• Please Remember: Members are only permitted to share their own experiences. Members are not qualified to give medical advice. Additionally, everyone manages their health differently. Please be respectful of other people's opinions about their own diabetes management.
  • We seem to be having technical difficulties with new user accounts. If you are trying to register please check your Spam or Junk folder for your confirmation email. If you still haven't received a confirmation email, please reach out to our support inbox: support.forum@diabetes.org.uk

QUESTION: Asprin usage

Status
This thread is now closed. Please contact Anna DUK, Ieva DUK or everydayupsanddowns if you would like it re-opened.
Hazel

Hazel

Well-Known Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 2
Hiya, I was reading an article in the SAGA magazine ( a sure sign of old age), and the article recommended that ALL diabetics should be prescribed asprin, to help thin the blood and reduce the risk of heart problems and strokes.

Have any of you heard of this - I ask as there is a history of heart problems in my family and I wonder if I should mention taking asprin to my GP.

Thanks,
Hazel
 
Have heard of this, it's one of those plethagra of claims that they throw about.. I would talk to your GP especially if there's a history of Coronary Heart Disease...
 
I'd agree that your GP is just the person to ask - they can consider all your risk factors for heart disease, as well as all the risks / benefits of taking aspirin. I wouldn't take action on the basis of one article in that well-known refereed medical journal "SAGA"🙄
 
Aspirin?

I've been told that if you have retinopathy that you shouldn't take aspirin as it could make the bleeding worse.
 
Hazel said:
Hiya, I was reading an article in the SAGA magazine ( a sure sign of old age), and the article recommended that ALL diabetics should be prescribed asprin, to help thin the blood and reduce the risk of heart problems and strokes.

Have any of you heard of this - I ask as there is a history of heart problems in my family and I wonder if I should mention taking asprin to my GP.

Thanks,
Hazel
Click to expand...

There was a recent study that claimed the opposite - that aspirin brought no benefit to diabetics with no history of heart problems. Aspirin can inflame the stomach, so the study argued that it shouldn't be prescribed as a matter of course.

When I was diagnosed last May they thought I had had a heart attack, due to a blood test showing elevated levels of troponin and abnormal ECGs. I was therefore put on aspirin and clopidogrel, both anti-platelet drugs. The aspirin dose is 'therapeutic', i.e. it is not the dose you would take to cure a headache (I take 75mg). It turns out I didn't have a heart attack, but when I questioned the GP she said I would probably continue taking the aspirin for the rest of my life, although I stop the clopidogrel in June. This was because an angiogram had shown slight furring of an artery. I think if my heart had appeared OK in hospital I probably wouldn't have had either drug.

There's no harm in asking your GP about it, but I wouldn't take it upon myself to start taking it if the GP said it wasn't necessary.
 
Sugar Pie said:
I've been told that if you have retinopathy that you shouldn't take aspirin as it could make the bleeding worse.
Click to expand...

It is a consideration - also, my dentist said I'd have to go to hospital if I needed teeth removing, because of the dangers that the blood might not clot quickly enough.
 
Hi ya

I am a type 2 and when i was dx last year my Dr put me on asprin straight away. 1 month a go another Dr took me off due to other drugs I was on:confused:. I had to go back last week to see yet another Dr and he went mad at me and said because of the diabetes I was not to come off asprin for any reason. 🙄

So the answer to your question is yes you should be on asprin it helps to keep the blood thin. So go and see your Dr and ask🙂

Good luck

Dean😎
 
I'm not so sure myself about taking drugs for preventative measures, I would have to have a good think about it before agreeing. A few years back my consultant was going to put my on an ACE inhibitor for my kidneys but she left before doing it and it never got done.
 
I'm on 75mg of asprin a day, if I am having any cutting done in hospital they ask me to stop it 'x' days (can't recall exact number) beforehand.

