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New insights into why aspirin works so well

eurekalert.org

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Re: New insights into why aspirin works so well

#11

Post by unlikelymordant »

astrange wrote: post #6
readthenotes1 wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

deprecated for children. works well for people with atherosclerosis. ibuprofen and acetominophen are hardly safe...

They are very safe when taken as prescribed but quite dangerous when you don't read the directions. Although IIRC taking fever reducers when sick significantly increases how long it takes to recover. Those fevers are there for a reason.

I guess theres always a caveat, but fevers can get too high and go for too long, in which case reducing the fever might be a good idea. But if it gets to that point, you should be working with a doctor to make those decisions.

Re: New insights into why aspirin works so well

#12

Post by jamal-kumar »

zabzonk wrote: post #8

annecdata: aspirin is pretty good as an anti-inflamitory and hence pain-killer. the reason i don't take it is that it irritates the stomach, and i have enough issues with my insides as it is (irritable-bowel syndrome - not fun) i currently use cocodamol (codeine and paracetomol) to control my arthritic pain, but it isn't doing so great. at the end of the day, if you really need pain control, you probably want a pure…

I have a friend who has suffered from something known as juvenile idiopathic arthritis since he was still a teenager, and he doesn't function very well without pretty decent doses of CBD for the past long while I've known him. I recognize legality issues are prohibitive in many parts of the world but if this is an option to you I would suggest trying this or anything else that takes the actual inflammation down instead of dulling the pain. The other thing a friend of mine practicing general medicine who was working in a country where CBD wasn't legal yet used very large doses of carefully sourced curcumin - it's not something you want to eat tons of from the grocery store in many places as apparently there's a ton of contamination in the supply [1] but it's actually really easy to just grow tumeric and make sure you're getting it from a decent source in much of the world

One thing may be about it, much like oregano, is that it might just naturally be a nice absorbent of heavy metals in the soil but the fact that people add stuff like lead or cadmium in there to improve color or weight is just terrifying. We need raman spectroscopes in every phone already.

[1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5415259/

Re: New insights into why aspirin works so well

#14

Post by 01100011 »

lispisok wrote: post #2

I've always though Aspirin was a deprecated drug but lately I've heard reports from people who claim it's the only thing that helps their arthritis or other issues. Maybe there is something behind it.

For a while it was recommended that older folks take a daily baby aspirin to lower their risk of ischemic heart attacks and strokes due to aspirin's function as a mild blood thinner. Large studies have shown the increased risk of hemorrhagic stroke offsets the benefits to ischemia and now taking a daily baby aspirin is not recommended except in certain cases.

Aspirin still has many uses and long term use is associated with other positive outcomes, like lower cancer risk.

Re: New insights into why aspirin works so well

#15

Post by cortesoft »

astrange wrote: post #6
readthenotes1 wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

deprecated for children. works well for people with atherosclerosis. ibuprofen and acetominophen are hardly safe...

They are very safe when taken as prescribed but quite dangerous when you don't read the directions. Although IIRC taking fever reducers when sick significantly increases how long it takes to recover. Those fevers are there for a reason.

The problem with acetaminophen is that the dangerous dose is not much higher than the recommended dose for a subset of the population. There are people who can die if they only take a few extra... and since it has a reputation as a safe drug, people don't think twice about taking extra.

Re: New insights into why aspirin works so well

#16

Post by zabzonk »

jamal-kumar wrote: post #12
zabzonk wrote: post #8

annecdata: aspirin is pretty good as an anti-inflamitory and hence pain-killer. the reason i don't take it is that it irritates the stomach, and i have enough issues with my insides as it is (irritable-bowel syndrome - not fun) i currently use cocodamol (codeine and paracetomol) to control my arthritic pain, but it isn't doing so great. at the end of the day, if you really need pain control, you probably want a pure…

I have a friend who has suffered from something known as juvenile idiopathic arthritis since he was still a teenager, and he doesn't function very well without pretty decent doses of CBD for the past long while I've known him. I recognize legality issues are prohibitive in many parts of the world but if this is an option to you I would suggest trying this or anything else that takes the actual inflammation down inste…

thanks, but no thanks

Re: New insights into why aspirin works so well

#17

Post by cperciva »

lispisok wrote: post #2

I've always though Aspirin was a deprecated drug but lately I've heard reports from people who claim it's the only thing that helps their arthritis or other issues. Maybe there is something behind it.

