Aspirin

Half an aspirin before long flights

75mg ie a quarter of a standard aspirin a day:

Professor Jeremy Pearson, Associate Medical Director of the BHF, said: "Taking a daily dose of aspirin - already routinely prescribed for people who have had a heart attack - is likely to be beneficial for many people over the age of 50.

"The risks and the costs are low, and the potential benefit is significant. Whether this approach could prevent as many as one in four heart attacks is yet to be proven, but we look forward to seeing the published results of this study.

"It is important, however, that people are aware of the risks before making the choice to take aspirin long-term. The drug can occasionally cause bleeding problems or an allergic reaction, so people should always check with their GP before beginning such a regime.

hang on there tiger

You forgot to look out for the bus?

It is believed that health and longevity is predetermined.

So being a good boy should ensure you reach your predetermined life span.

being a naughty boy can adversely impact upon it.

Also i would say that it is not how long but

how well

Who wants to be disabled and dependent for those extra 10 years.

As Clarkson said.

If he stops smpoking he will gat an extra 5 years .
But it will be :

71 ,72 ,73 ,74 ,75.

not

21 ,21 ,21 ,21 ,22.

So by all means be responsible and careful but as i said :

watch out for that bus

regards David

Stephen

I'm also about to attain my half century and will certainly be adopting the once-a-day aspirin regime. My father's a doctor (and had a serious heart attack some years back) and he's been taking an aspirin a day since his problem.

So I reckon, Why not? Studies over the years show positive benefits with no side effects (although you should never take any drug on an empty stomach).

Graham

Low dose aspirin does have potentially significant side effects. Population studies in primary prevention show a trade-off between benefits and harms.

The gut risks of aspirin are not solved by just avoiding taking it on an empty stomach.

Anyone who wishes to have a discussion about lowering their personal risk of future cardio-vascular disease, including decisions about aspirin/cholesterol lowering drugs should have a personal consultation with a doc. For starters this means you'll get your blood pressure checked.

Bruce

Stephen
I would not take aspirin unless given the OK and supervision of a physician.

You might want to add some weight lifting exercises to the mix. It will give your testosterone level a needed boost. Hopefully, you'll have someone to take care of certain needs that will arise with this increase in T levels
Besides, keeping, as well as increasing muscle mass will slow ageing and boost metabolism.
Some say weight training is even more important than cardio as we get older.

oily fish - twice a week?
My God - think of the mercury intake!

Bob

I'm just glad I was never advised by any of you folk over the last few years, really.


Fritz Von Ridiculous²


N.B. Gonna Buy Me A Mercury

Wot you all need is a nice glass of red wine each night for beddy time to thin the blood and make you feel randy.

Expensive wine £10 plus per bot is likely to keep you alive longer.

Wicked

Stephen, your lifestyle certainly seems to be healthy as described. However, you have made no mention of any genetic predisposition that you may have for heart problems or strokes. What about your immediate family - parents and siblings?

I'm over 50 myself and am not inclined to take aspirin, although I do watch my diet. The odds are high that the same doctors who are now recommending a daily dose of aspirin will be warning us of its dangers in 5 years' time.

Regards
Steve M

Much ado about nothing here. A mild dose of aspirin for folk of a certain age has been recommended for many years. It's not new stuff. I've been taking it for ten years.

Mixin cheap coke in yer malt like our Mick doesn't help !

My Dad died aged 67 from multiple strokes, my Mum died of cancer at 63 - not looking good is it?

My Gran had a mild stroke at around 82 and was put on aspirin but had to come off it when she almost bled to death from a stomach ulcer. She then lived until aged 98.

Still I'm not going to worry myself to death about dying. I eat what I eat because I like the taste rather than because of what it does to my body, I walk, swim and ride my bike because I enjoy these activies.

What's this about mercury in fish?

PS. My dad's early demise might be attributed to his experience during WW2. "He went in the army a young man and came out an old man." So I was told. He certaintly always looked much older than his true age to me.

Probably today the Worlds most successful drug ? As I've mentioned more than once before it costs approx $10 per tab in Africa, $ 5 per 100 in UK, $ 3,50 per 100 in US, and $ 6 for 10 here in Scheringland (its home).

Fritz vOn Be yourself no matter what they say

Self-medicating with aspirin in the absence of any cardiac history is not recommended.
Diet and exercise are safer options.

Thanks Doc, my feelings as well.

quote:

As Clarkson said.

If he stops smpoking he will gat an extra 5 years .
But it will be :

71 ,72 ,73 ,74 ,75.

Clarkson really is an utter buffon of the highest order.

For the record, if he gives up he greatly reduces his changes of dying a horrible, painful, protracted death in his 50s or 60s. He will also reduce the chance of having a lower limb amupated alhtough such a fate would at least stop him from boring the nation on the subject of his driving ability.

Matthew
About to take his fisrt one-a-day aspirin

Once when the pioneering World renouned South African Heart Specialist Dr Christian Barnard was returning home, he, as a result of his famous outspokenness got himself apprehended by police at the airport. He looked at the officer involved to his face and enquired "Am I under Cardiac Areest Constable ?"

Fritz Von That could well have been an Oscarism I reckon ?

N.B. Would a football game between Acrington Stanley and Livingstone be considered presumtuous ? (fritzism²)

Rockingdoc:
RIGHT! Aspirin self medicating is probably not the goood attitude ....

