I believe that aspirin will not ruin a stomach if taken with food. Aspirin that is not released until it is in the small intestine is available.
I believe if aspirin were invented today it would be heralded as a miracle pain reliever and would be sold for $3 or more per pill and only available by prescription. Aspirin is an amazingly effective pain reliever in my opinion.
However, to be effective for me and I would estimate all adults weighing more than 100 pounds the number of 325 mg pills needed will exceed the 2 or 3 pills prescribed for a 12 year old. Pain relief for me occurs in less than one minute and last six to eight hours. Pain relief from other more modern non prescription pain relievers takes effect in 10-30 minutes and begins to diminish within 1-3 hours.
Tylenol plain does nothing for my pains.Once took Tylenol 3 with codeine-now that worked really well.Excrutiating back pain completely gone but not ,of course,the underlying reason,a herniated disc.
I did discover Tylenol is deadly to dogs after my little beagle died within an hour of giving her some for injuries;we had given aspirin to other injured dogs and they did fine.(My father’s doctor had told my father aspirin was bad for his stomach and to take only Tylenol,so my father didn’t allow any more aspirin in the house!
For my headaches,general aches and fever, I trust plain (or coated) aspirin .It works and it has a long history.And it is cheap.