'SUPER ASPIRIN' HEART RX

New York Post ^ | September 5, 2005

[nickcarraway]

Giving heart-attack patients a dose of "super aspirin" before rather than during a procedure to restore blood flow to the heart could save tens of thousands of lives a year, new research suggests.

In a major international study presented yesterday at a meeting here of the European Society of Cardiology, scientists found that giving heart attack victims the drug Plavix when they arrive at the emergency room almost halved the risk of a stroke, a repeated heart attack or death within the first month after angioplasty.

Angioplasty, a procedure where doctors thread a needle through the blood vessels and implant a tiny flexible mesh tube to prop open narrowed or clogged arteries, is performed on about 2 million people worldwide every year.

Patients during this procedure are routinely given Plavix, often called "super aspirin" because it prevents blood clots in a similar way to aspirin but has a higher potency, because inflating the mesh tube inside the blood vessels disturbs the lining of the artery and attracts clots.

However, in the study of 1,863 heart attack patients, led by Dr. Marc Sabatine from the Harvard University-affiliated Brigham & Women's Hospital in Boston, 6.3 percent of the people who got 300 milligrams of Plavix at the time of their angioplasty had a heart attack or stroke or died from heart complications during the subsequent month.

However, only 3.6 percent of those who got the drug several hours beforehand went on to suffer those problems.

[DH]

In 1996 I had a heart attack at my home. Since it was totally unexpected I had no medicine in the house to deal with it. I ran into the bathroom and took a large amount of plain old asprin. Within five minutes I was back to normal. I thought I would go to the doctor the next day rather than rushing into the emergency room since all symptoms ceased.

Later that evening, just as I was going to bed, it really hit me hard again. Once again, before doing anything else, I took a very large amount of asprin again. This time, after about five minutes, all symptoms passed. I immediately did something about seeing medical help then!

Story is, if you don't have any heart medicine on hand and have a heart attack, take a LARGE amount of asprin and call for help. It may save your life.

[muir_redwoods]

can you define LARGE?

[AppyPappy]

Large enough to cause you to bleed to death.

[Alas Babylon!]

You had TWO heart attacks in one day and didn't call an ambulance? Are you a fan of Coach Ditka and Da Bears?

Gotta admire your bravery!

[cdrw]

Standard chest pain protocol on the ambulances in my area includes having the patient chew down four baby aspirin in the unit on the way to the ER. That is approximately a 325 mg (5 grain) dose.

Keep in mind that enteric coated aspirin (Ecotrin ...) will not dissolve quickly to enter your blood stream unless you crush it first. Use regular aspirin or baby aspirin if you have it. In any event crushing the aspirin and washing it down with water will get it into your system much more quickly.

[Ditter]

How many aspirin did you take? A large amount of aspirin would eat a hole in my stomach and I would have another problem along with having a heart attack.

[Kenny Bunk]

COQ10, and Aspirin

PS "Large Dose"= half-a-handful

[oh8eleven]

Later that evening, just as I was going to bed, it really hit me hard again. Once again, before doing anything else, I took a very large amount of asprin again. This time, after about five minutes, all symptoms passed.
You needed Tums, not aspirin.

[aimhigh]

I'm surprised some drug company doesn't sell baby aspirin under the name, "heart tabs".