Are there natural alternatives to aspirin?
Are they safe?
And do they actually WORK?
What does the research show?
That’s what you’ll discover in this post, the original version of which I wrote and posted long ago at my natural health blog. So there's no plagiarism here!
But what brings you here today?
Perhaps you (or people you care about) are taking AN ASPIRIN A DAY to reduce the risk of heart attack or stroke? You’ve been told that a daily aspirin will help prevent blood clots which, if they break loose and travel to the brain, can cause a devastating stroke.
Maybe you’ve heard that BABY ASPIRIN is safe because it’s a lower dose of the active ingredient? But you’re wanting to be really sure.
Or perhaps your healthcare professional has recommended you take COATED ASPIRIN? The outer layer is added so the tablet passes through your stomach before the enteric coating starts dissolving in your intestines. Safer that way, they say.
Well, if the people that MAKE the stuff are worried about what aspirin can do to your stomach lining, you've got every reason to be worried too.
Today, more than ever before, it's important to be aware of the risks associated with medications -- and your doctor might not tell you about them. So smart health consumers will check the facts for themselves. More and more people today are not willing to LET OTHERS DECIDE what goes into their body. More power to them, that's what I say.
And if that's you, CONGRATS.
But whatever it is that has brought you to this page, welcome!
We’re going to dig into the aspirin story and after we check out the published research, we’ll identify some natural alternatives to aspirin. Safer ones.
Gone are the days when we just accept what the local doctor tells us. Thanks to “the world’s biggest library” as some people call the internet, we now have access to a wealth of information. But often the good stuff is written in complex medical terminology… which puts this knowledge out of reach for many folks.
Not here. The goal here is to make the truth clear.
First, an important warning
Do not stop taking any pharmaceutical product without consulting a health professional. You could experience serious, even life threatening, consequences if you do. This article is for informational purposes only. Nothing here is intended as or should be substituted for medical advice. (You'll recognize this as the usual medical disclaimer.)
What is this drug called aspirin?
It’s an analgesic… a pain killer. Or as the government’s MedlinePlus site says, “Aspirin is a commonly used pain reducer and fever reducer.”
"Can increase the risk of bleeding"
The site goes on to say, “It is a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) that can increase the risk of bleeding, including in the stomach and gastrointestinal (GI) tract.”
Comment: Here, and throughout the article, I’ve added emphasis to highlight important points.
Like a surprising number of pharmaceutical medicines, aspirin was first found in the plant kingdom. It came from the bark of the willow plant. The main active ingredient is called acetylsalicylic acid.
These days aspirin is big business.
HOW BIG?
Well, Bayer sold over $500 million dollars worth of their Aspirin Cardio in 2015. That's 524 million Euros.
And that’s just the Cardio version. You have to nearly DOUBLE that to get their total aspirin sales that year. It was reported as 997 Euros.
Then you can add the dozens of combination products, released under different brand names, that include aspirin with other ingredients.
That makes aspirin a BILLION DOLLAR product.
So what do you reckon? Do the corporate bosses want you to know the RISKS of consuming their billion dollar product?
Not likely, eh?
But it gets worse.
In the world of Big Pharma, aspirin is definitely not the only massively profitable product that is dangerous. More on that in future posts. Stay tuned.
What are the known risks of aspirin?
There are 47 major side effects of aspirin. And a handful of minor ones, including renal failure — and when your kidneys can no longer remove waste from your blood or control the level of fluid in your body, you can die!
As if that list from drugs.com isn’t worrying enough, the site also says: “You should check with your doctor immediately if any of these side effects occur when taking aspirin.”
"May not be effective... and may double the risk"
According to the government health research site PubMed:
- “Long-term low-dose aspirin therapy may not be effective in preventing cardiovascular disease and may double the risk of gastrointestinal bleeding.”
Source: PubMed
Look at more of these astonishing statements from PubMed.
“In a population-based cohort, aspirin use was significantly associated with an increased risk of major gastrointestinal or cerebral bleeding episodes.”
Source: PubMed“A strong positive association between regular aspirin use and CD.”
Source: PubMed
Comment: CD is Crohn’s Disease which is a chronic inflammatory bowel disease.“use of aspirin, NSAIDs and calcium channel blocker, increased the risk of bleeding.”
Source: PubMed“Patients with a bleeding peptic ulcer after NSAID/LD ASA consumption frequently have H. pylori infection.”
