Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

New insights into why aspirin works so well

eurekalert.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

121–130 of 291 posts

Re: New insights into why aspirin works so well

#121

Post by greggsy »

fsiefken wrote: post #105
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…

Kratom might be of use, a friend used it as an alternative to morphine at the last stage of her live. She was much less drowsy. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7309661/

I feel like this sort of anecdotal advice should be avoided on HN

Re: New insights into why aspirin works so well

#122

Post by Traubenfuchs »

sammalloy wrote: post #120

I had to stop taking aspirin in all forms about ten years ago because it produces tinnitus-like symptoms, even in small dosages. No idea why.

Aspirine considered harmful. By me. Even single dosages reliably induce tinnitus for me.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4025186/

> With short-term administration, the effects appear to be completely reversible whereas long-term administration appears to induce a unique form of damage to SGN (spiral ganglion neurons)

Re: New insights into why aspirin works so well

#124

Post by INTPenis »

When you say in 2023 that they have "new insights" as to why a common over the counter drug works it really doesn't instill great confidence in pharma.

Seems like we're still grinding up rhino horns and tiger penis and hoping for the best outcome, just that we do it with extensive testing now so we get a statistically acceptable outcome viable for marketing.

Re: New insights into why aspirin works so well

#125

Post by greggsy »

cfu28 wrote: post #36
DoreenMichele wrote: post #24

Tangentially, does anyone know how aspirin promotes bleeding? I've searched (and also searched nutrient depletions for aspirin) and I'm not really getting an answer.

Prevents arachidonic acid from being converted to thromboxane needed for platelet aggregation. Here's a diagram I find helpful of the arachidonic pathway and which drugs inhibit which parts of the pathway: https://files.mari.casa/aapathway.jpg

Thanks - this type of reply is what separates Reddit from HN

Re: New insights into why aspirin works so well

#127

Post by lysozyme »

DoreenMichele wrote: post #53
cfu28 wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Prevents arachidonic acid from being converted to thromboxane needed for platelet aggregation. Here's a diagram I find helpful of the arachidonic pathway and which drugs inhibit which parts of the pathway: https://files.mari.casa/aapathway.jpg

Thanks, I'm kind of stuck on the arachidonic acid bit. When I was very ill, I read a comment by a guy with a PhD in chemistry who probably typoed arachidic acid and ..ugh. I need to at some point sort a few things out. Linoleic acid can be converted by the body into arachidonic acid, so that part I got right all those years ago.

Blood clotting in mammals is done by platelets, which float around in the blood. Platelets are kind of like (simple) cells in a way. Platelets have a membrane. Inside the membrane are the molecular tools—that’s what I usually call enzymes despite being an enzymologist—they use to clot blood.

Inside platelets, chemical reactions are sped along by the enzymes. One of the important chemical reactions for clotting is the conversion of arachidonic acid (through a couple of intermediates) to thromboxane. Now, arachidonic acid is so simple: a linear, 20-carbon chain with a carboxylic acid group at one end, and four double bonds in the chain. Converting it to thromboxane takes a couple of steps: the enzymes need to kink the chain and oxidize specific carbons to make them polar.

The trouble is, aspirin inhibits the enzymes! So the enzymes inside the platelets can’t make their thromboxane. And, as such, clotting is inhibited, which results in bleeding. So this is why aspirin can cause bleeding

Re: New insights into why aspirin works so well

#128

Post by selfmodruntime »

INTPenis wrote: post #124

When you say in 2023 that they have "new insights" as to why a common over the counter drug works it really doesn't instill great confidence in pharma. Seems like we're still grinding up rhino horns and tiger penis and hoping for the best outcome, just that we do it with extensive testing now so we get a statistically acceptable outcome viable for marketing.

No. Science has all along been testing if something works and then finding out why. Often the „why“ is orders of magnitudes harder to find out than the „if“.

For example, we can observe how the brain functions in some instances, but why it works like does will elude us perhaps forever. Highly complex systems like the inner biomechanical workings of our brains are essentially a black box.

Post reply on HN