Aspirin Therapy and Garlic Supplement Question

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Susan BAV

I take two baby aspirin each day as aspirin therapy for my porcine tissue valve. I rarely saw a bruise. Since I began taking a garlic supplement several weeks ago, however, I've noticed a fairly dramatic increase in bruising.

Can the garlic make a difference that way?

I began the garlic to help reduce my LDL cholesterol numbers; and, although I haven't yet rechecked, I believe I've had some success with that. I also wondered if reduced cholesterol could allow the aspirin to work more effectively, thus the bruising.

Any thoughts?
 
It is my understanding that garlic can act as an anticoagulant so that may be what you are experiencing. However, I do not know anything about quantities necessary to make a difference in the blood.
 
"The more LDL, the thicker your blood."

"The more LDL, the thicker your blood."

I just did a quick Web search and found something interesting along this line and here is an excerpt:

Is Blood Like Your Waistline - The Thinner, The Better?
(content provided by the Faculty of the Harvard Medical School)

"An interesting theory proposes that watering down your blood can prevent heart disease. Don't overdo it.

The old adage "Blood is thicker than water" makes sense for family ties. For the heart and circulatory system, though, thinner, more watery blood might be better.

Some tantalizing threads of evidence suggest that people with thicker (or more viscous) blood have higher chances of developing heart disease or having a heart attack or stroke. Viscosity measures a fluid's resistance to flow; honey, for example, is more viscous than water. The more viscous the blood, the harder the heart must work to move it around the body and the more likely it is to form clots inside arteries and veins...

...Here's what we know about blood viscosity, how it might affect the heart and blood vessels, and what you can do to keep your blood flowing smoothly...

...Blood fats such as low-density lipoprotein (LDL, "bad" cholesterol) affect viscosity. The more LDL, the thicker your blood. The same holds true for fibrinogen, a soluble protein that can be transformed into stringy, insoluble fibrin, which forms the semi-solid base of blood clots.

Chronic inflammation increases the viscosity of blood. So do smoking, diabetes, homocysteine, the stickiness of your platelets, and, of course, your genes...

...Lab studies generally link blood viscosity with markers of heart disease. A few long-term studies have looked at its connection with heart attacks, strokes, and other manifestations of heart disease. In one European study, people with the thickest blood (highest viscosity) were more likely to develop heart disease or die over an eight-year period than those with the thinnest blood. A similar connection was seen in one of the original statin studies (along with a decrease in viscosity with long-term statin use).

Not all the research is positive, with some studies showing no connection between blood's mechanical properties and heart disease. But findings have been encouraging enough to fuel more research..."


------------

This is only a small part of the article. Interesting stuff! Perhaps the dietary changes I've made to reduce my LDL are having success!

And thanks, Gina. That's what I thought. I've only been taking half the recommended dose of garlic supplement.
 
I'm not that experienced with ACT but I used to take Garlic pill supplements. Apparently, my blood is anemic, trait Thalassemia to be precise, so I was advised to stop taking them.
 
The garlic may or may not have something to do with your bruising, although hormones are a more likely instigator.

Recent studies at Stanford do not find any positive cholesterol effects from garlic or allicin supplements. http://med.stanford.edu/news_releases/2007/february/garlic.html This echoes results form some other institutions. In looking over the web literature, I find that almost all of the websites that are boosting garlic as a cholesterol-lowering product also sell garlic supplements on the site. I've thrown nost of mine out. There is one unopened bottle that anyone can have for free who desires it.

Best wishes,
 
Thanks for all the replies...

Thanks for all the replies...

After I posted earlier, I wondered if my possibly erroneous conclusion, however, could have been my assumption that: a) my LDL level is down; and b) I've been taking garlic; and then of course a + b = c) that the LDL might have been reduced from garlic supplements.

In all actuality, and assuming that my LDL level is actually improved from my all-around dietary changes, then the Harvard Medical School article makes sense. "The more LDL, the thicker the blood." Thus, the less LDL, the thinner the blood and the greater likelihood of this sudden onset of bruising.

Garlic or no.

Well, that and all the furniture I've been moving around lately... I dropped a desk on my leg and that left a mark...

Anyway, when I was researching cholesterol several weeks ago, I was amazed about the variety of opinions about what really could help and what was just snake oil. Lots of snake oil out there evidently.

I just need to have the cholesterol retested and then post back the results on that old cholesterol thread, where I got thoroughly bawled out for being skeptical of the safety and necessity of statins.

I hate to even mention that I've been drinking green tea and eating flax seed chips too:eek:...
 

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