Do You Need to Be Taking Aspirin or Just Adjusting Hormones?

Aspirin use for occasional headaches, aches, or pains is still recommended and safe for many people. The role of aspirin for prevention, is a complex topic, really best made with medical guidance. Your age, your medical risk factors, your competing medications all may affect what your Primary Care Provider would tell you what to do. But here are some of the newest guidelines coming out of the literature.

1. Low dose aspirin can decrease your risk of ovarian cancer.
2. If you have had a major cardiovascular event, like a heart attack, you have a lower risk of it occurring again and a lower risk of dying if you take low dose aspirin.
3. If you are low risk for cardiovascular disease you may lower your overall risk of having a cardiac event, but you will also raise you risk of major bleeding. Thus, most physicians would not recommend low dose aspirin if you are low risk.
4. Daily low dose aspirin over 10 years will lower your risk of colon and rectal cancer.
5. After the age of 70, a majority of people may have increased harm from continuing low dose aspirin.
6. Low dose aspirin is 75 to100 mg a day.
7. Weigh all risks of daily low dose aspirin in context to any similar medications such as NSAIDS.
8. Discuss with a health provider if you are also on other blood thinners if adding regular ASA is reasonable.