Source: PubMed
Comment: ASA is acetylsalicylic acid, the active ingredient in aspirin.“As compared with placebo or aspirin, OAC with or without aspirin does not reduce mortality or reinfarction, reduces stroke, but is associated with significantly more major bleeding.”
Source: PubMed
Comment: OAC is oral anticoagulation. An infarction is a heart attack, so a reinfarction is having another heart attack.“Aspirin increases mortality in diabetic patients without cardiovascular disease.”
Source: PubMed“Aspirin adversely effects cerebral blood flow in vivo. […] This result may help explain the possible increase in ischemic stroke seen in low risk patients on aspirin therapy.”
Source: PubMed
But what about low dose aspirin and baby aspirin?
“The risks of aspirin therapy may outweigh the benefits for primary prevention of cardiovascular disease.”
Source: PubMed“Short-term administration of low-dose aspirin is associated with small bowel injuries and blood flow.”
Source: PubMed“Aspirin causes significant gastroduodenal damage even at the low doses used for cardiovascular protection.”
Source: PubMed“Low-dose aspirin has been linked to gastroduodenal ulcer.”
Source: PubMed
"ZERO clinical support"
In an article entitled A Baby Aspirin A Day Is A BAD Prescription For Most, Dr. Michael Murray cites the European Heart Journal which tells us that taking 50–100 mg/day “has ZERO clinical support“.
That’s bad news (for the aspirin industry).
Now it’s time for some GOOD NEWS (for you)
And yes, there are safe, natural alternatives to aspirin.
But before you do…
Before you start replacing your aspirin (or any pharmaceutical drug) with a natural alternative, you should consult with a competent healthcare professional BECAUSE natural therapies can interact adversely with medications you may be taking. Better safe than sorry.
(1) Turmeric (curcumin) is a natural alternative to aspirin
First, a few facts about turmeric (also known as Indian saffron). It’s a yellow-orange spice that’s related to the ginger plant. You probably know it as a major ingredient in curry powder, giving curry its strong color. The main active ingredient is curcumin.
What are the side effects of turmeric?
"Demonstrated to be safe"
“Curcumin has been demonstrated to be safe in six human trials and has demonstrated anti-inflammatory activity.” In other words, generally regarded as safe. With no serious side effects. Source: PubMed.
However, if you take turmeric or curcumin in large doses as supplements, you may (a few people do!) experience minor side effects. Things like mild digestive issues (bloating, acid reflux, flatulence, diarrhea), headache and nausea, and skin rash. Source: AuthorityNutrition.
Compare that to the benefits such as a lower heart attack risk, improved antioxidant status, better blood vessel function and lower inflammation. Sounds like no contest to me.
And there are also OTHER benefits from curcumin:
“New science confirms eating turmeric every day reverses cancer.” Source: NaturalNews
(2) Pycnogenol is another natural alternative to aspirin
Pycnogenol is an extract from French maritime pine bark. It prevents blood clotting at least as effectively as aspirin but at a lower dose (which is a good thing). It’s natural and it’s safer, as made clear in the PubMed quote below. What’s not to love about that, eh?
As a bark extract, pycnogenol is about 65-75 percent proanthocyanidins (procyanidins), a class of polyphenols found in a wide variety of plants, many of which have been in the human diet since the earliest days. Such as green tea, black tea, cranberry, bilberry, cocoa beans, cinnamon, and black currant.
But is pycnogenol safe?
"Very good safety profile... without side effects"
"Pycnogenol® has a very good safety profile" says a report in PubMed that compares aspirin and pycnogenol. "Pycnogenol® seems to reduce the recurrence of RVT [retinal vein thrombosis] without side effects. It does not induce new hemorrhagic episodes that may be theoretically linked to the use of Aspirin®."
(3) And that's not all.
Depending on why you’re taking aspirin, Dr Axe offers several other alternatives: ginger, MSM, bromelain (from pineapples) and Wobenzym N.
And on that happy note, I wish you...
As always, talk to your healthcare professional about any health concerns this post has raised. And when you do, you’ll be equipped with valuable information because you've read this post. THANK YOU FOR YOUR INTEREST TODAY.
You've just read my 2nd Steemit post. Here's a link to my 1st post:
You Forgot THE Single Most Effective Natural Remedy
and that is high CBD, low to moderate THC cannabis. The trick these days is finding soneone with the type of cannabis which does not make you high or otherwise inebriated.