Derek Wright:
WRONG! Half an aspirin before a long flight has no significant effect...

So Stephen B, in my opinion you have to consider to ask your cardiologist...But don't forget Statins, which are probably the most effective medics for coronary syndromes prevention..


Nevertheless, don't forget your glass of red (french) wine every day...that contributes to the "famous" french paradox...

Djorg

quote:

Nevertheless, don't forget your glass of red (french) wine every day...that contributes to the "famous" french paradox...

I didn't know it had to be french. You wouldn't happen to be a wine producer would you?

Aspirin and Long haul travel - just done a Google on DVT Aspirin and discovered a typical wide range of references - the first one reviews a large number of references which vary between full advocacy to no benefit - potential harmful

see
review of reports
So what to conclude - like all things medical no definite recomendation - so read and digest and then make your own mind up

quote:

Originally posted by Stephen B:

quote:

Nevertheless, don't forget your glass of red (french) wine every day...that contributes to the "famous" french paradox...

I didn't know it had to be french. You wouldn't happen to be a wine producer would you?

As far as I'm aware it's true, but only one particular type of French proven to be rich in (Pixels ?) or some such-like, I'm sure some clever clogs knows ?

It's reckoned that Rasputin owed his place in history to aspirin.

Apparently he despised Western-branded medicines and was appalled when aspirin was introduced to the court of Tsar Nicholas II. He insisted that the Tsar's son, Alexis, stop taking it.

Alexis was a haemophiliac and his condition immediately improved. It had been made worse by aspirin's blood thinning qualities although these were not known at that time.

Regards
Steve M

Thanks Dereck for your review link.
It's an interesting one, but DVT risk associated with hip fracture surgery is very important... extrapolation to low risk situations is not correct...
Aspirin isn't used to prevent DVT...but it is not compltely inecffective: " In a recent large meta-analysis,192 prophylactic aspirin reduced both proximal and distal deep-vein thrombosis by 30 to 40 percent and pulmonary emboli by 60 percent in patients undergoing general surgical, orthopedic, and medical procedures. "
but
"The physician's familiarity with the drug is an asset, but aspirin appears to provide less protection than can be achieved safely with more modern programs of anticoagulation."

From NEJM Volume 331:1630-1641 December 15, 1994
( nearly prehistoric and stil speaking of modern programs )


Medical recommandations for low risk patients are :
- Hydratation (not necessary red wine !!! )
- Walk during the fly
Moderate and high risk patients should ask their doctor..

Berlin Fritz
you are right and very well informed ...it has been shown with wine from Bordeaux..
Pixels are tanin ...

Aspirin (and indeed Heroin originally) were brand names/trademarks owned by Bayer which were auctioned off as part of reparations for World War I.

Heroin was in fact marketed as a solution to the number of people becoming addicted to morphine, and prescribed as non-addictive and amongst other things as a cure for colic in babies(!) At which I suppose it might be very successful on one level...

The French Paradox
In the very early 1990s a study was conducted into why people in the South of France had a significantly lower rate of death from cardiovascular disease than other European peoples who imbibed a similarly high level of fat in their diets, smoked like chimneys, drank excess alcohol (amusingly enough, Glasgow was cited as particularly similar in these respects).
Variously wine, sunshine and olive oil had been given the credit for the "paradox". Certainly all better for you than 80/-, rain, pre-used animal fat, and 20 Regal King Size.
Studies were conducted in Glasgow and Milan (principally). The result was the acknowledgement that a particular anthocyanin called "Resveratrol" was indeed very effective at limiting coronary heart disease.

Resveratrol is synthesized by the grape vine, and is found in the skins of grapes (more in black). Only red wine uses the skins (even though some white wines are made from black grapes). Fermentation is part of the process of "liberating" it for human ingestion, which means a) that it is drinking wine rather than eating grapes which does you good, and b) that a tablet extract has proved very hard to prepare, and needs also to me made from fermented red wine.

French wines are no higher in Resveratrol than wines from anywhere else. The variety found to have the most originally was Cabernet Sauvignon (a thick skinned grape) and the particular sample submitted to the study in Glasgow that was highest in the substance was a Chilean Cabernet, a fact that was heartily milked by Wines of Chile's PR machine at the time and led to a shortage. The differences in concentration did not justify this.

Although all the above is true - if not a wholly scientific explanation, in the interest of brevity - the best bit is the subsequent discovery (which articles on the French "Paradox" usually seem prepared not to mention). It turned out that some provincial French Coroners of the time regarded death from heart attack/disease as "natural causes" and recorded it as such. Hence the lower rates on paper. Perfectly reasonable I reckon - who's to say that if you eat foie gras downed with red wine and followed by Galoise sans filtre all your life and keel over at seventy from a dodgy ticker this isn't a "natural" consequence?

Resveratrol is also found, at vastly lower concentrations, in peanuts. But apart from that no other human foodstuff is a source.

However it has also been discovered to be a major constituent of a traditional Chinese medicine called Kojo-kon (Sounds like a character from Star Wars to me, so I think I'll stick to this 'ere Crozes-Hermitage...), which has been used for centuries.

As, of course, had salicylic acid from willow trees before someone refined it and trademarked the end result (acetylsalicylic acid) as Aspirin.

Cheers!

Rod