?? why?

[Harry Bloomfield]

I've been noticing slightly itchy hands and forearms for months, after reading an article about statins (link below), I'm wondering if they might be the cause. I've been on statins for a few years. https://toniumbarger.wordpress.com/2016/08/11/a-statin-drug-induced-nightmare/

 

[JohnW2]

Amongst my mix of prescribed daily meds, they list 1x 75mg aspirin per day.

Common - but a dose of aspirin as small as 75mg (in an adult) will have little, if any, pain-relieving activity. Those very small ('sub-analgesic') does of aspirin are given for a totally different reason, since, via an effect on the platelets in blood, they reduce the risk of blood clots arising (or worsening), hence reducing the risk of heart attacks and strokes etc.

if one has a heart attach these days, the very first thing done will often be to administer a very small dose of aspirin, in the hope that it will prevent/reduce extension of a clot which may be responsible for the heart attach.

 

[morqthana]

Common - but a dose of aspirin as small as 75mg (in an adult) will have little, if any, pain-relieving activity. Those very small ('sub-analgesic') does of aspirin are given for a totally different reason, since, via an effect on the platelets in blood, they reduce the risk of blood clots arising (or worsening), hence reducing the risk of heart attacks and strokes etc.

Rivaroxaban for me.

 

[ebee]

Rivaroxaban for me.

Trust you to have summat with a more posh and exotic sounding name than a common aspirin that us mere mortals commonly use

Come to think of it, or those of us unfamiliar with the name, it might be summat linked to what they fortify cornflakes with!

 

[JohnW2]

I one saw a TV prog and someone who had a bit of medical knowledge saying something like "it is more beneficial to take the whole course in one dose!" I thought blimey that do not sound right.

That is standard/common practice with some antibiotics and some infections. Whether it is a viable approach depends upon how long the antibiotic persist in the body in comparison with how long it takes to kill all the bacteria, and whether high single doses are safe and well tolerated.

I was told by a nurse once that often inpatients were given an initial double first dose just to get things going well simply because it was relatively safer than doing so at home because you were being closely monitored" sounded like there might be some logic in that.

True, but, in relation to 'very safe' (in the absence of allergy) antibiotics such as penicillins, that is also a very common practice for patients 'at home'. I personally would always take at least double the 'normal' dose of a penicillin for the first dose or three, and I would imagine that I would often be told by the prescriber to do just that.

But when next in A & E I asked a Dr about what that TV bloke suggested. ... His answer after a small pause was "Well yes that could sometimes have some value perhaps, however, if you had a bad reaction to then how the hell would we get it out of your system?" Good answer I think.

True, but one would only do that (certainly outside of hospital) with a patient known not to have 'bad reactions' to the antibiotic in question.

Kind Regards, John

 

[JohnW2]

Rivaroxaban for me.

Fair enough - but that's 'new-fangled', and most people still get 'low dose aspirin'.

 

[morqthana]

Fair enough - but that's 'new-fangled', and most people still get 'low dose aspirin'.

Or rat poison.

 

[JohnW2]

Or rat poison.

Not usually for prophylaxis of heart attacks etc. Warfarin etc. is used when one wants to reduce the body's clotting ability in general (by chemically interfering with the action of the 'clotting factors' in blood), whereas aspirin specifically acts on the blood platelets which can be instrumental in the extension/propagation of the sort of clots that can result in heart attacks etc.

 

[morqthana]

It's not that new-fangled - it's old enough for the (or some) patent(s) to have expired and the generic manufacturers to be snapping at Bayer's heels. There seems to be a lot of court case back-and-forths going on, but it's been several months since the pharmacist last gave me Bayer's Xarelto version.

 

[JohnW2]

It's not that new-fangled - it's old enough for the (or some) patent(s) to have expired and the generic manufacturers to be snapping at Bayer's heels. There seems to be a lot of court case back-and-forths going on, but it's been several months since the pharmacist last gave me Bayer's Xarelto version.

It's very 'new-fangled' for someone as old as me, whose experience stems from the days long before we were even using low-dose aspirin for this purpose ... but, yet, it's been around for a good while

 

[morqthana]

Not usually for prophylaxis of heart attacks etc.

Stroke risk for me.

aspirin specifically acts on the blood platelets which can be instrumental in the extension/propagation of the sort of clots that can result in heart attacks etc.

In the past I've self medicated with aspirin for a few days before taking a flight.

 

[JohnW2]

Stroke risk for me.

Fair enough - that would be one of my "etc."s (and mentioned explicitly in my earlier posts)

In the past I've self medicated with aspirin for a few days before taking a flight.

Again, fair enough, but you probably would be advised to take 'low' (sub-analgesic) doses - since I seem to recall (maybe incorrectly) that the 'anti-platelet-aggregation' activity of aspirin is either less or non-existent with standard 'analgesic' doses (but I'd have to do some reading to be certain about that).

 

[morqthana]

That would seem odd to me.

 

[EFLImpudence]

Fair enough - but that's 'new-fangled', and most people still get 'low dose aspirin'.

I thought aspirin was frowned upon (by the medical profession) nowadays.

 

[JohnW2]

I thought aspirin was frowned upon (by the medical profession) nowadays.

I wouldn't really say that. As with medicines like paraceatmol (let alone alcohol and tobacco!) whether they would be 'allowed' (or 'outlawed') if they were first to appear in 2025 in a different matter/question!

The only appreciable 'risk' of aspirin (in adults) is the fact that it can cause irritation and bleeding (including ulcers) of the stomach (albeit not usually significantly at 'normal doses') but that is equally true of all the other Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDs) that have followed it (like ibuprofen etc.) - and that is an unavoidable consequence of the mechanism whereby this group of medicines have anti-inflammatory and pain-relieving activity.

It's different in children, since I good while ago it was discovered that (extremely rarely) aspirin could result in a serious complication ("Reye's Syndrome) in children, hence has been 'banned' in the under-12's for many years.