Aspirin is a great treatment for headaches, menstrual pain, and various aches and pains.
But now, it seems like it may do more than anyone expected it to.
A new study shows that those with gastrointestinal cancers actually benefit from taking aspirin, and could live for up to five years longer after diagnosis if they take aspirin.
This effect was found in patients with stomach cancer, colorectal cancer, and oesophageal cancer.
In a statement from Cancer Research UK, Dr. Aine McCarthy said, “This study suggests it could help improve survival for patients with tumours in their digestive system if they take the drug after being diagnosed. More research will help us find which patients might benefit from this.”
However, aspirin still has the same risks it’s always had, like internal bleeding, so it’s important that it be a treatment assigned by a doctor, and not something someone does on their own.
Treating cancer isn’t the only major health problem aspirin can treat. It can also:
- Prevent colorectal cancers, if you take a low dose.
- Increase your chances of surviving a heart attack, if you take it while waiting for an ambulance during a heart attack.
- Reduces risk of kidney failure in those who have gone through heart surgery, by up to 50 percent.
- Reduces risk of a second stroke.
- Reduces risk of a second heart attack.
- Reduces risk of blood clot complications after surgery, such as deep-vein thrombosis.
- Reduces arthritis-related inflammation, if other NSAIDs don’t work.
Again, check with a doctor to see if aspirin can help with these things for you. Self-medication may end in aspirin having other bad effects that may outweigh the good ones.
