suggests that aspirin -- the cheapest drug in the pharmacy -- may help to prevent some of the most common cancers. In addition, tantalizing preliminary reports hint that aspirin or similar anti-inflammatory agents such as Indocin could help delay the onset of Alzheimer's disease.

One out of three adults takes an aspirin a day to prevent a heart attack. But after two decades of research, doctors are still divided over how much aspirin they should take. Some researchers believe a low-dose, 81-milligram "baby aspirin" is good enough to reduce the risk of heart attacks -- and they say thousands suffer from unnecessary stomach bleeding because they take a standard 325-milligram pill. "Too many people are taking a full dose of aspirin," said Dr. Jeffrey Berger, a cardiologist at Duke University Medical Center.

INsideToday What They're saying Today's Sun Columnists Don't buy into iPhone's hype No matter how insanely great Apple's new iPhone appears, there are good reasons to wait before buying one, or deciding not to. Business baltimoresun.com/ himowitz A fresh start for Orioles? The introduction of Andy MacPhail as president of baseball operations has at least the feel of a fresh start for the Orioles. But has he really been given the reins? Sports baltimoresun.com/schmuck other voices David Steele on the OriolesSports Childs Walker on Fantasy SportsSports Dan Rodricks on Baltimore crimeMaryland Roch Kubatko, Kevin Eck blog excerptsSports BETTER THAN EZRAThe '90s rockers perform a free concert on the plaza at Power Plant Live, 34 Market Place.

Seventy-eight-year-old Joseph Dollard golfs several times a week. He supplements that with swimming, gardening and long walks. You would not guess from his lean physique and bright eyes that he had a heart attack at age 34, or that he's been taking a daily dose of pills ever since to avoid another. Among them was a 325 milligram aspirin pill, prescribed by a cardiologist 40 years ago and continued by Dollard's current cardiologist, Dr. Paul Gurbel of Sinai Hospital. But the results of a recent study by Gurbel and his team at Sinai's Center for Thrombosis Research indicate Dollard may be better off taking half that much.

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My mother was admitted to the hospital recently for dehydration, bronchitis and pneumonia. When they checked her blood level of Coumadin, it was 10 times higher than normal. The doctors in the emergency room were shocked. My mother was taking Cymbalta as well as Coumadin. The doctor who prescribed the antidepressant for my mother didn't know about this interaction. It is not listed in the prescribing information. Please warn others of this drug interaction, as it may save someone's life.

Women should try to reduce their lifetime risk of heart attack and stroke by exercising more and watching their diet from an early age, the American Heart Association said in guidelines released yesterday. The group suggests, among other things, that women exercise a half-hour daily - not just three or four times weekly as previously recommended. The recommendation goes up to 60 to 90 minutes for those who are overweight. But the organization backed off slightly from its previous recommendations on aspirin as preventive medicine, saying women under 65 should consider taking it only if they have risk factors for stroke.

Q: I have read about the benefits of aspirin for the prevention of heart attacks but have hesitated to take it regularly because of my diabetes. Is aspirin safe in people with diabetes?A: A study of 3,711 diabetic patients between the ages of 18 and 70 found that daily aspirin, compared with a placebo, produced a small but significant decrease in the frequency of fatal and non-fatal heart attacks over a five- to seven-year period. There was no difference between the two groups in the overall death rate.

Aspirin, already shown to protect against heart disease and stroke, may also protect against colon cancer.Patients who took aspirin at least four times a week for at least three months were half as likely to develop colon cancer as were patients who did not take aspirin, according to Dr. Lynn Rosenberg of the School of Public Health at the Boston University School of Medicine.The exact amount of aspirin taken was not known, Dr. Rosenberg said.The 11-year study compared 1,326 colon cancer patients with 4,891 patients who had other types of cancer or no cancer at all.The study was reported in the March 6 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

If you take low-dose aspirin for your heart, can you also take ibuprofen for pain? You can, but the timing is critical. If you take ibuprofen first, it fills up the same molecular site inside platelets that aspirin binds to. If ibuprofen is already there, the aspirin can't bind, which means aspirin's potent anti-clotting action can't get started. To get around this, you can take low-dose aspirin, typically 81 milligrams, in the morning, then wait an hour or two before taking ibuprofen for pain.

Even small amounts of dark chocolate might help to prevent the sort of blood clots that cause heart attacks and strokes, a finding that researchers say could make the treat a routine part of a heart-healthy diet. The benefits of a class of chemicals called flavonols, derived from cacao beans, have been emerging from research for decades. But previous studies have been laboratory investigations involving large doses of flavonols -- equivalent to eating several pounds of chocolate a day. Diane Becker, lead author of a study presented yesterday, said it is the first one to find a significant effect in people who ate chocolate in amounts that chocolate lovers more typically consume.