"TAKE TWO ASPIRIN AND CALL ME IN THE MORNING"

I've a few blog posts almost ready to go, but they need a bit more work. I have got an absolutely rotten cold - no cough to speak of, thank you, but nasty nevertheless. I really don't want to fuss with a blog post. Aha! what better article to post than one on aspirin that just ran in our community magazine. This month we celebrate the 120th anniversary of the patent for aspirin. Herewith, that article:

When was the last time your doctor gave you that advice? (Moreover, when was the last time you could call the office and speak to your doctor without going through his nurse or a triage nurse, and a long wait on the phone?)

You have to wonder how it’s properties were first discovered. Who was the first person to chew on some bark he’d torn off a willow and realize that his headache was gone? For centuries, extracts from the bark of the white willow tree, Salix alba, were known to be pain relievers. During the early nineteenth century, chemists isolated its active ingredient, Salicin. The pain reliever was difficult and costly to extract, so chemists began to search for a synthetic version. That version, salicylic acid, was discovered in 1860. Less costly to produce, salicylic acid was effective but was very hard on a patient’s stomach.

    

The German chemist, Felix Hoffman, whose own father suffered greatly from rheumatism but couldn’t stomach salicylic acid, began a search for a better pain reliever. In March of 1899, Hoffmann’s employer, now known just at Bayer AG, received a patent for acetylsalicylic acid, a product that would be easier on the stomach. They called the new product Aspirin. The “A” for the acetylsalicylic acid; the “spir” for spirea ulmaria, the Latin name for meadowsweet, a common source of salicylic acid; an “in” just because it was a suffix commonly used in the industry.

In America, Bayer lost their patent on the name Aspirin because they let many other manufacturers use it. Perhaps that’s a good thing. Can you hear a doctor telling a patient “take two acetylsalicylic acid tablets, and call me in the morning?”

Aspirin, the almost universal panacea, is largest selling pain reliever in the world. Sold generically or under a brand name like Bayer, coated or uncoated, full strength, children’s dose, or timed-release, it is probably one of the least expensive medications to produce. For general pain, headaches, fever, inflammation, for heart attack and stroke prevention or intervention, and even to help prevent or treat some cancers, it’s uses are many.

It’s side effects can be many too, and you’ll know one if you get one, but nothing like the horrendous warnings we hear about many of the new medications touted in the media. In general, aspirin is one of the NSAIDs, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, characterized by their anti-inflammatory characteristics. Acetaminophen, brand-named Tylenol, has none of those properties, and is easier on the stomach. Like all medications, aspirin should be taken according to the package directions or your physician’s directions. Don’t overuse a good thing.