An Aspirin a day....

It sor tof hit me yesterday that we are so blessed int he sense that there is so much research coming out on BC and so many reatments on the horizon. The fact that monthly new research comes out is really amazing and we are blessed to receive those benifits. Between zometa, the aspirin, and exercise we can fight further and have that much more hope.

In fact NSAIDs (Ibupropen, etc) did show similar possibilities but not tylenol.

lol-me too:)

Remember the study showed that taking it EVERYDAY was actually less effective. I think the dosage that seemed to have the best preventative effect was 3 - 5 times a week. So I'm just going to take it every OTHER day.

Mary....  Agree with you on risk of recurrence.  I can't take any NSAIDs during Week 2 of Taxol but have been taking ibuprofen during Week 1.  Anyway, aspirin is cheap and I normally take quite a lot anyway because I normally have something hurting from a sports injury or muscle strain.

So as soon as chemo is over, I am opening up my quite large aspirin bottle.  This will be in a couple of months.

But this is really welcome news.  Finally got to look at the article in detail and the observational data appears to confirm a hypothesis that aspirin can indeed reduce mortality in breast cancer patients.  (Bullets added for clarity.)

"In vitro studies have shown that breast cancers produce prostaglandins in greater amounts than normal breast cells and that aspirin can

• inhibit growth
• decrease the invasiveness of breast cancer cells
• reduce cytokines involved in bony metastasis
• stimulate immune responsiveness."

The othet thing that is cool is that this protective benefit can go on for the rest of our lives, long after most of us are doing any other treatment.

I am beyond psyched to learn this. - Claire

It seems like taking Aspirin every other day is the thing to do as BC prevention. The whole heart disease thing though...up it more.

I say every other day is a good start..untill someone says otherwise or more research has come out.

I'll pick some up today and will ask my onc on Friday and update afterwards

kimt,

Its the removal of the ovaries while being pre menopausal increases the risk. The lack of estrogen. Doesnt mean it will happen though. You can easily prevent heart disease. It IS preventable through diet, exercise and apparantly...Aspirin.

yeah-my oncologist wont do a hysterectomy and told me that even had my ovarys removed I was slight risk of increase and shots would be better.  I don't care still doing the oomph.

The study lacks any collection of data regarding dosage.  So that leaves us all speculating as to the most beneficial dosage.  Here's something from the study that may aid in our speculation.  The group receiving the most benefit was the group that reported taking aspirin 2-5 days per week, followed closely by the group reporting taking aspirin 6 to 7 days per week.  35% of the reasons for use reported were heart disease prevention.  Yes, that is the largest group, but at the same time, that leaves 65% who reported the reason for use as muscle or joint pain (16%), headache (13%), backache (7%), menstrual cramps (<1%) and other reasons (9%).

Speculating here.  What dosage would the 35% taking it for heart disease prevention be most likely to take?  I'd guess low dosage, the suggested 81mg or 1/4 regular aspirin.  What interval would these women taking it for prevention of heart disease be most likely to take it at?  Probably daily.  But if anyone knows that the recommendation is for EOD, then speak up.

What dosage would the other 65% taking it for other reasons, mostly analgesic, be most likely to take it at?  I'd guess at the standard dose of 325mg.  Not many people take baby aspirin for a headache or backache, or cut the pills in quarters.  What interval would the analgesis user be most likely to take it at?  That one is quite the wild speculation.  Maybe daily for some, maybe EOD or the 2-5 per week??

So my wild speculation is that if you want to try to duplicate the group that got the second most beneficial dosage, the 6-7 times per week, you similate the dosage the 35% who were taking it for heart disease prevention likely took, and that's around 1/4 of an aspirin daily.

As for what dosage the group that got the most benefit, the 2-5 x per week users took, that's even more wreckless guesswork.  But many of them must have been the analgesic users (325 mg). 

 Anyone else care to play psychic?

Ok - So let me get this straight.

I'm taking Femara right now with Zoladex injections, Zometa, Herceptin and excercising my tail off.

If I take a baby aspirin 2 to 5 times per week it will also lower my risk??  Am I reading this right????  Hard to believe.

Also, how often do you girls get the Cure magazine?  I signed up for it a couple of months back and haven't received any yet??

kim40..

Yes. Thats what it is looking like!

But wait.....like Timothy mentioned in his above post, WHY would woman be taking baby Aspirin for headaches ect? And I agree, with the 1/4 pill thing. I would think, that most woman would just take a whole Aspirin as to cutting it up in quarters. This is just to show, that we really dont know...what type of Aspirin (baby or regular) and what dosage.

Timothy, I've read in many articles (none I can cite right this minute) that the proper aspirin dosage for heart attack/stroke prevention is 81 MG A DAY, which is what I'm taking.  You can get this in the drugstore (in the US) in a coated version to reduce stomach irritation ... even generic -- I use Rite Aid brand.

If my taking one mini-aspirin a day helps prevent BC recurrence too, even better!!

P.S.  Kim -- getting the CURE magazine in hardcopy is hit or miss with me, sometimes it arrived and sometimes it didn't.  I signed up for the e-mail version and get that.

I'm gonna start taking a baby aspirin every other day and also check w/ my oncologist! Will let you know what she says. I know studies are still preliminary but I hope they're on to something here!

Jackie

Hi Guys...happened to see this link and thought I would pass it on.  Not saying that low dose aspirin won't work....

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/health/2010/02/17/gupta.aspirin.breast.cancer.cnn
 

By the way,

THANKS KERRY,