aspirin users - let's discuss

[hensylee]

What does your dr say? Mine said 82mg is ok and that enteric was ok. Read this from WEBmd:

Uncoated Aspirin May Be Best for Heart Protection

Enteric-Coated Brands May Not Be Potent Enough for Aspirin Therapy

By Jeanie Lerche Davis
WebMD Medical News Reviewed By Charlotte Grayson, MD
on Thursday, May 06, 2004

May 6, 2004 -- If your doctor has you on aspirin therapy to prevent heart problems, read this: For heart protection, plain aspirin may work better than enteric-coated aspirin. Coated aspirin may be less potent than plain aspirin, a new study shows.

Doctors have long advised heart patients about aspirin therapy - telling them to take a daily baby aspirin to cut heart attack or stroke risk. A small dose of daily aspirin can reduce the blood's ability to clot and cause these events. But studies have also shown that up to 30% of people don't get that benefit.

This study may help explain why, says researcher Dermot Cox, BSc, PhD, a pharmacology professor at the Royal College of Surgeons in Dublin, Ireland, in a news release.

Cox presented his findings at the American Heart Association's 5th Annual Conference on Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology being held in San Francisco this week.

Enteric-coated aspirin is becoming easier to find than regular aspirin on store shelves notes Cox. The enteric coating is an acid-resistant coating that doesn't aggravate stomach ulcers. With the coating, the aspirin is absorbed in the colon rather than in the stomach, he explains.

However, while the protective coating helps ulcer sufferers, it dilutes the aspirin's effects for everyone else, his study shows. For most people, it's not a good option for aspirin therapy.

Plain Aspirin vs. Other Aspirin Formulations

In his study, 75 healthy volunteers were randomly assigned to take five different aspirin preparations: a 75-milligram uncoated aspirin, a 75-milligram dose of three different enteric-coated aspirins, and Asasantin (a clot-busting drug that contains 25 milligrams of aspirin) twice a day. Baby aspirin the U.S. comes in 81-milligram pills.

It was a series of mini-studies: All volunteers took one type of aspirin for 14 days. Then they had 14 days without aspirin, to clear the aspirin from their systems. Then they took a different aspirin preparation for 14 days.

Blood samples were taken at the start and end of each aspirin mini-study to measure levels of blood clotting factors. The researchers found that plain aspirin had the best clot-preventing effect, explains Cox. The enteric-coated brands had the worst.

 

[Susan BAV]

Very interesting. I won't see the cardiologist again until this fall but I'll ask him about it. I presently take the 82mg coated aspirin.

 

[tobagotwo]

I take the 81 mg aspirin - enteric coated.

How about if I just take two? It's still lots less than a standard, 325mg aspirin.

 

[Guest]

*raises eyebrow*

Interesting.......very interesting.

*rolls eyes*

Guess this is something else to bring up.... I currently am prescribed to take the 325mg tablet...enteric coated....

*pauses*

I wonder how many doctors/cardiologists actually get this type of news, too....

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[Heather Fisher]

I have been taking a 325 tablet a day. No probs so far! Guess that's another question for when I go back in September.

Heather

 

[Mark Wagner]

I take 82mg with my coumadin each night. The reason I take the aspirin is to help ward of rolling migrains I have had since I was 18. All the migraine meds never did anything to help me, but the aspirin therapy would help me to avoid the headache's somewhat. The doctor felt that as long as I take it the same time with my coumadin, my coumadin adjustment would be made off that dosage.

 

[Jack]

In Feb 2003 I posted this message about the effectiveness of reduce dose Aspirin, at the same time I returned to taking 325mg dose daily, I don't have any problems taking this dose. I remember that after my AVR the surgeon told me to find all the old Aspirin around the house and start taking one each day, I asked about the dose and he told me that it doesn't matter, just take one Aspirin a day.

http://www.valvereplacement.com/forums/showthread.php?p=30355#post30355

 

[Mark Wagner]

If anyone is taking 325mg of aspirin a day, and taking comadin on top of it, make darn good and sure you check with your cardiologist. The last thing you want is to be bleeding internally. I know there is no way my doctors would allow me to take that much aspirin. I found out the hard way about drug interaction with my coumadin, and ended up in intensive care for 5 days for internal bleeding. Be very careful and clear all meds with your cardiologist. We all have different types of valves and body types, so are individual requirements are unique to ourselves. If not for my migraines, all aspirin would be off limits to me; per my doctors.

Mark

?Whatever we accomplish in life, if it?s solely for our own good, then
It doesn?t mean that much. The things you do that affect others in a
Positive way is the ones that count. Whatever facet of life you?re in,
God has given you a gift; do the best you can with that gift.? ? Alberto
Salazar won three New York City Marathon titles and won the famous 1981
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[hensylee]

In Feb 2003 I posted this message about the effectiveness of reduce dose Aspirin, at the same time I returned to taking 325mg dose daily, I don't have any problems taking this dose. I remember that after my AVR the surgeon told me to find all the old Aspirin around the house and start taking one each day, I asked about the dose and he told me that it doesn't matter, just take one Aspirin a day.

http://www.valvereplacement.com/forums/showthread.php?p=30355#post30355

I just went back to read your 2/2003 post, Jack (noted the VRers we don't see anymore-where'd they go) and we discussed just about the same thing, didn't we? The enteric thing is what I wonder about. I have appt w/cardio this month so will ask him his opinion - but according to the article, the drs may not know about the difference (if there is one)

 

[tobagotwo]

I would point out to Coumadin or Plavix users that aspirins that do not have an enteric coating, and thus dissolve in the stomach, do cause minor stomach bleeding in everyone, and that may not be a good thing for you, depending on your tolerance. Just be aware.

I have no idea what happens with aspirin in the colon, and I can't think of any form of direct investigation in which I would be willing to participate.

Some time ago, a study came out that supposedly showed that the 81 mg aspirins were just as effective as the 325mg (5 grain) tablets. It was on that basis that the 81 mg was suggested to me by my doctor. The suggestion of enteric coating was to ward off stomach irritation that might well develop from chronic aspirin use.

I doubt that enteric coatings and colon vs. stomach absorbtion were included in that study, although we should all probably be delighted to know that our colons are now free of sticky platelets.

From the aspirin article in WebMD directly following the one Hensylee cited, I pulled these two pithy quotes:

"A recent large study showed that aspirin in doses of 75 to 150 mg daily is as effective as higher doses for long-term treatment.2 Higher doses are associated with more side effects, especially bleeding problems."

and, of course, an admonishment to "Use buffered or enteric-coated aspirin"

Out of all this, I have determined to take two of my enteric 81 milligram tablets (together) instead of one daily, to hopefully override their (perhaps) reduced effectiveness. When this bottle runs out, I'll consider getting non-coated aspirin, assuming I can find it.

I'm still waiting for a study that shows that the frequent use of real butter lubricates the platelets and reduces the risk of thromboses...

 

[Lisa]

The only med I take is an 81mg coated aspirin. The pharmacist read my prescription order and said "This is what you need."

 

[Gisele]

Bob let me know when that study is complete, as I too would prefer butter over an ASA per day! LOL Until then, I do take a full coated aspirin which is much better for me than anything that could make me bleed. The whole time I was on Plavix I crossed my fingers that nothing would happen.................phew!