Low Dose Aspirin for Heart Problems

Aspirin, which has been around for almost 100 years, in its low-dose form has been shown in study after study to help prevent both first and second heart attacks in individuals who suffer from coronary artery disease. If aspirin is taken during a heart attack or immediately after it can greatly decrease the chance that the heart attack will prove fatal. Low-dose aspirin also decreases the chance that an individual will suffer a stroke if they have suffered either a stroke in the past or else a "temporary interruption of blood flow to the brain" which is known as a transient ischemic attack. Transient ischemic attacks are often the precursor to having a stroke.

Some physicians will prescribe a daily low-dose aspirin for people who are at risk of falling victim to a heart attack or stroke. These people specifically include males who are 40 years or older; males younger than 40 who suffer from either diabetes, high blood pressure or high cholesterol or those who smoke; postmenopausal women who are increased risk of heart attacks due to decreased hormone levels (postmenopause means that a year has passed since a woman experienced her last menstrual period), and finally, premenopausal females who either smoke or who suffer from high blood pressure, high cholesterol or diabetes.

People who have experienced a stroke related to a clot or a transient ischemic attack are commonly recommended by their doctors to take an aspirin a day for prevention. Aspirin has proven as beneficial in preventing heart attacks as it is in preventing clot-related strokes.

How it works is that aspirin slows down the clotting action of the blood and it does this by decreasing the rate at which platelets clump together. Platelets are simply cells that join together or clump together in order to form clots in the blood. Aspirin makes sure that platelets do not join together and by so doing this decreases the amount of blood clots and in other cases it prevents clot formation all together.

When a heart attack is taking place, blood clots develop in an artery that is already dangerously narrowed and this causes there to be a blockage of flow of the blood that is full of oxygen to the heart (or in the case of a stroke, oxygen to the brain is partially cut off). If aspirin is given to a person when they are suffering from a heart attack, clotting action is slowed down which is desired and the blood clot that does form is small as opposed to large in size. If aspirin is consumed on a day-to-day basis by an individual with heart related problems them the "anti-clotting action" of it will seek to prevent a first heart attack from occurring at all. For those who have already suffered one heart attack, it should serve to prevent a second one from occurring.

Be aware that strokes are not the same as heart attacks and are not necessarily caused by clotting. For this reason it is not recommended that you take aspirin if you feel you are having a stroke. In some cases taking aspirin for a stroke could make the condition worse and not better.