Low Dose Aspirin for Heart Problems

by Damian Gadal under CC BY  with wpseopix.com

Aspirin Heart Health

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Low dose aspirin also decreases the chance that an individual will suffer a stroke, if they have suffered either a stroke in the past or else a "temporary interruption of blood flow to the brain" which is known as a transient ischemic attack. Transient ischemic attacks are often the precursor to having a stroke.

Some physicians will prescribe a daily low dose aspirin for people who are at risk of falling victim to a heart attack or stroke. These people specifically include males who are 40 years or older; males younger than 40 who suffer from either diabetes, high blood pressure or high cholesterol or those who smoke; postmenopausal women who are increased risk of heart attacks due to decreased hormone levels (postmenopause means that a year has passed since a woman experienced her last menstrual period), and finally, premenopausal females who either smoke or who suffer from high blood pressure, high cholesterol or diabetes.

People who have experienced a stroke related to a clot or a transient ischemic attack are commonly recommended by their doctors to take an aspirin a day for prevention. Aspirin has proven as beneficial in preventing heart attacks as it is in preventing clot-related strokes.

Is a High or Low Dose of Aspirin Better?

“We observed no difference between patients taking a high dose versus a low dose of aspirin as it relates to cardiovascular death, heart attack, stroke or stent thrombosis [clot],” lead author Dr. Payal Kohli, a cardiology fellow at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, said in a hospital news release.

Source: Drugs.com – Low Daily Aspirin Enough

How it works is that aspirin slows down the clotting action of the blood and it does this by decreasing the rate at which platelets clump together. Platelets are simply cells that join together or clump together in order to form clots in the blood. Aspirin makes sure that platelets do not join together and by so doing this decreases the amount of blood clots and in other cases it prevents clot formation all together.

When a heart attack is taking place, blood clots develop in an artery that is already dangerously narrowed and this causes there to be a blockage of flow of the blood that is full of oxygen to the heart (or in the case of a stroke, oxygen to the brain is partially cut off). If aspirin is given to a person when they are suffering from a heart attack, clotting action is slowed down which is desired and the blood clot that does form is small as opposed to large in size.

If low doseaspirin is consumed on a day-to-day basis by an individual with heart related problems them the "anti-clotting action" of it will seek to prevent a first heart attack from occurring at all. For those who have already suffered one heart attack, it should serve to prevent a second one from occurring.

Be aware that strokes are not the same as heart attacks and are not necessarily caused by clotting. For this reason, it is not recommended that you take aspirin if you feel you are having a stroke. In some cases, taking aspirin for a stroke could make the condition worse and not better.

Information provided is not medical advice – you should always consult your doctor.

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