Why aspirin is bad for you

A lot of individuals self-medicate with aspirin because it is over the counter. If you are experiencing pain, fever or inflammation and you reach for the aspirin then alert your health care professional so they are aware and can ask questions to see if you are at risk for GI bleeding.

Let your healthcare professional guide you. As far as cardiovascular disease, health care professionals usually recommend low dose aspirin baby aspirinmg daily for patients at high risk for a cardiovascular event and for patients that have experienced a cardiovascular event heart attack, blood clot, stroke etc. Again, work with your healthcare professional to see if you should be taking aspirin.

There are some other potential benefits tied to aspirin. Substantial medical research shows that aspirin decreases the risk of some GI cancers including colon cancer. Studies also show that there is a decreased risk of prostate, throat and small cell lung cancer in patients on long-term aspirin. This is due to aspirin affecting different pathways or enzymes outside of cyclooxygenase or thromboxane.

However, recent research is demonstrating that if an individual on long-term aspirin does get cancer it is harder to treat. And it remains to be seen how to predict the risk of someone bleeding on aspirin while taking it to potentially prevent cancer. More research needs to be done and as always your health care professional needs to guide you. Suggest improvement or correction to this article Written by Dr. Becky Maes Becky Maes Suggest improvement or correction. You've read 3 articles - nice!

We will also get rid of ads Jump to: Short answer Long answer Side effects Benefits. Grade B-. Short answer Aspirin is a very popular over the counter drug that definitely is surrounded by controversy.

Please turn your Ad Blocker off to see this content. Thank you! You have reached the limit. Mental Health. Written by Julia Ries on July 23, Share on Pinterest Experts worry that daily aspirin use can put some people at risk for bleeding.

Getty Images. Aspirin use is widespread and risky. Aspirin can be beneficial for some people. The bottom line. Read this next. Stated simply, arteries get clogged when plaque builds up on artery walls, caused by too much fat and LDL cholesterol in the bloodstream.

Artery walls are kind of sticky, and certain fats and cholesterols are sticky too, so they build up there, forming a plaque. Plaque is crusty on the outside and mushy on the inside, and it tends to crack.

When it cracks, the mushy inside attracts particles in the blood called platelets. Platelets are the blood component that makes your blood clot when you cut yourself. When platelets build up on artery walls, they can cause blood clots. Clots cause severe narrowing of the arteries, which can cause a heart attack. See What's more likely -- death by an auto accident or death by French fries? Aspirin prevents heart attacks by keeping these blood clots from forming.

The mechanism that makes aspirin good for the heart is pretty much the same as the one that makes it good for aches and pains. In this article, we'll look at exactly what aspirin does to thwart heart attacks and find out how effective it really is. We'll also find out whether you should be talking to your doctor about starting a daily aspirin regimen, or if you should avoid that type of aspirin use.

Aspirin relieves headaches because of its effect on a chemical called cyclooxygenase. Cyclooxygenase is an enzyme the body uses to produce a chemical called prostaglandin.

Prostaglandin is activated when the body is hurt. It tells the brain there is an injury somewhere, and the brain in turn activates the sensory response we know as pain. The risk of bleeding also rises with age—but then so does the risk of heart attacks and strokes, and the potential benefit of taking aspirin. A study in the June 6, , Journal of the American Medical Association stoked the ongoing debate about low-dose aspirin for primary prevention.

Researchers examined the health records of nearly , people in the Italian National Health Service. Twenty out of every 10, people experienced a major bleed—five times higher than the bleeding rate seen in previous clinical trials. Is this bad news for people taking aspirin? Maybe—maybe not. Bhatt says that comparing the Italian results to previous clinical trials isn't as simple as it seems.

So, that might explain why the bleeding was higher," Dr. Maybe that was higher too, but we don't know. Because millions of Americans are now taking low-dose aspirin, even a small increase in the risk of major bleeding could affect a lot of people.

But fundamentally, the Italian study told us what we already knew: "The balance between risk and benefit of aspirin for primary prevention is very narrow," Dr. Bhatt says, "and in many people the bleeding risk may outweigh the potential benefits. For the time being, the science remains uncertain and experts don't agree on who should take aspirin to prevent a first heart attack or stroke.

In Europe, for example, guidelines for cardiology do not recommend aspirin for primary prevention, citing an unfavorable ratio of risk to benefit. In the United States, the FDA has not approved any labeling for aspirin bottles regarding its use in preventing cardiovascular disease.

That may change in a few years, as results from new and better primary prevention trials are released. In the meantime, make sure you know where you stand on the scale of risk and benefit.