I know a lot of doctors recommend ibuprofen over aspirin because ibuprofen is perceived to be a safer NSAID. I'm not sure if it's actually safer in adults or only in children though.

Re: New insights into why aspirin works so well

#18

Post by itchyouch »

graderjs wrote: post #10
coldtea wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Aspirin deprecated? It's one of the most useful and most widespread in use drug on the planet - for far more than "arthritis". It's the WD-40 of drugs. Ah, it's even in TFA: "Aspirin, which is a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug, is one of the most widely used medications in the world. It is used to treat pain, fever and inflammation, and an estimated 29 million people in the U.S. take it daily to reduce the risk o…

I love to see some info like this and want to share my experiences. I'm a fan of small-molecule, well-tolerated, out-of-patent (cheap), widely available pharms like this in the class of "maintenance" and "enhancement" rather than "acute therapy" (although there is cross-over: i.e, have an acute headache? aspirin helps). Some things in my list right now: acetylcysteine, aspirin, metformin Besides aspirin, I don't take…

If you're interested in ashwaganda for its effects on GABA in the brain, you may be interested in these other molecules as well.

So to compare Ashwagnda to Benzos/L-Theanine/Apigenin, here's how they work.

Ashwaganda - has compounds called withanolides that bind to GABA receptors & increase GABA release. Very similar to how benzos bind to GABA receptors.

L-Theanine - increases GABA release Apigenin - increases GABA activity, but more so supercharges the existing GABA activity by binding to other non-GABA receptors. Careful with this one as it can really lower blood pressure though.

But before messing with GABA directly, I'd also highly recommend trying out Magnesium Threonate, as this particular Mg can cross the blood brain barrier and has fantastic effects. It's a bit of a do-all as it's a cofactor for about 80% of the chemical reactions in the body, but being able to cross the BBB is a huge benefit to mental health.

Regarding plants that are toxins on some level, I believe you're referring to some plants that do have a hormetic effect on the body. In small amounts, they are actually beneficial since they activate a variety of counter mechanisms, so the net effect is more positive than had they not been consumed at all.

Re: New insights into why aspirin works so well

#19

Post by photochemsyn »

I imagine different people tolerate different anti-inflammatory over-the-counter drugs differently. Side effects of overuse are significant however and include liver, kidney, and gastrointestinal damage (acetaminophen, ibuprofen and aspirin respectively I think with some crossover effects).

Use judiciously, and only take regularly under a doctor's supervision as side effects can be minimized with additional drugs while retaining the benefits, e.g.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/06/13/daily-aspirin-be...

Re: New insights into why aspirin works so well

#20

Post by tacroqueen »

cperciva wrote: post #17
lispisok wrote: post #2

I've always though Aspirin was a deprecated drug but lately I've heard reports from people who claim it's the only thing that helps their arthritis or other issues. Maybe there is something behind it.

I know a lot of doctors recommend ibuprofen over aspirin because ibuprofen is perceived to be a safer NSAID. I'm not sure if it's actually safer in adults or only in children though.

GI side effects in general and bleeding in particular are higher in analgesic dose level of aspirin. Aspirin is a very blunt instrument - it is both anti-inflammatory and anti-thrombotic - it destroys your platelet function even in low doses - this can be a feature/benefit (ie stroke and coronary artery disease or MI) - but for pure analgesia it usually just means increasing bleeding risk for no benefit.
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