My husband has high cholesterol, and I have a heart condition. Both his Dr. and my Cardiologist recommend that we take one low dose aspirin once a day for our heart health.
Having been on this regimen for years, we have tried about every low dose aspirin on the market. Personally, I hate to swallow pills, and any time I can get the same medicine in a chewable form, I will opt for that.
Description
St. Joseph Adult Low Strength Chewable Aspirin is similar to a chewable baby aspirin. It contains 81 mg. of aspirin, (the same as a “baby” aspirin), compared to the regular aspirin dose of 325 mg per pill.
They come in packages of 36, and sometimes I can find these tri-packs, which makes a total of 108 chewable tablets. It’s usually the most economical way to purchase name brand aspirin.
The tablets are small, round and orange colored, and taste like cheap chewable vitamin C pills.
Ingredient Information
Active Ingredients: in each tablet: Aspirin (81mg – Pain Reliever)
Inactive Ingredients: Corn Starch, FD&C; Yellow 5 Aluminum Lake, Flavor, Mannitol, Saccharin, Silicon Dioxide, Stearic Acid.
Warnings
Aspirin thins the blood, that’s why a low dose aspirin is often recommended to people with heart problems or others with high cholesterol. Because of this side effect it should be used with caution for anyone taking medications for gout, diabetes, arthritis, or any anticoagulation (blood thinning) drugs. Aspirin has also been shown to reduce strokes.
Aspirin has also been linked to Reye’s syndrome in children. It should not be used when chicken pox or flu symptoms are present. Caution should also be taken if you are pregnant or nursing, use only on the advice of your doctor.
Thoughts
One reason I like the St. Joseph brand of low does aspirin is because it has fewer inactive ingredients. One brand we have in our medicine chest actually contains:
Black Iron Oxide, Carnauba Wax, Corn Starch, D&C; Yellow No. 10 Aluminum Lake, FD&C; Yellow No. 6 Aluminum Lake, Hypromellose, Methacrylic Acid Copolymer, Polysorbate 80, Powdered Cellulose, Propylene Glycol, Shellac, Sodium Lauryl Sulfate, Talc, Titanium Dioxide, Triacetin, and Triethyl Citrate.
I don’t understand why there are so many inactive ingredients in a simple aspirin tablet.
I have to take CPR and First Aid classes every two years for my Daycare license, and they teach that if someone is having a heart attack to give them an aspirin immediately to thin their blood. If either I or my husband do have an episode, I feel much better chewing up an aspirin rather than taking one with a coating on the outside. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that the aspirin will work much faster if it is chewed up first, and speed does matter at times like those!
Since aspirin can irritate the stomach, taking the low does is much safer and decreases the possibility of stomach bleeding associated with higher doses of aspirin.
We also have a Silky Terrier with a knee problem called a luxating patella, that bothers her from time to time. Our Vet recommended we give her half a baby aspirin if it starts bothering her. I can give her half of a St. Joseph low dose since we already have it on hand.
Last, I have been experimenting with taking aspirin and tylenol together for headaches. I had a bad one last Sunday and a friend offered me Excedrin, which I can’t take because I cannot have caffeine. She then told me that I can take tylenol and aspirin together to get the same effect as the Excedrin, only without the caffeine. I have found this to be quite effective in helping my occasional headaches. (I take two extra strength tylenol and three of my low does aspirin chewable tabs.)
To conclude, there are several reasons why I choose St. Joseph Low Dose Chewable Aspirin. It gets into my system quickly, contains fewer inactive ingredients, we can give it to our dog, and I can take it with tylenol for my occasional headache. All this, plus for some reason this brand is usually priced very reasonably at my supermarket, it’s usually cheaper than plain old baby aspirin. I’ve been able to pick up the tri-packs of 108 pills for around $5.00 on sale.
I just recently learned that aspirin is given to stroke patients as soon as signs and symptoms develop. I have to share this story with you. My friend, who is a family physician, visited her mom last winter. She was going through her mom’s medicines and when she found a full bottle of one, she handed it to her mother and asked her why she wasn’t taking it.
Her mom replied she didn’t need it. My friend (her daughter) said, “Mom if you don’t take your medicine you are going to have a stroke”. As she tried to take the meds out of her mom’s hand, her hand tightened on the bottle and she started acting strange. My friend thought her mom was playing a prank on her, but her mom was actually right at that moment having a stroke! She was all confused, when she went to get dressed she put her underwear on over her pants, etc. My Dr. friend quickly gave her mom some aspirin and rushed her to the hospital. Her mom had a slight stroke and was fine in a few days, but had my friend not been there to help her who knows what would have happened.
I said this to show the importance of having aspirin in the home, especially if you have an older person living with you. Ya never know when you’ll need it!
Both my husband and I have been pleased with St. Joseph Low Strength Chewable Aspirin.
