If You’re Taking Aspirin for Your Heart, You’re More Than Twice as Likely to Go Blind

"If You’re Taking Aspirin for Your Heart, You’re More Than Twice as Likely to Go Blind If you’ve read these pages for a while, you know that I’ve never suggestedaspirin, for any condition (other than perhapsacute pain). There’s good reason forit. Aspirin has a dark side to it. As youmay know, it tends to cause bleeding inyour gut. But that’s not the only reason Idon’t recommend aspirin."

"If You’re Taking Aspirin for Your Heart, You’re More Than Twice as Likely to Go Blind" source

"In fact, thereare a couple of other reasons. And one ofthem may surprise you.Aspirin is a COX inhibitor. COX iscyclo-oxygenase, an important enzyme foryour body. Celebrex (and killer Vioxx)suppresses one variety of COX calledCOX-2. NSAIDs, including aspirin, generallysuppress COX-1. My philosophicalbent is totally away from anything that“suppresses.” Modern medicine is almosttotally based on poisoning your enzymesto bring you into balance. But, the “new”balance is a much lower level of overallfunction than optimal. Aspirin is noexception. The result of this action leadsus to another problem with aspirin.A new study has tied aspirin to agerelatedmacular degeneration or AMD. Inparticular, it can cause neovascular AMD.This is the “wet” form of AMD in whichabnormal blood vessel growth and thenprotein oozing and bleeding occurs in yourmacula. It affects about 10% of the entireAMD population, but is definitely worsethan the “dry” form.

The researchers looked into past studiesand saw that there could be a possibleAMD link. So, they conducted a prospectivestudy (the best kind) on 2,389Aussies, aged 49 and up. They performedretinal examinations every five years.They classified macular lesions, whichdeveloped as neovascular (wet) or geo-graphic atrophy (dry). A structured questionnairereported aspirin use and otherrelevant information. Of the total group,257 were regular aspirin users. They wereolder and had more conditions associatedwith the vascular system, including diabetesand high blood pressure.The study lasted 15 years. They foundwet AMD in 63 people. Among regularaspirin users, the onset of the AMD was1.8%, 7%, and 9.3% at 5, 10 and 15 yearsrespectively. The wet variety rose withincreasing aspirin use, occurring in 2.2%in those never using it, 2.9% in occasionalusers, to 5.8% in those using it routinely.They didn’t find any association betweenaspirin and the dry AMD variety.Overall, the study found that the oddsof macular degeneration in regularaspirin users are 2.37 times the generalpopulation. This risk remained despitefurther adjustments for body mass index,systolic blood pressure, and history of vasculardisease. The researchers also controlledfor medication use like acetaminophenand beta-blockers.The purpose of preventive aspirin isallegedly to prevent cardiovascular disease.However, it does so at the cost ofinhibiting/poisoning metabolic pathways.It’s held that COX-1, the target of aspirin,increases the production of inflammatoryprostaglandins. That’s true. So, inhibitingthe enzyme might reduce inflammatorymolecules like thromboxane. But COX-1is also the starting point for the productionof the most important vessel lubricatorof all — prostacyclin. What medicinejust doesn’t know is how throwing off the balance of this system will affect any oneparticular individual. Perhaps prostacyclinwill be greatly lowered as a cost offorcibly reducing thromboxane.Aspirin is a coal tar derivative. I preferto accomplish the same reduction ininflammation with natural plant-derivedmolecules. You can get much of the samebenefit with real essential fatty acids,including evening primrose oil, like thosefound in Advanced EFA Formula.Turmeric, which you can find inReduloxin, is another fantastic naturalanti-inflammatory. You can order bothproducts by calling 800-791-3395."

"If You’re Taking Aspirin for Your Heart, You’re More Than Twice as Likely to Go Blind" source