Counteracting Problems
Some would consider aspirin semi retired as a pain reliever.

Provocative over-the-counter and prescription painkillers have eclipsed aspirin as the frontline pain remedy. They're more powerful and longer-lasting. Prescription drugs do wonders for blood pressure and heart disease.

But while there's a better drug for anything aspirin can do, no drug can do everything aspirin can do.

"I think of it more as an anti-platelet," Thekkepat says. "I don't think of it as much as a (painkiller).

"It's a good anti-inflammatory agent, but we have other drugs out there for that. I think it has to create anti-platelet effects."

Still, it has some advantages. Brasington names a few:

• Expense. Patients with lower incomes can buy big jars of aspirin at discount stores and, under a doctor's care, take as many as two dozen a day for pain relief. Versatility. Many people who suffer from long-term pain are older. So taking aspirin for pain also will help protect the cardiovascular system from heart attacks and strokes caused by clotting.
  
  

• It's chewable. Aspirin can be chewed and swallowed. Or pills can be dissolved in water and consumed, a big plus for people who have trouble swallowing pills.
  
  

• It can save lives. In the event of a heart attack, chew two aspirin, and the effect of easing the effect of a blood clot is almost immediate, doctors say. No other non-prescription drug can do that.

"I tell my students to always keep a small package of aspirin," Thekkapat says. "If you're out somewhere or on an airplane and someone calls for medical help, this may give them a little more time to get to a hospital."

Physicians suggest that if you have stomach problems with aspirin, either take a coated aspirin such as Ecotrin, a buffered aspirin such as Bufferin or talk to your doctor to find a painkiller that's directed at your specific pain. Taking an antacid won't prevent stomach problems.

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