When you find a strain or phenotype like the specific cut of Canna-Tsu I have, you can reduce/eliminate pain, inflammation, high blood pressure, anxiety, ADD/ADHD and many more irritating issues life throws at us.
Get smart, get cannabis.
Go BE Awesome!
I've been reading and hearing more about the benefits of CBD over this last year, so a big thanks for bringing that into the discussion. It's controversial in some quarters, but I accept the overwhelming evidence now available medical cannabis is highly effective - and it doesn't make you high.
Great comment, thanks. I upvoted you.
Let's be honest, we should only really take pain killers when we experiencing unbearable pain. Most mild pain can be endured and chronic pain should be dealt with at source or through the use of meditation, hypnosis and mental programming. I do martial arts and there are extremely painful pressure points all over your body, however you can be trained to ignore, or even enjoy the pain to some extent.
Thanks for contributing, Hermit.
I hear you. These days, many folks (perhaps most of us?) will think about taking a pill the moment we experience some discomfort. Not a good habit.
Gary
Gary, unrelated to this post -- I meant to mention budgerigars. I have no idea how to pronounce it. But I wanted to ask if you have any right now. I know or think I knew that you are a bit of a nomad. Traveling with pets -- as @katebenzin mentioned can call for adjustments.
Joanne, that'd be budge + er + ree + gars. But I havent had budgies for many decades. I was digging back through the mental archives when I found the budgies.
Thanks for your question.
Gary
Thanks for this helpful info on aspirin, @garyharvey. I used to take a baby aspirin each night but have stopped. Sounds like that's a good thing!
Yep, Peggy, sounds like a good thing to me too.
Gary
Hi Gary - Love that you mention turmeric, which I take every day. And of course, I love that you'll be giving us lots of natural health alternatives in future posts. How about a post on the plain old runny nose? I take Zyrtec every day and would love to change to a natural remedy.
I'm not a doctor, of course, so here's what I did in response to your question, Kate. I looked up in Google (though any search engine will do) for "natural remedy for runny nose".
The site I like best from the page one results is this one...
https://www.livestrong.com/article/46336-home-remedy-runny-nose-/
which does happen to mention Zyrtec.
The other line of enquiry I would pursue is to do a search for "zyrtec side effects". And I found this...
https://www.everydayhealth.com/drugs/zyrtec
which includes quite a long list of bad things that can happen to you. Definitely worth reviewing that list.
Thanks for your question, Kate. Hope my response helps.
Gary
what's your blood type and what are you eating? Many of the oils and artificial ingredients in foods these days are not very digestible and the body often rids itself of them through the nose. Cheap (non certified pure) olive oils tend to give me a runny nose daily, especially when out in the cold. My type also does not do most milk products, they cause excessive amounts of mucus. ;)
Great contribution, thank you @thecleangame
Eating according to blood type is an area I have yet to learn much about, so your alert is well appreciated.
Gary
You'll find a lot of people who believe they followed the proper food choices and it didn't work. You'll find these people do not mention paying attention to pH, their parent's blood type or avoiding synthetic and highly processed food ingredients. ;)
Quite a few of them are confused enough they choose white bread, because their blood type says no "wheat." ;)
Great point about your body's pH level. Few understand about that and how it can predispose you to health troubles.
We have a job to do to spread good info like that. Thanks, @thecleangame.
Gary
Great article, a few years ago I saw Dr. Oz urging people to start taking a baby aspirin daily. So many people take the advice of doctors and never seek alternative information. However, with the internet that is beginning to change and people are getting more knowledgeable. I think herbs and spices are the way to go, but all in manageable small doses and in the natural state as much as possible. Garlic does really good blood thinning too, combined with its anti microbial benefits :)
You raise one of the most challenging issues of all. Which is how to know if the advice you're getting is reliable or not. That's one reason why I like to see what is or is not supported by the published research.
Of course, some research is backed by corporate interests and is therefore less trustworthy in my view. I mean, if the Sugar Board published a paper touting the benefits of sugar, I'd be highly suspicious. So that adds a layer of complexity to the whole thing.
One solution to that is to find someone whose work you come to trust over time and pay special attention to him/her (without turning your brain off, either).
Thanks for commenting, btw.
Gary