Aspirin: A loaded gun for your heart
The drug companies want you to think of aspirin as a magic bullet for your heart. Oh, it's a bullet all right -- and it's definitely aimed at your ticker.
One of the most irritatingly persistent myths in modern medicine is the downright insane notion that daily aspirin can help your heart. So I can't tell you how it lifts my own heart to see this one finally crumbling.
Even the Wall Street Journal is giving aspirin therapy the kiss of death. A recent story with the headline "The Danger of Daily Aspirin" began with this sentence: "If you're taking a daily aspirin for your heart, you may want to reconsider."
Forget "may" -- definitely reconsider, because this was a bad idea the moment Big Pharma's marketing department dreamed it up.
One new study in the Journal of the American Medical Association found no benefit at all in giving aspirin to people at high risk of heart disease. My favorite part: It was funded in part by Bayer.
Must've been awkward when it came time to deliver the results. I'll bet they're looking for a refund... and a few researchers' heads.
But the truth's the truth... and the truth is, aspirin can cause bleeding in the stomach and brain. And that's not the only way this supposed painkiller can kill you... because aspirin can actually cause potentially deadly blood clots.
Yet despite aspirin's obvious dangers, you can't turn on the TV without seeing a commercial that talks up aspirin therapy for heart patients. An actress in one commercial claims, "My doctor says it's the easiest preventive measure you can take."
Easy -- yes. Safe -- heck no! Sounds like you need a new doctor, lady... one who's been reading the medical journals instead of watching aspirin commercials.
Here's one fact you won't hear in those ads: Roughly half of all people who suffer a fatal heart attack took an aspirin that day. I wonder what their final thoughts were. I bet more than a few clutched their chest and cried out, "But... I took an aspirin today!"
Bottom line: Don't gobble down daily aspirin unless you've got a death wish. And if you really hate life, add an ibuprofen to the mix -- patients who take that and aspirin together have double the risk of fatal heart attack.
These are powerful drugs, not candy... even if many people munch on them like Skittles. If you really want to pop a pill for your heart, take a fish oil capsule instead.
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William Campbell Douglass I.I., M.D. has been called "the conscience of modern medicine."
You can sign up for his "Daily Dose" at DouglassReport.com.
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Comments
Carolgrace
Does this apply to the current advise of taking an aspiring if you're experiencing chest pain and suspect an impending heart attack?
RaeJeanne
This is the first I have heard of this. I know that aspirin in too high a dose can cause bleeding, but I have not heard anything about low doses. I will need more specific information on this before I stop taking my aspirin. Also specifically, I would need more information on the medical history of the half who had heart attacks, as opposed to a similar medical history on a control group who did not take aspirin.
Larry Frieders
Thank you for your diligence, Dr. Douglass. I hope that the garment we call "modern medicine" will continue to unravel. Perhaps the world will see the emperor really has no clothes.
tony d
Of course, if people stop taking aspirin their Plavix will not work. Gasp! People will now have to resort to those dangerous supplements like vitamins C, A, K, E, and D , fish oil, serrapeptase, ubiquinol. glutamine, niacin, and more! Gasp! How will they know which ones to take? They just might have to ask one of those quacks. I think they call them nutritionists!
natalie oliver judge
Does this apply to the 1 a/day baby aspirin (81mg)?
Kathy Snapp
Last November, I fell from a 5 ft. height to a hard, tile floor receiving "no" fracture, but a baseball sized hematoma that loosened the cochlear (sp) "rocks" from the inner ear causing vertigo. Per the "medical" suggestion that I take an aspirin a day to "prevent" heart disease, and after reading this article, I realized why I might be having feelings of gastro-intenstinal changes and continued dizziness after sleeping on the one a day aspirin. YIKES! No more aspirin for me! Do you really think that the medical and pharmaceutical industries will ever change their thinking? [rhetorical question] Their thinking may just kill us if we don't start thinking for ourselves!!
AnonymousJEANNE
WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU PREACHING NOW ,?
TALKING OUT OF BOTH SIDES OF YOUR MOUTH,
YOUR ALL A BUNCH OF QUICKS AS FAR AS I CAN SEE ,
ALL OUT TO GET RICH OFF POOR PEOPLE MONEYS ,
YOU MAY THINK YOUR FUNNY BUT YOUR NOT ,OR SMART EITHER.
PEOPLE DEPEND ON WHAT YOU SAY , BUT YOU AND I KNOW YOUR ALL A BUNCH OF MONEY GRABBING GREEDY PEOPLE
TRYING TO SCARE UP MORE MONEYS ANY WAY YOU CAN , DOUBLE DEALING LIES ON BOTH SIDES 0F YOUR MOUTH ,
PEOPLE USE YOUR HEADS , THINK FOR YOUR SELF , LOOK AROUND YOU THESES NUTS ARE KILLING PEOPLE LEFT AND RIGHT, AND COULD CARE LESS ONE WAY OR THE OTHER IF YOU LIVE OR DIE AS LONG AS THEY CAN LINE THIER POCKETS WITH YOUR MONEYS TILL YOUR GONE ,
I DONT BELIEVE ANY ONE THATS GOT A AX TO GRIND , LIKE GETTING YOUR MONEY ,
BETTER THINK FOR YOUR SELF , OR ONE OF THESES NUTS IS GOING TO KILL YOU ,
THANKS FOR THE TIME
THAT FELT GOOD ,
JEANNE
Anonymous
I believe this Dr deals with the facts, some in the medical communities may not like it but facts are facts, I for one is tired of all the bogus claims Big-Pharma and their cronies put together to release their products, we all need to be aware of this, and let’s face it do you really think these people want us healthy, right????. JAM
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