Baby Aspirin before running (Read 2630 times)

I still NEVER run marathons while menstruating.

Of course I am not a girl.  That's why I don't run while menstruating.  Der.

 

There you go bringing science into it again. 

I'm curious about daily low-dose (81mg) aspirin, which seems to have evidence that it's beneficial. 

Someone who has taken adult-dose aspirin all their lives without ill effect probably won't be harmed by an 81-mg dose. Right? Unless they have a stroke. I've never heard of someone having a stroke during a marathon. I wonder how common that is.

 

Plenty of people have been told by their doctors to take a daily low-dose aspirin.  I doubt Trent is advising that those people should stop what they are doing, but Trent can speak for himself.  And aspirin might reduce the chance of having a stroke in the first place, if it makes the production of clots less likely.

 

Kill you.

 

Recommend it to 40,000 people, and chances are good that one of them will have an adverse reaction that they would otherwise not have had.  Anaphylaxis, wheezing, bleeding out, drug interaction, etc. Check it.

 

First, do no harm.

 

Heh.  Yeah.  Could drive large trucks through the holes in their logic there.  Online MDs or what now?

Actually Trent, I am not aware of a single medication that does not cause adverse events.  All drugs can cause harm in certain individuals.  So one in 40,000 has an adverse reaction; by the same token, what if 10 of those 40,000 are saved from a heart attack?  Because one has a bad reaction, you doom the 10 who would have benefitted?  It is always a cost/benefit analysis.  The way I see "do no harm" interpreted by most docs is that the cost/benefit analysis must be positive, not that you cause no risk at all.  If that were the case, we certainly would not anesthetize people and do surgery on them.  People die during surgery.

MTA:  I'm quite shocked they would put themselves at risk by recommending medication to participants.

 

But as the adverse reactions of aspirin have been extensively researched and well-documented, whereas the benefits (in this context, and for the general population of runners rather than specific individuals) seem to be based on extremely sketchy "evidence", a cost-benefit analysis seems decidedly skewed towards cost, totally the opposite of what the advice is implying. 

 

Perhaps I should have been more clear.  Yes, I agree, the cost/benefit equation will differ by the individual and for most people out running a marathon they do not fit the target population typically given for aspirin therapy for heart attacks/strokes.  I was contesting the assertion that aspirin is inherently harmful and should generally not be used.

Read.   I was not fear mongering.  I was simply pointing out to the poster who suggested that aspirin is harmless that it, in fact, is not.  Poster asked a simple question: "what can popping a low dose of aspirin do to harm you before a run?"  And I answered with a fact.  If my answers frighten you then you should cease asking scary questions.

And aspirin (along with other salycilates) kill more people every year than Vioxx did.  Every medicine, whether over the counter or not, can kill you.  Period.  A doctor with an established relationship with a patient can weigh the risks and benefits.  An informed patient can as well.  A race packet cannot

Of course I am not a girl.  That's why I don't run while menstruating.  Der.

 Oh, I thought it was because you had reached menopause.

 

(I know I am late posting this, but I was out running a PR.  How is your running going Trent?)