Asprin seems to be a drug taken by lots of people with or at risk of heart disease, not just diabetics, I think this might be relatively recent although I can't recall not being on them...
 
I was prescribed aspirin initially but following two published medical reviews that questioned the benefits and discussion about my personal relative risks of heart disease, my GP and I agreed that I should stop taking it. My GP had read the relevant medical papers and was up to date with the facts as well as having all my medical details in front of him - my cholesterol's ok, my blood pressure is low, diet is good (most of the time!) although I don't know my family history but do have diabetic maculopathy that is currently "not clinically significant". Also I frequently manage to tweak a muscle or two when wrestling with weeds et cetera in the garden and, if on aspirin, then cannot take ibobrufen as there is some form of interaction
 
My surgery has recently pulled aspirin for all diabetics. It was a standard policy that all DMers should be precribed daily aspirin immediately on diagnosis. However, the recent studies show that there is no benefit from it unless there is some other history of heart conditions (e.g. a heart attack).

The downside is that it irritates and potentially damages the gut and causes more problems than it solves in the majority of people.

As a result many doctors are pulling aspirin off prescriptions and no longer prescribing it automatically like smarties.

Saga are simply out of date.

One of these days the same thing will happen with statins.
 
Vanessa said:
I was prescribed aspirin initially but following two published medical reviews that questioned the benefits and discussion about my personal relative risks of heart disease, my GP and I agreed that I should stop taking it. My GP had read the relevant medical papers and was up to date with the facts as well as having all my medical details in front of him - my cholesterol's ok, my blood pressure is low, diet is good (most of the time!) although I don't know my family history but do have diabetic maculopathy that is currently "not clinically significant". Also I frequently manage to tweak a muscle or two when wrestling with weeds et cetera in the garden and, if on aspirin, then cannot take ibobrufen as there is some form of interaction
Click to expand...

I asked if I could stop taking it but the heart consultant said that I should continue as an angiogram (taken when they thought I'd had a heart attack, but hadn't, it was myocarditis) showed some 'furring but not flow-restricting' in an artery. I'm putting that down to the fact that I was a smoker for 20 years, and thanked the Lord I hadn't done myself more damage!

As for ibuprofen, I wasn't aware I couldn't take it. I did read it on one of my medications - think it was the statin - and asked my GP, but she said it was OK. To play safe she prescribed an ibuprofen gel rather than something I ingest.
 
Last edited:
My thanks to all who have offered advice.

Because of my family history, I will discuss with my GP on the next visit. It would be the sugar coated asprin, so as not to rot the gut.

Again, my thanks to all who have contributed, I will let you know what the advice is from my GP

Regards,
Hazel
 
Hazel said:
It would be the sugar coated asprin, so as not to rot the gut.
Click to expand...
For some reason (I don't know why) it has to be soluble aspirin I hear. No it doesn't make any sense to me either 😉
 
This webpage gives a good explanation of the uses of aspirin 75mg tablets (NOT 300mg which are used for pain relief etc)
http://www2.netdoctor.co.uk/medicines/100004770.html All aspirin 75mg tablets are either dispersible (but can be swallowed whole and washed down with water, preferably after eating) or enteric coated (to protect the stomach lining, but still best taken after food and washed down with water).
BUT, the key advice is to consult a doctor, as there are many potential risks and benefits to consider - different for each individual.
 
I should add that I also take omeprazole, which is to protect my stomach from the aspirin. I take it half an hour before eating, then take the aspirin after eating.
 
I was put on 75mg aspirin after first stroke - 30+ years ago. Following a scan and ECG four years ago after a TIA I was diagnosed with AF and put on warfarin.
All aspirin and similar stopped.
My dentist won't operate if INR is above 3.5, but reluctantly does if 2.5 or less.
The knife and fork people have me off it for 3 days pre-op
 
Status
This thread is now closed. Please contact Anna DUK, Ieva DUK or everydayupsanddowns if you would like it re-opened.
Back
Top