Health Care

by: David Cowley

People who have experienced a heart attach should take aspirin in order to help prevent another attack from occurring according to the American Heart Association. Studies have concluded that aspirin can help to prevent a heart attach and it's also effective for people who have been determined by their doctor to have a high risk of having an attack. Before you begin aspirin therapy you should consult with your physician.

Effectiveness of Aspirin

Aspirin is effective at preventing a person from having a heart attach by preventing clots from forming that can block the flow of blood to the heart. People who have already had an attack can usually be helped by using an aspirin therapy program and people who have not had an attack but are at high risk due to diabetes, high cholesterol and other factors can get some protection with an aspirin therapy program. However taking aspirin on a daily basis can thin out your blood and can produce side effects such as bleeding.

There is a risk of experiencing sever bleeding by taking too much aspirin. A study has concluded that using more than 100 mg of aspirin per day significantly increases the possibility of bleeding from your nose as well as severe problems such as bleeding in your brain also called a stroke. One study has shown that serious bleeding happens in just a little more that one percent of patients who have heart disease and are involved in aspirin therapy with dosages of around 80 mg of aspirin per day.

Baby Aspirin

However a serious bleeding condition happens to about five percent of people who have heart disease and are using 200 mg or more of aspirin on a daily basis in order to prevent a heart attach from occurring. When the study reviewed all the bleeding that occurred due to being involved in aspirin therapy, including simple bleeding, taking 100 to 200 mg a day of aspirin caused bleeding in eleven percent of the people. People who were taking baby aspirin showed a rate of slightly more than one percent for bleeding.

There is some disagreement in the medical community about the proper dosage of aspirin for people who are taking it to prevent a heart attach. However studies have shown that taking a baby aspirin can be effective and is safer than taking a higher dosage on a daily basis. There are some situations where a patient might begin taking a higher dosage and then decrease it as time goes by such as a patient who had stents placed in his arteries. Stints are very small flexible types of coils that are utilized to open up blocked arteries; however stints increase the possibility of acquiring blood clots.