New Aspirin guideline

[Em in Ohio]

Aspirin for heart attack: Chew or swallow? - Harvard Health https://www.health.harvard.edu​

Aspirin for heart attack first aid:​

"The reason you need aspirin is the same reason you should call 911 without delay: A heart attack is a dynamic event, and early intervention can limit the damage... How can a humble aspirin tablet add to high-tech medicine, and why is speed so important?

Most heart attacks develop when a cholesterol-laden plaque in a coronary artery ruptures. Relatively small plaques, which produce only partial blockages, are the ones most likely to rupture. When they do, they attract platelets to their surface. Platelets are the tiny blood cells that trigger blood clotting. A clot, or thrombus, builds up on the ruptured plaque. As the clot grows, it blocks the artery. If the blockage is complete, it deprives a portion of the heart muscle of oxygen. As a result, muscle cells die — and it's a heart attack.

Aspirin helps by inhibiting platelets. Only a tiny amount is needed to inhibit all the platelets in the bloodstream; in fact, small amounts are better than high doses. But since the clot grows minute by minute, time is of the essence."

RECOMMENDATION IF YOU THINK YOU ARE HAVING A HEART ATTACK:
Chew the standard 325-mg dose of aspirin for 30 seconds before swallowing it.​

 

[feywon]

Bottomline, talk to your doctor honestly. Ask questions, insist on reasons that make sense to you for going on any med.

I'm up front with mine that i reserve the right to weigh benefits versus drawbacks of any med and especially at my age, I'm not willing to fall into the cascading RX trap: You get med A for some symptom or condition then med B to manage the side effects of A, C to deal with side effects of B, and so on. Not to mention you then have to start considering that the interactions of the various meds may create whole new issues.

And i flat refuse to take any med that has suicidal ideation as a possible side effect no matter how small the instances/chances because i've battled that beast too hard for most of my life to risk giving it the edge of a chemical assist.

And if you don't trust your doc to be straight with you, perhaps you need to find a new one. I trust my current one in part because we butted heads at first and she now understands that i what i expect and what i'll tolerate.