Live data from Hacker News

Aspirin May Prevent Cancer from Spreading, New Research Shows

scientificamerican.com

81–90 of 122 posts

Re: Aspirin May Prevent Cancer from Spreading, New Research Shows

#81
post #54

(on my phone right now) Hasn't this been known for a while now? (with COX-2 NSAIDs specifically, like Advil). Even the standard book "The Biology Of Cancer" (2014) mentions it in passing in one of the later chapters. I believe there's even been trials where NSAID is applied topically during biopsy, reducing chance of mets. If I recall correctly, suspected mechanism is some sort of correlation between COX-2 inhibition…

NSAID: Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug

Re: Aspirin May Prevent Cancer from Spreading, New Research Shows

#82
post #66
post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

it's a veritable fuck-ton. the usual modern dose is 325mg.

The maximum daily dose is usually around 4g. 325mg is probably the dose in one tablet.

Doctor here: very rarely does any prescribe anything more than 325mg daily. Most people get 81mg daily. 325mg is considered high dose.

You are correct that it can be written for more, but the only indication you would prescribe a higher dose is as a pain or fever reducer, and we have more effective NSAIDs for that. Or tylenol (?NSAID).

I've personally never seen it given more than 325mg daily.

Re: Aspirin May Prevent Cancer from Spreading, New Research Shows

#83
post #73
post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>But not daily. I probably take it once per week on average. My grandmother shits and pukes blood if she takes NSAIDs of any kind, from long-term, daily misuse. I'm not exaggerating even a little bit, I wish I was. A direct result of being denied access to proper pain relief, mind you, mainly because she lived her entire life without health insurance. Until she turned 65 and qualified for Medicare last year. I had to…

Add me to the anecdotal evidence there. A regular dose of ibuprofen and I can't eat and I throw up blood for a day..

Are you taking it with food? Because ibuprofen absolutely will cause GI bleeding if you take it without food, and yet most of the time there is no label on the bottle to warn you about this.

Re: Aspirin May Prevent Cancer from Spreading, New Research Shows

#84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

you know what they say, ten aspirin tablets a-day keeps the emergency room busy.

Even a small amount of Asprin, if taken regularly, will mess up your stomach in my experience! I guess not everyone is sensitive to it, but for me I've avoided Asprin (and Ibuprofen, another NSAID drug) for years because of this.

As a Crohn's Disease patient, my GI doc advises me to avoid aspirin and Ibuprofen because of their effect on the digestive system. Acetaminophen is fine for this, but apparently requires some care itself because large doses can damage the liver.

Re: Aspirin May Prevent Cancer from Spreading, New Research Shows

#85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A friend of mine swears that the reason acetaminophen is added to opioids (like hydrocodone) is so that you cant abuse the opioid without being poisoned by the acetaminophen. If true, it's alarming that the way to "prevent abuse" is to poison the patient.

That is completely correct. It also has synergistic effects as a pain reliever, but it's mainly there to deter abuse. Of course, addicts have found ways to extract the opiates from the adulterants, so it's not even effective.

Source?

Adding it for synergism makes sense and is what I was taught in medical school. I doubt they add it to deter abusers, but I could be wrong...

Re: Aspirin May Prevent Cancer from Spreading, New Research Shows

#86
post #82
post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The maximum daily dose is usually around 4g. 325mg is probably the dose in one tablet.

Doctor here: very rarely does any prescribe anything more than 325mg daily. Most people get 81mg daily. 325mg is considered high dose. You are correct that it can be written for more, but the only indication you would prescribe a higher dose is as a pain or fever reducer, and we have more effective NSAIDs for that. Or tylenol (?NSAID). I've personally never seen it given more than 325mg daily.

What do you mean by (?NSAID) after tylenol?

Re: Aspirin May Prevent Cancer from Spreading, New Research Shows

#87
post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I do the same as well. It pretty much has changed my life. The only thing I have noticed is that it seems not work well for females (my wife is annoyed about that). Also strangely my blood sugar has been above normal lately which is strange because I don't eat a carb heavy diet and I have never had blood sugar problems. Last time it was checked it was ~105 mg/dl or so (and I was fasted of course). I have had some the…

What's your theory about the blood sugar? I have the same issue. Hovers around 100 when not eating. What's weird is it drops to 85 within 20 minutes after eating a meal. I'm not sure what that could mean.

blood sugar is mostly regulated by hormones: glucagon and insulin. Not really by what you just ate. Hence why you can go days without eating and still have a normal blood sugar. Eating causes your pancreatic beta cells to release insulin (in response to elevations in blood glucose). Diabetics have spikes in their blood sugar right after they eat because they have impaired insulin sensitivity and so their tissues (muscles mainly) don't take up the sugar in the blood (a process mediated by insulin receptors).

Re: Aspirin May Prevent Cancer from Spreading, New Research Shows

#88
Probably more interesting is that the USPSTF recently added a recomendation for aspirin use to prevent colorectal cancer in certain populations[1]. There is increasing levels of evidence about this, though it is by no means certain.[2]

[1] https://www.uspreventiveservicestaskforce.org/Page/Document/... [2] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3354696/

Re: Aspirin May Prevent Cancer from Spreading, New Research Shows

#89
post #73
post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>But not daily. I probably take it once per week on average. My grandmother shits and pukes blood if she takes NSAIDs of any kind, from long-term, daily misuse. I'm not exaggerating even a little bit, I wish I was. A direct result of being denied access to proper pain relief, mind you, mainly because she lived her entire life without health insurance. Until she turned 65 and qualified for Medicare last year. I had to…

Add me to the anecdotal evidence there. A regular dose of ibuprofen and I can't eat and I throw up blood for a day..

Same here. I had an acute bleed from using NSAIDs, lost consciousness and came within an inch of dying. I now get extremely emotional when I see articles or comments recommending them without any disclaimer. There's a dangerous misconception that they are harmless (or even health promoting) if used at low / moderate doses.

Re: Aspirin May Prevent Cancer from Spreading, New Research Shows

#90
post #86
post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Doctor here: very rarely does any prescribe anything more than 325mg daily. Most people get 81mg daily. 325mg is considered high dose. You are correct that it can be written for more, but the only indication you would prescribe a higher dose is as a pain or fever reducer, and we have more effective NSAIDs for that. Or tylenol (?NSAID). I've personally never seen it given more than 325mg daily.

What do you mean by (?NSAID) after tylenol?

Because acetaminophen/paracetamol is only weakly anti-inflammatory, so you may or may not consider it an NSAID, I assume.
Post reply on HN