My nephew’s wife is a neurologist who runs a stroke clinic at one of the two major hospitals in Charlotte. I believe she’s in her mid 30s.<\/p>\n
From time to time, medical subjects come up, and I’ve been consistently clear about my skepticism of things medical. She didn’t push back when I asked her if the Framingham Risk Index is still the “gold standard” for assessing heart attack and stroke risk. She agreed that it is. Based on that standard, I am low risk for a male of my age, despite being 285 pounds. I’m not diabetic, never smoked, cholesterol is under 200 without medication, BP is only “Pre-hypertensive” and hasn’t stopped being “Pre” in 30 years. My weight is stable.<\/p>\n
She is actually more reasonable than my primary care doctor niece. Upon realizing I wasn’t going to just follow orders and that I actually was well informed, she settled for “well, if you do nothing else, at least take a baby aspirin a day”. Keep in mind she doesn’t know my platelet count. Aspirin is a blood thinner of sorts and the theory is it keeps clots from forming where plaque has narrowed your arteries. But on the flip side, if you inhibit clotting, you might have a brain bleed that doesn’t resolve itself.<\/p>\n
Yesterday, the FDA said the advice to take a baby aspirin a day without supervision by a doctor is wrong – that the health issues like stomach bleeding and intestinal tract damage outweigh whatever slight benefit there is to people who have not yet had their first stroke \/ heart attack.<\/p>\n
http:\/\/www.fda.gov\/downloads\/Drugs\/ResourcesForYou\/Consumers\/BuyingUsingMedicineSafely\/UnderstandingOver-the-CounterMedicines\/UCM285159.pdf<\/p>\n
So give me advice what to do… My relationship is already strained with my niece and nephew. Actually, of the three, she seems to have the most empathy…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
My nephew’s wife is a neurologist who runs a stroke clinic at one of the two major hospitals in Charlotte. I believe she’s in her mid 30s. From time to time, medical subjects come up, and I’ve been consistently clear … Continue reading