Daily Baby Aspirin?

Hi All,

I've been reading a book (The End of Illness) that talks about all the positive health effects that can come from taking a baby aspirin daily. It turns out there is a lot of evidence that taking this reduces your risk of no only heart disease, but a host of cancers as well (including almost all GI cancers - stomach, esophagus, intestinal, etc.).

I'm on a large daily dose of PPI's (40mg Nexium, twice a day), but i decided to start taking 81mg of aspirin once a day with lunch (my biggest meal) to see if it helped my gerd / reduced inflammation in my esophagus. I'm about 5 days into treating myself, and so far I've felt a marked improvement in my symptoms! I definitely feel like some of the irritation in my esophagus has settled down, and riding in a car doesn't cause me so much pain anymore.

So I guess my question is, has anyone else tried this? Have they had success with it? Are there warning signs I need to watch out for in terms of the possible side effects of taking this aspirin (i.e. stomach bleeding)? I've tried to mitigate the risk by taking it with a large meal, but I'm not sure if that's enough, etc.

Any input appreciated!

Thanks,

Lucas

I just read about this today in an article I found online. I think anyone with ongoing stomach issues could have problems with this.

I can think of a way to determine if there's ay adverse effect .... if you're up for doing it. The question is whether or not the low dose aspirin is going to cause any bleeding. If it did then the bleeding would be detectable in the stool, unless it was really tiny loss. The faecal occult blood test would show if blood is being passed in the stool. This test isn't so available as it used to be because anyone suspected of losing blood is just sent for colonoscopy - leaving those of us with upper GI issues with a gap in the available screening tests. However, it's still done some places and is available privately (you can send off for a kit).

If you really feel it's helping, I would ask your GP/PCP to test you now for anaemia so that you have a baseline result. Then ask to be tested again in a couple of months - if there is evidence of blood loss you could then do the FOBs, or you could simply stop aspirin, and retest to see if the results normalise as a result of stopping. But it is important to get a baseline result so that you know you don't have to go looking for other causes of blood loss when in fact it could be the aspirin (unless you want a colonoscopy of course!).

I think most docs would accept that plan, especially if you're feeling benefit, and in view if the cancer prevention aspects. Let us know how it turns out.

MMM

I believe if you have a bonafide reason to use a baby ASA a day then it is a good choice.  I have a clotting factor disorder and had a TIA in the past so I take one baby ASA daily with food and it does not bother my stomach.  I also take Prilosec daily. HOwever, I do know each of us reacts differently to medications.

Yup I am one of those users of the PPIs