Parlor Spider...Step In, Little Fly

Insightful thoughts and/or rants from atop the soapbox from one who wishes to share the "right" opinion with everyone.

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

The Eyes May (or May Not) Have It.

Doctors have often recommended taking an aspirin every day for many patients with heart issues. My cardiologist opted for that route as opposed to another round of shock "therapy" followed by expensive meds for my atrial fibrillation. He noted that my chances of avoiding a stroke  were only slightly worse if I accepted the regimen of one aspirin a day than with the more expensive route...not to mention inconvenient...checking blood sugars and itching where the hair on my chest was growing back...
Anyway, now word comes out that he might have sentenced me to early onset of macular degeneration if a recent study has any credence.
In research published in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine, researchers in Sydney, Australia, studied 2,3,89 people over 5, 10, and 15-year periods to determine the effects of an aspiring regimen on eyesight. The subjects were in their mid-60s and took one aspirin a week. Over the longest period of time, 9.3% of those taking the aspirin suffered from macular degeneration: damage to the "sweet spot" of the retina. It is to be noted that during the same period, 3.7% of those in the group who did NOT take the aspirin also developed degeneration of the cornea.
The researchers were quick to point out that this was not nearly enough evidence to convince doctors to prohibit prescribing aspirin, especially given the evidence that an aspirin regimen has shown that it can reduce the risk of heart attacks, strokes, and, possibly, some forms of cancer.
The only unnerving aspect is that I am taking seven aspirin a week (unless I forget a day) instead of a single dose as the experimental group was taking.
It's always something.

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home