Heart disease runs in my family. My father and his father both succumbed to heart attacks before they reached 60, my dad at 44. Both had high-stress jobs and both were smokers. My dad, like me, was a high energy person. One of my dad's brothers has also had numerous heart attacks, but he too was (and continues to be) a smoker. So I keep abreast (pun intended) of studies on medicines thought to control heart disease:
New information comes from an analysis of data collected in six large clinical trials. In those trials, more than 51,000 women and more than 44,000 men took daily aspirin tablets or inactive placebo pills. None of the men and women had previously had heart disease.
Aspirin cut men's risk of heart attack by 32%, but not their risk of stroke. Aspirin cut women's risk of stroke by 17%, but not their risk of heart attack. And aspirin increased the risk of "major bleeding" - from potentially life-threatening stomach or intestinal ulcers -- by 70% for both men and women. All of these benefits and risks are small but significant.
I take one buffered aspirin each morning. I've not had any problems with this and I've spoke with my doctor and the Powerwife about his and we all agree that taking an aspirin per day is well worth the risk.