[extropy-chat] Asprin, life-extension, and the current spate of pain-reliever problems

Dan Clemmensen dgc at cox.net
Tue Dec 21 22:11:36 UTC 2004


Over the last month or so, several "new" pain relievers have been found 
to increase the risk of heart problems.

In each case, the problems were uncovered in long-term studies. the big 
names (Viaoxx, Celebrex) are Cox-2 inhibitors but today is was announced 
that Naprosin is also statistically linked to increased heart problems 
in a long-term study. Naprosin in not a Cox-2 inhibitor.

Here's a hypothesis: most people who take these drugs probably reduce 
their intake of Aspirin. Aspirin has been shown to have important 
beneficial effects in reducing heart (and other) problems when taken 
long-term. Possibly there is nothing wrong with the more modern and 
powerful pain relievers except that they cause people to reduce their 
use of Aspirin.

A question for the list: does anyone know how to determine whether or 
not this effect has been examined?

Disclosure: I've been taking one 325mg Aspirin tablet per day for ten 
years. This is just about my only move in the direction of life 
extension. I started doing this after reading one too many studies about 
the beneficial effects of Aspirin. I take 325mg rather than the 81mg 
"enteric-coated" Aspirin because the 325mg is cheaper per dose, and 
because the studies mostly showed good effects as a side-effect of large 
doses of Aspirin taken for other reasons.



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