How Safe Is Aspirin?

Aspirin (Acetylsalicylic Acid) is a drug commonly recommended for daily use. But how safe is it really?

Aspirin's pain relief properties were first recognised in the pharmaceutical boom of 1900 when the first aspirin tablet was manufactured by the Frederick Bayer Corporation of Germany. Some ninety years later, research from Harvard Medical School noted that taking aspirin on a regular basis could reduce the risk of heart attack. Since then, aspirin has become the most often used drug for cardiocascular health, as well as being prescribed in the treatment of inflammation, pain and fever.

The commonly known fact that aspirin can cause internal bleeding has long been overlooked as being of small rick when compared to the protection that aspirin is believed to offer against heart attack and stroke. However, this is no small fact, and The Stroke Association is demanding that aspirin come with a health warning making people aware of its blood thinning qualities.

In fact, an Australian study reported in the British Medical Journal in 2007 found that elder patients using aspirin had a considerable increase of bleeding in the brain and gastro-intestinal tract. Furthermore, a French study from 2003 suggests that angina and heart attacks may be triggered by the sudden cessation of daily aspirin use.

In a significant number of cases, aspirin should be avoided completely. These cases include people on blood thinning medication (i.e. Warfarin, Heparin), people with poor kidney function and peptic ulcers, asthmatic patients, people with hyperuricemia and gout, pregnant women and nursing mothers, and children.

Even people who may use aspirin should be aware of possible side effects, which range from ringing in the ears, ulcerations, liver toxicity, nausea kidney impairment, rashes and vertigo.

The best advice for now is to avoid aspirin completely if you are in the above groups and, if you are not, to only use the drug responsibly.